During the meetings in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Adana, Diyarbakır, Trabzon, and Kars, where approximately 400 CSO representatives attended, the program guide, application forms, and budget format were explained and detailed information was tried to be given with questions and answers. To meet the great interest, for CSO representatives who are not find a chance to join introductory meetings, a webinar held through TechSoup Turkey- STGM Digital infrastructure, where nearly 100 representatives joined.
With the support of the European Union, the aim is to empower around 40 CSOs. The most interesting aspects of the program were the fact that BIRLIKTE, based on STGM's 15-year capacity-building experience, was designed to be flexible enough to respond to the different needs of organizations and CSOs could apply regardless of a specific project proposal.
Within the scope of this organizational support program which is for the first time in Turkey, CSOs will work with the STGM-Birlikte team to achieve their goal for two years through organizational grant support with an accompanying guidance program.
Maxime Montagner, Sector Manager of Civil Society and Fundamental Rights of EU Delegation to Turkey, underlined in the introductory meeting that held on 4th December that the program is first in Turkey. Also, Stefano Calabretta, Program Manager of EU Delegation to Turkey, stated that through Birlikte, a significant opportunity had been created especially for the empowerment of local CSOs and similar supports to come.