EU countries and its Eastern partners are being challenged by cuts of individual and collective rights in the last years, and by an upraise of ultra-nationalist and anti-EU social and political movements that represent a thread for the maintenance of these rights and the amend of those that have been already set aside. The cuts on the rights and the populist ultra-nationalist uprising differ on its intensity depending on the country and regions, but are happening nowadays at an increasing speed within the EU.Youth and youth CSOs can contribute to trigger positive changes through social, economic, legal and cultural movements, and therefore reinforce the structures that guarantee the observation of basic rights for citizens in Europe. Youth organizations, though, are often lacking long-term strategies, international perspectives, are easy to manipulate and have a poor understanding of the processes of social transformation and the role they play on them. Against this background, the project proposal aims to empower youth CSOs by strengthening their understanding of processes of social transformation and increasing their competences on developing initiatives that include strategic planning and social transformative approaches. Therefore, 24 youth workers from Germany, Poland, Spain, The United Kingdom, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia will participate in the project.The objectives of the project are:To strengthen the understanding of youth empowerment as a tool for social transformation in youth CSOsTo increase the use of systematic and long-term approaches to social transformation in youth CSOsTo exchange good practices for youth empowerment work and social transformation among the participating organizationsTo establish transnational links between CSOs in the youth sector and translate them into project-based partnership for needs-based social transformationThe project will include two e-learning modules and two training courses. The activities are will contribute to this objectives by:1st e-learning module (online, January-February 2017):Exploring concepts and theories for youth empowermentExploring concepts and theories for social transformationDiscussing the main elements of these concepts among the participantsIdentifying local examples and initiatives using these approaches in the countries represented1st Training Course (Misaksieli, Georgia. 18 to 26 of March 2017):deepen into the concepts and theories of youth empowerment and social transformationdeepen into the logics of own theoretical framework and how this affects the work of the CSOs represented (value-based frameworks)provide participants with tools for community-based needs assessmentserve as a platform to discover challenges and initiatives in different countries 2nd e-learning module (online, April-May 2017):Provide with tools for analysis of community based problemssupport the usage of analytical tools to process the results of the community-based needs assessmentProvide participants with space to share and follow the work of the other groups, and go through a peer-to-peer learning and multiplicative processIntroduce the basic theories of Theory of Change and Logical Framework.2nd Training Course (Kobuleti, Georgia. 10 to 18 of June 2017):Deepening into the conceptual understanding of theory of change and logical framework for social transformationDeveloping strategic value-based theories of change for social transformation addressing the needs identified during the e-learning modules and using the intervention points definedPlanning follow-up activities in cooperation between the organizationsThe project will be based in online exercises, discussions and readings for the e-learning modules. For the training courses, the training will based its methodology in non-formal learning, and will include a variety of methods from the own resources of the applicant organizations and other toolkits already existing (Compass, Domino, T-Kit series, among others).The direct impact on the participants will be developed competences on long-term strategic planning for social transformation. For those CSOs represented, the impact is connected with the development of new strategic initiatives, adapting their work to needs-based activities and more effective impact of their work on the communities. In a longer wider perspective, adopting social transformatives approaches by the CSOs will result in long-term benefits for the local communities.