The Project on Strengthening Civic Engagement for Enhancing Democratic Local Governance in Türkiye (Civic Engagement Project) is financed by the European Union within the framework of Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance-II (IPA II) Funds and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The main beneficiary of the Project is the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (UMT), and its co-beneficiary is the Ministry of Interior Directorate General for Relations with Civil Society (DGRSC). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs, as the leading institution of the IPA-II Civil Society Sector, carries out activities for effective implementation and monitoring of the project. The project will be implemented between January 2023 and September 2025. The total budget of the project is approximately 5.8 million USD, and 60% of the budget will be allocated to local projects to be implemented in partnership with civil society organizations (CSOs) and local administrations/public administrations through the Civic Engagement Small Grants Programme.
The Civic Engagement Project aims to strengthen civic engagement and volunteerism for democratic local governance in Türkiye. The Project aims to contribute to the participation of civil society organizations in decision-making mechanisms, to develop civil society-public cooperation based on trust and mutual understanding and to support the creation of a favourable and sustainable environment for volunteerism. In addition, it is planned to carry out a draft study that will form the basis of the legal framework on volunteerism in Türkiye by strengthening the dialogue and cooperation between civil society organizations and public institutions.
Component 1: This component aims to develop Civic Engagement Strategies and a Two-Year Action Plan in each of 7 pilot provinces determined within the scope of the project to develop the partnership with the civil society organizations (CSOs) and local government and to enable civil society organizations to contribute to the decision-making processes of local governments.
To this end, a detailed analysis of the current level of civil society participation in the pilot provinces and the needs analysis of the participatory mechanism of the CSOs will be conducted. This will be followed by the development of Civic Engagement Strategies and 2 Year-Action Plans. To establish a sustainable civic engagement mechanism at the local level, Civic Engagement Task Forces, chaired by provincial municipalities and composed of local actors, will be established.
The component also aims to carry out technical visits that will provide guidance for the implementation of the Civic Engagement Strategy and Action Plan and to develop the Council of Europe Implementation Toolkit.
Civic Engagement Task Forces
Within the scope of the project, a Civic Engagement Task Force (CETF) will be established in each of the pilot provinces (Manisa, Trabzon, Eskişehir, Elazığ, Çanakkale, Mersin and Gaziantep).
The general purpose of the CETFs is to serve the establishment of a sustainable civic engagement mechanism at the local level. To this end, CETF will play a central role in the development, implementation, monitoring, and, where necessary, updating of civic engagement strategies and action plans in the relevant pilot provinces.
Component 2: Within the scope of the component, “the Civic Engagement Small Grants Programme” will be implemented. The Civic Engagement Grant Scheme is designed as a capacity-building tool to support public-civil society cooperation. The Programme aims to strengthen the cooperation of civil society organizations with local governments and other local actors.
The support provided under the Civic Engagement Small Grants Programme aims to strengthen the dialogue and cooperation between CSOs and local governments, thus increasing the participation of civil society in policy and decision-making processes, primarily at the local level. The support to be provided will be allocated to the civil society organizations in Türkiye on an open, transparent, and competitive basis.
The Civic Engagement Small Grant Programme is expected to reach a wide range of local stakeholders by encouraging CSOs, local governments, universities, and other local actors to cooperate. The scheme is designed as a mechanism to support the knowledge, skills, and capacities of the CSOs to encourage their participation in local decision-making, service delivery and monitoring processes. It is envisaged that supporting such participatory mechanisms will enable the rights and needs of groups requiring special policies (women, children, the disabled, refugees, etc.) to be better addressed at the local level.
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Component 3: This component aims to develop proposals for a legal framework regarding volunteerism in Türkiye and an evaluation study will be carried out on the current needs for volunteerism in Türkiye by examining the best practices in the selected EU countries for the activities to be carried out in the context of volunteerism. It is aimed to work on creating the necessary environment for comprehensive consultations, providing technical support and capacity for the development of a strong volunteerism framework on issues such as the current situation of volunteerism in Türkiye, the definition of volunteerism and volunteer rights.
Working Groups
Working Group (WG) will be established to contribute to the development of the legal framework on volunteerism in Türkiye. WG will take part in the preparation process of a White Paper on “Regulations on Volunteerism in Türkiye” by making use of the results of the Green Paper and Regulatory Impact Assessment to be prepared during the project.
WG, under the chairmanship of the DGRSC, will consist of members from the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (GNAT), the Ministry of Family and Social Services, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of National Education, the Strategy and Budget Office of the Presidency, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism General Directorate of Foundations, National Volunteer Committee (NVC), UMT, CSOs, 2 members from Civic Engagement Task Forces (CETF) from selected pilot provinces and of 17 people representing an academic institution specialized in volunteerism.
Component 4: This component aims to develop the institutional and individual capacities of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (UMT), which is the main beneficiary of the project, the Ministry of Interior Directorate General for Relations with Civil Society (DGRSC), which is the co-beneficiary, and the relevant stakeholders (such as relevant ministries, local administrations and Provincial Directorates of Relations with Civil Society), to support their capacity to interact with civil society organizations, to collect data from civil society and to encourage civic engagement of these actors and to develop their capacities.