In July 2016 Habitat for Humanity Northern Ireland and Habitat for Humanity Poland will undertake an exchange programme between the two countries where 15 young people will travel from Northern Ireland to Poland and the following month 15 young people from Poland will travel to Northern Ireland. This exchange is based on many years experience of undertaking exchanges to different parts of the world but the particular focus of this exchange is to allow young people from disadvantaged communities in Northern Ireland and Poland to work together in the different jurisdictions to help low income people build housing for themselves. We have selected Poland not only because we have a strong relationship with Habitat Poland but because we want to expose young people in Northern Ireland to the culture of Poland and help counter some of the negative views held by some in Northern Ireland in relation to Poles and east Europeans generally. This negativity has recently been most manifest in attacks on Polish people in disadvantaged communities in Northern Ireland where the participants for this programme will come from. The participants in both countries will generally have less formal education qualifications and less employment opportunities when they leave school and this project is designed to help boost their confidence and skills. The key activity in this project will be the respective teams helping to build a home for low income families which as well as helping provide housing will give them a keen awareness of the needs of people without homes or in inadequate homes. Our experience is that the team building involved in this process can be life changing for young people. We want to use this project not only to increase the skills and leadership potential of individuals but as a demonstration project to show what can happen when young people get together to do something positive in their communities. We will be particularly keen to share the impact of the project through local media and community networks as it take place and when it is completed which we think will do a lot to enhance relations between the local communities and their non national neighbours.