In the light of the present social situations growing up is particularly challenging for many young people. Tenuous living situations and poverty, unfairly distributed accessibility to education combined with increasing demands for high performance in a rapidly changing environment, lack of family support or the collapse of social networks puts hurdles in the paths of many adolescents. With this project the Ludwig Wolker Haus e.V. is committed to supporting equal opportunities. The aim of this project is to use international mobility to support and effectively motivate disadvantaged youths in their vocational training, as well as to help reduce the drop-out-rate of VET. Strengthening self-confidence coupled with a clear perception of ones own competences play an important role in this process. The participants in the project "Motivation through Mobility" are 32 trainees, who are in a two years full-time school-based training scheme to become social assistants. The mobilities comprise a 30 day work placement activity. The participants come from disadvantaged families mostly with migrant backgrounds. One focal point of the project is the intensive preparation of the participants, as well as the close supervision during the mobility phase. The specially developed preparation tool "biographical link" will be used to visualise personal skills in the work placement application and evaluation phase. The nature of the participants means that a lot of individual support is required to ensure that the mobility in the four countries of destination Finland, France, Island and Great Britain, can be achieved in groups. Work experience abroad for disadvantaged youths offers, as an exceptional challenge, the chance to strengthen their self-awareness and provide a lasting motivation in their working environment. Work experience abroad will also increase their willingness to travel and thus improve their chances on the job market. In order to break the cycle of discrimination, social exclusion and poverty, one of the project partners’ priorities is to reduce the number of people dropping out of the trainee programs early, hence complying with the main aim of Strategy Europa 2020.