How a week in Pyla changes a life.
Every Gateway programme weaves together three threads — sport, life skills and intercultural learning — into one integrated experience. Here's what we run, and how it works.
Youth Exchange
One-week residentials in Pyla bringing together young people from Dublin and both Cypriot communities.
Pyla Youth Activities
Ongoing local programming equally accessible to Greek and Turkish Cypriot young people.
Summer School
An annual gathering of 100 young people from across Europe and the world, launching 2027.
Sport & teamwork
A football pitch is the simplest diplomatic space we know.
Mixed teams, shared rules and a shared goal cut across languages and backgrounds in the first 10 minutes — and give young people a reason to keep showing up. Every exchange culminates in a tournament held in Pyla, with teams deliberately mixed across communities.
- Mixed-community football tournaments
- Daily training sessions with local coaches
- Team-building games and physical challenges
- Time with local sports clubs in Pyla and Larnaca
Life skills & storytelling
Communication, public speaking, problem-solving, digital media and smartphone film-making — skills young people take home and use.
Our life-skills curriculum is built around real, transferable competencies: public speaking, communication, teamwork, problem-solving, confidence, resilience. Digital storytelling is a growing strand. Through smartphone film-making workshops, young people learn to shoot, edit and share their own stories.
- Public speaking and communication
- Peace-building and negotiation skills
- Digital media and smartphone film-making
- Navigating new places, new cultures, new languages
- Social action projects back in home communities
Intercultural learning
Facilitated dialogue, visits to sites of shared history, and real contact with local people from both Cypriot communities.
Young people arrive with different narratives about the same history. Our intercultural programme doesn't try to erase those differences — it invites participants to hear each other, understand bias, and find common ground. Sessions combine facilitated group dialogue, visits to places of shared history (including the dividing line through Nicosia), contact with local people from both Cypriot communities, and structured reflection throughout the week.
- Facilitated intercultural dialogue
- Visits to sites of shared history, including divided Nicosia
- Meetings with local people from both communities
- Language exchange — Turkish, Greek, English, Irish
- Daily structured reflection in small groups
What a young person's experience actually looks like.
Pre-programme
Online sessions with coaches and trainers at a local level. Getting to know each other before meeting in person.
Arrival in Pyla
Orientation, first meetings with young people from the other communities, and settling into life inside the UN Buffer Zone.
The week itself
Daily rhythm of training, dialogue, sport, site visits and reflection — culminating in the mixed-community tournament.
Social action at home
Back in their home communities, young people design and deliver their own projects — and stay in the Gateway network.
Bring a group of young people to Pyla.
We work with schools, youth clubs and sports clubs across Europe. If you lead a group of young people aged 15–18 who would benefit from an intercultural exchange, we'd love to hear from you.