This EVS project "Social Empowerment from EVS Cooperation for Youth and People with Special Needs" will give the opportunity for 10 young EVS volunteers from different parts of Europe to come to Finland for the period of 10 or 12 months. The volunteers come from Armenia, Austria, France, Germany, Hungary and Spain. The volunteers will work in 5 host organisations, which are related to social work and education. The host organisations are situated in different parts of Finland and the "target groups" are: people with special needs (in Lehtimäki Special Folk Highschool, Kisälli-Harjulanmäki and Myllylähde-yhteisö), young people with challenged backgrounds (in Sippola Residential Special School) or pre-school aged children (in English Language Playschool of Kangasala). Seven out of these ten volunteers can be seen as young people with fewer opportunities, mostly facing economic and geographic obstacles. The objective of this project is to facilitate a mutual, intercultural learning experience for the young volunteers and also for the people of the host organisations. We would like to see, that the intercultural encounters and cooperation in the host organisations will be beneficial for all the parties included and will foster a process of social empowerment, especially for the volunteers but also for the other participating people.