Keep it REAL! is a training course run by the Agency of Youth Affairs, Lithuania’s National Agency for the Erasmus+ Youth Programme, for people who want to apply for a Youth Exchange grant but have never written one. Its stated aim is to help applicants find partners and prepare an eligible Youth Exchange application. The 2026 edition runs in three parts: a two-hour online kick-off on 7 July, a residential week from 23 to 28 August at the Lajų Hotel in Birštonas — a venue the organiser describes as remote, near major Lithuanian cities — and a one-hour online consultation per application group one to two weeks before the September Erasmus+ deadline, for groups that want one. Between 20 and 25 youth workers, youth leaders and youth project managers work in English with trainers Vika Matuzaitė and Aistė Šlajūtė on the criteria that decide whether a Youth Exchange application is funded: youth participation, equal partnership between the organisations involved, non-formal learning, intercultural learning, the Youthpass process, treating a project as a long-term learning journey, and managing possible risks. Input sessions alternate with hands-on drafting, and the group doubles as a place to find partner organisations. Participants are pre-selected by the National Agency of their own country, and the project is financed by the participating National Agencies. An edition has run each August in recent years — Kaunas in 2024, a rural venue in Lithuania in 2025, Birštonas in 2026 — and each is posted as its own separate call. Applications for the 2026 round closed on 17 May 2026.
Benefits & funding
- Accommodation for the whole residential week in a shared twin room, arranged and paid for by the organiser.
- All meals throughout the training period, paid for by the organiser.
- Six days of facilitated training in English, plus the two-hour online kick-off and, if your application group needs it, a one-hour online consultation before the Erasmus+ deadline.
- A Youthpass certificate from the organiser, recognising the competences you develop during the activity.
- Travel costs are handled by the National Agency or SALTO Resource Centre that supports you. The call asks applicants to check with theirs before applying, and again after selection to arrange the booking and the reimbursement.
- A participation fee may apply. Each participating National Agency sets its own, so the amount varies from country to country.
- The group is capped at 20–25 participants.
Eligibility
- Youth workers, youth leaders and youth project managers, and young people who are planning a Youth Exchange.
- Little or no previous experience of preparing a Youth Exchange application.
- Residence in a country the call is open to: the Erasmus+ Youth Programme countries it lists — the 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and Türkiye — or Armenia, Georgia, Moldova or Ukraine.
- Country of residence decides the route, not nationality: the country on your MySALTO registration determines which National Agency reads your application.
- The country list is set edition by edition, so read the current call rather than a past one. The 2025 edition also admitted Azerbaijan; the 2026 call does not.
- The National Agency in your country of residence pre-selects the candidates from your country, so check that it is taking part in this call before you apply.
- Priority goes to young people applying on their own and to youth workers applying together with a young person. This is a stated preference, not a bar.
- No age limit, degree requirement or minimum work experience is published.
- The course is delivered in English.
Can you apply?
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We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.
Application process
- 1Open the call in the SALTO-YOUTH European Training Calendar and check the dates and the list of countries it is open to.
- 2Contact the National Agency in your country of residence to confirm it is taking part in this call and would support a participant from your country.
- 3Log in to your MySALTO account, or create one, and open the online application form linked from the call. The country of residence you register under decides which National Agency reads your application.
- 4Fill the form in and submit it before the deadline. A saved form stays a draft until you submit it, and only submitted applications go forward.
- 5After the deadline, your own National Agency pre-selects candidates from that country against its own priorities and budget. Applicants from countries outside the Erasmus+ Programme Countries are selected by SALTO and/or the hosting agency instead.
- 6The hosting agency fine-tunes the final group and informs all applicants of the result — for the 2026 edition, on 18 June 2026.
- 7Join the online kick-off, travel to Birštonas for the residential week, and book an online consultation before the September Erasmus+ deadline if your group wants one.
Program timeline
Application deadline
May 17, 2026
Selection of participants
Jun 18, 2026
Online kick-off event (2 hours)
Jul 7, 2026
Residential course starts in Birštonas
Aug 23, 2026
Residential course ends
Aug 28, 2026
Online consultations before the Erasmus+ application deadline, for groups that want one
2026-09