A Team Working Passionately to Create Change BİRLİKTE

I started working at BİRLİKTE Program in August 2019. This program was my first work experience. While most of my friends secured positions in the private sector, I chose to work in civil society. The idea of working for a for-profit company in the private sector didn't resonate with me, whereas working for a cause I believe in within civil society excited me. Fortunately, this enthusiasm has only increased during my time at STGM.

Working in an organization that always considers the feelings and thoughts of its employees and values their well-being makes me enjoy my work even more. Working in a competitive environment may increase productivity for some people, but I have always wanted to work in an environment where there is a spirit of solidarity. An environment where team members complement each other's shortcomings and work together to do a good job increases my productivity, and working at BİRLİKTE provides me with exactly that environment. When I have difficulties, I can ask my colleagues for support without hesitation, and I always get positive responses from them. The BİRLİKTE team is a team of people who are passionate about their work. I think it is a privilege for me to play a role in this team that works with the belief and enthusiasm to create change.

A Dynamic Role with Diverse Responsibilities: Program Assistant

Program assistants need to know about every aspect of every phase of the program. For this reason, they have a wide range of responsibilities. These include, for example, carrying out standard and advanced clerical tasks, providing administrative support to the program team, filing, preparing and archiving digital and printed program documents, assisting with the financial reporting of the program and ensuring financial control under sub-grant agreements, assisting with the monitoring and reporting processes of the program, preparing meeting minutes, providing support to the program team for logistics, accommodation and meeting arrangements of events and organizations, etc.

These responsibilities are not limited to these areas alone, but also include the diverse support needs of the program team in various areas of work. For example, a typical day might start with taking notes at an event planning meeting, continue with transcribing a video, and end with revising the event checklist. In between, announcements on the STGM website might be translated, stationery ordered and contact addresses of BİRLİKTE participants updated. Quite a busy day, isn't it?

These tasks and the opportunity to support the team in these tasks, to be involved in the whole process and at the same time to see the whole process from a bird's eye view, is very helpful in deciding what I want to specialize in. It also makes my work more dynamic and fun.

Richness in Diversity and Motivation for Civil Society Development

In the BİRLİKTE Program, we support organizations working on different topics. I believe that being alongside organizations working in very different areas of rights such as children's rights, LGBTI+ rights, disability rights, and prisoners' rights is also a great enrichment. This way, I can gain insights into the work of organizations with knowledge and experience in many different fields.

As a team, we continuously strive to explore different ways of supporting organizations participating in BİRLİKTE, while also updating the tools and methods we use, aiming to produce materials that can contribute to the civil society sector. This effort of ours has a developmental and transformative effect on us as well. As we witness the contributions made by the organizations we support to their stakeholders and the wider civil society and receive positive feedback about the benefits of the support provided by our program, our belief in our work grows stronger. Embracing this belief and maintaining our faith in the possibility of continual improvement, we continue to work together.