The idea for implementing the “Switch sides!” project arose directly from the initiative of the young people we work with on a daily basis at Reason to Smile. Our organization focuses on supporting youth at risk of social exclusion—participants in socio-therapeutic centers, day support facilities, and rehabilitation institutions, as well as young people with migration backgrounds, disabilities, or those from economically disadvantaged families. We carry out educational and preventive activities, facilitate local meetings, and create spaces for experience-sharing and integration. The “Switch sides!” project was born as a response to specific questions and needs voiced by this youth: what can we do to change how others perceive us? How can we make people understand us instead of judging us? What united these voices was not a plea for pity—but a desire for dialogue. These young people wanted others to briefly experience their reality—to see the world through the eyes of someone excluded, marginalized, and misunderstood. From that need, the project emerged—not only providing a platform to share their stories, but also enabling others to truly experience those realities through simulations, performative actions, and social experiments. The project is fully aligned with the objectives of the Erasmus+ programme, and especially with the mission of Youth Exchanges, which—according to the Programme Guide—aims to “engage and empower young people to become active citizens, involve them in the European project, and help them acquire and develop competences useful for their personal, educational, and professional life.” “Switch sides!” fulfills these goals not only through the mobility itself but by fostering critical reflection, empathy, skill-building, and real social impact. Our goal is not simply to integrate excluded individuals. We want to address a systemic challenge: to educate the broader society—especially peers—on how not to exclude. We believe that genuine social change is only possible when it involves both sides: those who face discrimination and those who, often unknowingly, contribute to it. The project “Switch sides!” creates space for symbolic role reversal—encouraging participants to see reality from another person’s perspective. This kind of experiential learning has powerful educational and transformative potential. During the mobility, participants will engage in workshops focused on empathy and social awareness, simulations of exclusion, public space activities, and the design and implementation of social experiments (e.g. role plays in urban settings examining bystander responses to symbolic violence or exclusion). They will also co-create educational video materials and an educational simulation game titled “Switch sides!”, which will be made available for use in schools, youth centers, and NGOs. The main goals of the project include: -increasing the social, emotional, and intercultural competences of 36 mobility participants by at least 60% (including empathy, communication, cooperation, conflict resolution, emotional regulation, and dialogue readiness); -raising social awareness of exclusion, stigmatization, and stereotyping among participants by at least 50%; -increasing participants’ knowledge of designing social experiments and their skills in video production and editing by 60%; - promoting openness, responsibility, and empathy among peer environments; - equipping participants with experience in designing educational tools such as a game, a toolkit of methods, and audiovisual materials. The project also responds directly to reports and data on the situation of youth in Poland and Europe. The “Young Heads” report (UNAWEZA Foundation, 2023) shows that young people often feel misunderstood, ignored, and isolated—which contributes to worsening mental health. Meanwhile, the EU Youth Strategy (2019–2027) highlights the importance of developing young people’s social and intercultural competences and fostering empathy and civic engagement. Our project addresses these needs head-on. “Switch sides!” supports all horizontal priorities of the Erasmus+ programme. One of the project’s added values will be the development of a toolkit for educators working with youth on the topic of exclusion—distributed as a result to be used long after the project ends. The simulation game “Switch sides!” will serve as a lasting, practical resource for educators, youth groups, and schools. Ultimately, “Switch sides!” is more than just a youth exchange—it is a deep process of experiential learning, youth empowerment, and civic activation. It fosters the growth of young people as conscious citizens, animators, and community leaders. We believe that initiatives like this are meaningful—because they arise from genuine needs and are implemented with young people, not just for them.