Period of Consultation: 18 May – 15 June 2011
What is this consultation all about?
The Delegation of the European Union to Turkey on behalf of the European Commission is currently undertaking a consultation with citizens, civil society representatives, public institution representatives and all other interested parties.
At the heart of the consultation is a draft operational and financial document: the “Civil Society Facility – Turkey National Window”. The decision will be finalised by the European Commission in Brussels based on comments/suggestions received during this consultation.
This draft document has been prepared as a response following the consultation with the CSOs in April/May last year on the “Guiding Principles for EC Support of the Development of Civil Society in Turkey”. The EU delegation held 12 meetings1 across Turkey and an electronic consultation was run with Turkish Civil Society as well as Turkish Authorities. Some 400 comments were received, 268 of which were related to the Guiding Principles. All inputs received were carefully assessed for the finalisation of the Guiding Principles. Hence, the present consultation is a direct and action oriented follow-up. The proposed funding mechanism aims at answering the needs of the CSOs identified previously.
Why is the European Commission undertaking this Consultation?
The Commission would like to hear from all those who have a stake in the development of civil society in Turkey as it believes that if the ideas and the opinions of interested citizens, representatives of civil society and public institutions are taken into account the “Civil Society Facility – Turkey National Window” will be more relevant and impactful.
What is in the “Civil Society Facility – Turkey National Window”?
The “Civil Society Facility – Turkey National Window” is an EU programme for civil society development that will be implemented as of 2012 for 6 years.
It proposes four concrete components:
- Support to CSO networks and platforms
- A flexible response mechanism for civil society in action
- An Active citizenship mechanism
- Awareness raising for CSOs about the EU support to Civil Society as well as for the EU to get to know CSOs in Turkey better.
For more detailed information on the components proposed please click here to access the document.
What is the process and timeline?
From 18 May to 15 June 2011, comments of all interested parties will be collected through both e-mails (see below "How can I Submit My Comments about the Draft Document?") and meetings held across Turkey.
What are the issues on which the European Commission is particularly expecting comments?
All types of comments on the draft document are welcome.
Please kindly note that the European Commission is particularly interested in your responses to the following questions:
Question 1 – Are the overall objective and purpose satisfactory?
Question 2 – Is the scope of the proposed components satisfactory? Do the components answer the needs of the target groups? Are the proposed amounts satisfactory?
Question 3 – Are the proposed results and indicators relevant?
Question 4 – Is the selection process inclusive enough? Should it be narrowed? Who should be eligible to participate?
How can I Submit My Comments about the Draft Document?
All interested parties are kindly asked to review the draft document and submit their comments – in English or in Turkish - by sending an email to [email protected] by latest 15 June 2011.
In your email, please include the following information:
- if you are contributing on behalf of an organisation: type of organisation (civil society organisation or public institution or private company or other) and province where the organisation is located
- if you are contributing as an individual citizen: province where you are currently residing
The final version of the “Civil Society Facility – Turkey National Window” will be made available on this website as soon as it is finalised and approved by the EU.
Please kindly note that the final version of the document will be solely under the responsibility of the European Commission, and therefore it will not be possible to reflect all the comments received during the consultation process. In the upcoming years, the “Civil Society Facility – Turkey National Window” will be re-assessed and revised based on regular assessments, evaluations and consultations.
Thank you very much for taking the time and sharing your valuable ideas on the European Commission’s future support for the development of civil society in Turkey.
1 From 5 April to 30 May 2010, the EU Delegation met civil society organisations in various cities of Turkey, namely Edirne, Bursa, Adana, Ankara, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Erzincan, Eskişehir, Istanbul, Kars, Sinop and Trabzon.