“Transformers!” is a two-week long exchange project training experience in which 24 young peoplefrom 6 different cities are brought together in Tanger. They come from Amsterdam,Paris, Rabat, Istanbul, Cairo and Berlin. The participants are aged between 18 and 23 years old andlive in neighborhoods that can be described as deprived. In their daily lives they have to deal withexperiences of discrimination and exclusion. Inspired by recent cases of grass-root activism, they willexperiment with new forms of political participation and civic engagement to fight problems in theirneighbourhood. They will be trained in skills of creative activism and community building by youngexperts.During the two-week training program the participants will discover their own potential to become acommunity organizer. They will work on their self-esteem and discover their own talents, but alsobecome aware of their shortcomings and the benefits of cooperation with others. Within theframework of the methodology of community organizing, the participants will engage in a variety ofactivities. In the beginning of the training they will work on their individual competences forleadership and their team building capacities. They will focus on their own background andexperiences, and they will exchange, discuss and compare these background and experiences with the other participants. They will determine which issues they would like to tackle in their own neighborhood.After this they will present and discuss their personal project plans. In a series of creative andpractical workshops they will work in cooperation with the other participants on the skills needed to raise awareness for local problems and activate peers to find solutions. These workshops incorporate topics and activities such as internetsecurity, public speech,community organizing, fundraising, civic journalism, story telling, film, and spoken word.After the two-week training program all participants will organize an activity in their ownneighbourhood, in which they bring the skills that they have trained during the exchange programinto practice. These activities will start at the same moment and will be reported on the projectwebsite. The Transformers! organizing team will support the participants in the process oforganizing their activities. This support includes regular feedback, and further coaching in matterssuch as fundraising, PR and network building. WHY TANGER?The goal is to organize every year (and in worst case, every two years) a Transformers! Exchange project in one of the different countries of the Transformers Network. After two editions in North-Mediterrean cities, is it necessary to organise the next edition in one of the Southern-Mediterrean cities to create more reciprocity and understanding between the North and the south. We decided Morocco, because of the strong connection between the participants of both Paris and Amsterdam, with their country of origin. But also because of our confidential partner ´Maroc Artchimiste´ and our old-participant Mohammed Salim Guennoun, who has a big network of association and activists in Morocco. We decided for the city Tanger, because of the geographical situation between Africa and Europe and therefore Tanger is the place, where a lot of refugees from sub-saharian countries are trying to make the jump to Europe. As a consequence of this, there are a lot of organisations, which are working with the refugee problematic in Tanger. We think that we have to discuss and experience the situation of the refugees and the refugee problematics, as one of the biggest challenges Europe, North Africa and Turkey are occurring at this moment.Furthermore, Tanger is a city, who has the biggest tradition and history of multiculturalism in Morocco. As a maritime city on the border with Europe, Tanger was always a city, where a lot of cultures came together. ENVISIONED OBJECTIVES- To stimulate young people who do not feel they have access to the democratic process, to raise their voice and make themselves heard.- To stimulate young and ambitious people from deprived neighborhoods to exchange and discuss their situation, their background and experiences with other peers from deprived neighbourhoods. - To provide young people from a marginalized position with skills of creative activism in order to transform the social problems they are facing, and mobilize others to do the same.-To bring young people with a Northern African immigrant background living in Europe together with peers from Northern African countries, in order to exchange and discuss their expressions of civic engagement.- To explore the potential on local level of new forms of political participation of young people as they emerged during recent events of grassroots protest.