We held the graduation ceremony of the School on Participatory Democracy, which includes the standards and tools related to participatory democracy of the Council of Europe, in Istanbul.
İstanbul, 13 June 2024
The foundational trainings of the School on Participatory Democracy were held for the first time in Türkiye in September 2023 in Istanbul, in collaboration with the Council of Europe, Argüden Governance Academy, and Istanbul City Council. In October 2023, we provided expert support for the training held in Ankara in collaboration with the Council of Europe and the Civil Society Development Center. Argüden Governance Academy Project Leader Melis Türker participated as a trainer and facilitator in the training held in Ankara.
After the foundational trainings, which introduced the standards and tools, specialization trainings were conducted to share in-depth information on each tool.
On December 6-7, 2023, we held the Civic Participation Tool training hosted by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, in collaboration with the Civil Society Development Center and the Third Sector Foundation of Türkiye.
From December 11-13, 2023, we organized the deepening training of the School Participatory Budget Tool, developed to enable children to experience participatory democracy, online in collaboration with the Council of Europe.
The U-Change Tool training, a tool for youth to play an active role in decision-making mechanisms, was held face-to-face on December 18, 2023, hosted by the Istanbul City Council.
The deepening training of the CivicLab Tool, which facilitates digital civic participation, was held on December 21, 2023, in collaboration with the Council of Europe and the Civil Society Development Center, hosted by the Adana Metropolitan Municipality.
After the specialization trainings, participants were given approximately 6 months to use the tools in their works. At the graduation ceremony held on June 13, 2024, feedback on the training and tools was gathered, participants shared their experiences on how they used or planned to use the tools, and certificates were awarded.
The opening speeches of the event were delivered by Dr. Yakup Levent Korkut, Member of the STGM Board of Directors, Dr. Yılmaz Argüden, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Argüden Governance Academy, and Cornelia Perle, Senior Program Advisor of the Elections and Participatory Democracy Division of the Council of Europe.
Following the opening speeches, Hakan Ataman, STGM Policy Monitoring Specialist, and Dr. İnan İzci, Advisor of the Argüden Governance Academy, gave presentations on participatory democracy and civic participation.
After the presentations, participants shared their experiences with the Participatory Democracy Tools they used and discussed what could be done in Türkiye with facilitators who are experts in the field.
At the end of the day, designed as an interactive learning environment, participants received their certificates from Cornelia Perle, Senior Program Advisor of the Elections and Participatory Democracy Division of the Council of Europe, Tülin Hadi, President of the Istanbul City Council, and Gaye Uğurlu Fırat, Secretary General of Argüden Governance Academy.
A total of XX participants, predominantly from local governments and civil society, graduated from the School of Participatory Democracy. We congratulate our graduates, who are ambassadors for sustainable social development in Türkiye.
