In recent years youth have become increasingly disengaged from the traditional forms of civic participation, a phenomenon that might make us think that young people are simply not interested in democratic life. Thus it becomes more and more necessary in Europe, at all levels, to develop strategies and policies to match the needs of young people and support a natural progression towards their democratic participation. A wider understanding of the notion of participation in democratic life of young people needs to be embraced by institutional actors in order to encompass the multiple existing forms, degrees and arenas of participation.Based on research and practice, the partnership of youth organisations from the UK, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, Turkey and Bulgaria decided to undertake this project aiming at Dialogue between young people and policy makers that will contribute to the following Priority of the Structured Dialogue 5th cycle: “Enabling all young people to engage in a diverse, connected and inclusive Europe - Ready for life, Ready for society” and enhance participants’ understanding of new trends of civic engagement of young people. It will also help to analyze youth connection to traditional channels of participation, as well as discuss their recognition and support by the institutions and society at large. With the project we are also planning to address a specific target group - youth from predominantly rural areas – as they are far more disengaged from the traditional forms of political and civic participation if compared to their peers.The main objectives of the project are:- to exchange realities and challenges to participation of youth from predominantly rural areas in structured dialogue- to improve youth policy-makers’ understanding of young people’s opinions and needs in the field of youth engagement in political and civic life- to expand the understanding of participation by throwing the spotlight on innovative practices at local, national and European levels- to raise awareness of the learning process and competencies required by institutions and young people from remote rural areas in order to integrate new trends of participation- to reflect on the role of Structured dialogue and the “Erasmus+” programme in supporting youth from predominantly rural areas diverse ways of participation- to define realistic strategies/solutions that encourage youth from predominantly rural areas to participate in the work of decision making bodies and further in structured dialogue process- to draft proposals for concrete project ideas on youth from predominantly rural areas empowerment for active participation in structured dialogue - to promote further networking among participants (youth and policy-makers) and our partner organisations on this particular subjectThe project will include 2 transnational youth meetings:- Transnational youth Seminar for 72 representatives from all partner groups and key decision makers responsible for youth empowerment policies to match the results of the findings from the countries we represent and draft a collective approach and policy for improving the situation.- Evaluation meeting for 36 representatives from all partner groups to sum up achievements and to develop a valorization plan, to review the success, results and impact of the project and complete any follow-up activities to share this with others. This activity will also evaluate what has been done since the seminar and adjust the support base as needed to be more effective in providing support for on-going projects. The programme of the Transnational Youth Seminar will be based on non-formal learning workshops and presentations and will be divided into two parts. Some presentations will be given by young people to experts, youth policy-makers and representatives of the main bodies responsible for shaping youth policies. Other sessions and theoretical inputs will be devoted to workshops facilitated by experts and youth policy makers about youth empowerment and civic engagement. The learning activities will be complemented with communication and social games. Through Structured dialogue in this project, decision-makers and young people together can define how the concerns of young people in the field of participation in representative democracy can be effectively addressed through different policy fields and policy measures. The project will benefit the young people and youth policy makers by enabling them to discover the legitimate pathways within democratic participation and will also benefit the members of other youth organisations whose issues will be given a clear voice.All participants will work towards accreditation with a Youthpass certificate and we hope that we will be able to follow up this project with a multilateral youth exchange to further spread our findings and keep this issue on the agenda or a training course where participants can deliver and share skills.