With Good Governance Meetings in Anatolia, we aim to emphasize that the dissemination of good governance practices will only be possible if civil society is supported by other actors in the right direction. We aim to increase awareness on this issue and to trigger potential projects by discussing the cooperation opportunities of civil society, public and private sectors together.
Adana, Ankara, Bursa, Gaziantep, Yalova, 26 May 2016 – 3 November 2017
We came together with 190 civil society representatives at the meetings held in various cities in Anatolia in 2016 and 2017.
BURSA MEETING
Our Good Governance Specialist Fikret Toksöz evaluated the development of good governance in Türkiye with a historical approach at our first meeting held at the Hilton Bursa Convention Center on May 26, 2016 in cooperation with the Corporate Governance Association of Türkiye - TKYD and the Turkish Ethics and Reputation Association - TEID. At the meeting, we also held a discussion section in which the participants also actively participated. Among the participants were Osman Dikmen from Bursa Governorship Provincial Associations Directorate, Dilek Üzümcüler from Mor Salkım Solidarity Association, Füsun Serim from the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, and İclay Köseoğlu from Nilüfer Municipality Subjects Campus. The publications "Good Governance in Public" and "Good Governance in Public Enterprises" were also distributed at the event. 35 public and NGO representatives attended the meeting.
ADANA MEETING
40 representatives from non-governmental organizations and city councils attended the second meeting held in cooperation with Adana City Council hosting on October 26, 2016. In the meeting, the current situation of non-governmental organizations in Türkiye was examined under the main headings of human resources, settlement, financial resources, auditing and participation. Suggestions were made such as making compulsory military service as a social service obligation in associations, giving minimum wages to voluntary workers as in Europe, counting the hours worked voluntarily by people working in the public or private sector in NGOs as overtime. Suggestions were also made, such as transferring a part of the income tax paid by the income taxpayers to the association or foundation desired by the taxpayer, giving a share to the relevant NGOs from the appropriations allocated by the public institutions, and ensuring the active participation of NGOs in the decision processes in the formation of public policies.
ANKARA MEETING
39 civil society representatives from different regions of Türkiye attended the third meeting in Ankara hosted by Sivil Düşün on November 15, 2016. In the meeting, which started by evaluating the current situation of NGOs in Türkiye, as in other meetings, the participants also discussed different suggestions such as the rule of law, freedom of association, assembly and expression, free use of public buildings by NGOs in the events they organize, and multiple NGOs sharing the same office.
YALOVA MEETING
The 4th meeting, hosted by Yalova City Council on May 16, 2017, was attended by 53 civil society representatives, including Yalova Mayor Vefa Salman, Yalova City Council President İsmail Mutlu, Yalova City Council Secretary General Hasan Soygüzel. Issues such as how civil society can be developed, barriers to development and strengthening NGO-Public cooperation were discussed at the event.
GAZIANTEP MEETING
The meeting held on 3 November 2017 was the fifth of the Good Governance Meetings in Anatolia. 23 people from public experts, academics, private sector and civil society representatives attended the meeting hosted by Gaziantep City Council and with the contributions of TOBB Gaziantep Women Entrepreneurs Board. The local experiences of the participants, public-NGO cooperation areas and opportunities were discussed in the continuation of the event, which started with information on the development of civil society.
Project Advisory Board Member
