What is Sense the World?
Sense the World is an international youth exchange in Recoaro Terme, Italy, bringing together young people aged 16–19 from six European countries.
Each national group consists of five young participants and one group leader, bringing together 30 young people and six leaders.
The project starts from a simple idea: we may live in the same world, but we do not all experience it in the same way. Our perception is shaped not only by our senses, but also by culture, memories, abilities and previous experiences.
Do we all experience the same world?
In everyday life, we rarely stop to consider that exactly the same situation may look, sound or feel completely different to someone else.
We often assume that others see, hear, feel or understand their surroundings in much the same way we do. These assumptions can create misunderstandings and invisible barriers for people whose abilities or ways of experiencing the world differ from those of the majority.
Sense the World invites participants to notice these assumptions and explore what happens when we deliberately change perspective.
The five senses become the methodology
The senses are not simply the topic of this exchange – they form the structure of the learning process itself.
Different programme days focus on different ways of experiencing the world: sight, hearing, taste and smell, touch and balance.
Participants learn through direct experience. Instead of only talking about inclusion, they see, listen, touch, smell, move and sometimes deliberately remove one of the ways they normally rely on to receive information.
Seeing the world differently
Photography and visual storytelling are used to explore sight.
Participants discover how differently people can notice the same environment, what we decide to include in an image and what our eyes automatically overlook.
Blindfolded exercises also temporarily change the way participants navigate and communicate, encouraging greater awareness of other senses and of the people around them.
Listening differently
Hearing is explored through music, shared sound-making and communication exercises.
When normal communication patterns are disrupted, participants begin to notice tone, rhythm, body language, silence and other signals more carefully.
These experiences demonstrate that effective communication is not only about speaking clearly. Listening and adapting to another person's needs are equally important.
Smell, taste and nature
Part of the programme moves into the Small Dolomites.
The “Scent Trail” combines hiking, sensory botany, smell and cooking, while the “Detective in Nature” activity invites participants to explore the natural environment through sound, footprints and details that can easily go unnoticed.
Nature therefore becomes more than a setting. It becomes a sensory learning environment.
Touch, movement and balance
The sensory approach also includes body awareness.
Team challenges, sports activities, balance exercises and a fencing-inspired workshop allow participants to explore space, coordination and confidence in movement.
These experiences create a practical starting point for thinking about different physical abilities and about how the design of an activity or environment can make participation easier for some people while unintentionally excluding others.
Inclusion you can experience
Sense the World is not about pretending that a short activity can reproduce another person's disability or life experience.
Instead, the project encourages participants to notice how often environments are designed around the needs and assumptions of the majority.
Activities lead to practical questions: Can everyone participate? Is information available in different ways? Do people have choices? Are we communicating in a way that works only for ourselves?
These sensory experiences are then connected back to diversity, accessibility, belonging and the possibility for everyone to participate fully.
Learning through experience
Sense the World is based on non-formal education rather than traditional lessons.
The programme includes photography challenges, blindfolded communication, collective music-making, cooking, storytelling, sensory hikes, team challenges and sports activities.
Structured debriefing after the activities helps participants understand not only what happened, but what the experience can teach them about inclusion, communication and accessibility.
Daily “family meetings” provide additional space for participants to reflect on learning, group dynamics and their own experience.
Italy and the Small Dolomites
The exchange takes place in Recoaro Terme in the Veneto region, close to the Small Dolomites.
Nature is integrated directly into the programme through hiking and sensory activities, while another programme day is dedicated to discovering the Veneto region itself.
Participants therefore experience not only an international group but also a specific Italian environment, culture and landscape.
From experience to everyday action
The aim of the project is not simply to learn more about the five senses.
Participants are encouraged to become more aware of different needs, strengthen empathy and communication skills and recognise practical ways of making their own environments more inclusive.
The exchange connects this learning with European Union values including human dignity, equality, non-discrimination, human rights and solidarity, translating broad principles into everyday choices about how we communicate and create opportunities for participation.
Who can participate?
Sense the World is designed for young people aged 16–19 who are interested in inclusion, diversity and international learning.
A high level of English is not required. Motivation to participate fully, communicate and experiment with new experiences matters much more.
Project partnership
Sense the World brings together partner organisations and youth groups from six European countries.
🇮🇹 The exchange takes place in Recoaro Terme, Italy
🇱🇹 Anglų kalbos studija – Lithuanian partner and sending organisation
Each country participates with five young people and one group leader.
The project is funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme.