During this training course we welcomed 30 young peer educators, youth volunteers and youth workers that wanted to deepen their knowledge about the use of theatre as a mean to discuss social matters. During this training course we encouraged the participants to explore theatrical methods in order to stimulate young people to become responsible members of society, help them to participate in decision making processes and engage in actions and activities in order to contribute to their society. Our main purpose, our heart and our motivation was to support them to find new ways to stimulate your youngsters to PARTICIPATE & ENGAGE because we truly believe that they have the power to make changes. Ignite for TRANSFORMATION! And.. theatre is an excellent method to use as ignition for transformation. In contrast to talking, theatre has the power to move directly into the heart and move people from within. Often you immediately get to the people’s core beliefs and motivation. The visual language of theatre allows people to understand each other quickly without getting lost in misunderstandings. Besides, playing theatre is a lot of fun and creates a safe space, being it a great method to serve as a platform to address societal issues in a light-minded way, without losing its importance. Since theatre is a process in which trust and cooperation are essential for success, it is a helpful and interesting method of exploring different ways of thinking, weighing pro’s and con’s in order to be able to work together as a team. Furthermore it is a way for people to become aware of their independency and self confidence. Through theatre people are more likely to discuss their own behaviour and to reflect on that, it does make them think about a lot of things, about themselves and other people’s points of view and validate their role in life and this society. Therefore it is a beautiful and very playful way of taking people “by the hand” in a process of self awareness and growth towards active citizenship. Since theatre is a safe haven, with no goals in convincing and arguing with each other, it is by all means an excellent platform to “play” with all sorts of societal issues - big or small - in a cheerful way. This training took place between the 6th and the 14th of June, 2015, in Ommen. The following countries where involved in this project: Ireland, The Netherlands, Romania, Turkey, Lithuania, Armenia, Italy, France, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. We welcomed in total 30 participants, 3 interns and 3 trainers in The Netherlands Objectives: The 2 main objectives: -Knowledge on use of theatre as a tool to discuss social issues; knowledge and practice with different theatrical methods in order to engage young people; transforming youth & social matters into theatre -Provide the participants with the skills to express themselves, make themselves seen; make participants aware of their own presentation and help them improving it, provide participants with tools for effectiveness and credibility in speech, establishing verbal and nonverbal methods of expression, creating empathy and compassion and a open, out of the box mind set. Description of the activities, impact and results: The training course was divided in 2 parts. The first 3 days of the training course are dedicated to develop connections between participants and to work at the same time on more personal competences that are essential in theatre. These activities are described as "interconnection" in the programme. From day 4 we worked 2,5 full days with the "Forum theatre" method and we end these days with a Forum theatre performance. The performance was done at the Saxion Hogeschool in Enschede. After the training participants concluded that they are more aware, openminded and selfconcious. They got acquainted with severals methods of theatre which they already shared with youngsters and peers and bring up social issues for discussion. Not even 4 weeks after the training we received the first feedback of participants that used part of the theatre activities that they learned during youth exchanges and volunteering and animation activities with children and youngsters. Participating organisations gained this way, via their participants, new knowlegde on behalf of their organisation and therefor will be able to offer new methods in working with young people. At the same time we did found new partnerships for future activities. Alltogether the enthusiasm of the individual participants will hopefully lead to more activities in the local realities but also on an European level. Enabling young people to speak up and make themselves heard and seen. Ignite for TRANSFORMATION!