The consultation process, which was carried out to ensure greater participation of civil society in the planning phase of EU support, which has become one of the most important sources for the development of civil society in Turkey over the last two decades, was carried out to contribute to the planning of the Civil Society Facility Program implemented under the IPA for the years 2024-2025.
During the consultation process, which lasted for about a month, civil society organizations both contributed to the process in writing and presented their suggestions at the meeting where we came together with CSO representatives from different cities and working areas.
How was the consultation process conducted?
As part of the consultation process, we published an open call on January 4, 2023 and received contributions to the questions we prepared for the consultation process until January 26, 2023.
28 civil society organization representatives and activists (21 institutional and 7 individual) made written contributions to the consultation process. In the online information meeting we organized on January 10, 2023, with the participation of CSO representatives from different cities and working in different fields, we came together with approximately 100 people. Finally, we organized 3 focus group meetings with the participation of 16 civil society representatives.
What are the highlights of the consultation process?
The most emphasized topic during the consultation process was the demands for increasing the resilience of civil society organizations and contributing to their efforts to survive, followed by the need for institutional grant programs.
Simplification and flexibility in project implementation processes were emphasized many times in the contributions.
Although it is generally accepted that the sub-grant programs implemented in Turkey since 2017 have met the needs on the ground and contributed to the development of the civil society sector, it was noted that this process has also brought along various problems.
Contributions also called for more access to organizations working at the local level and stressed that these organizations should benefit more from EU support.
The establishment of mechanisms to facilitate civil society organizations to act together, to encourage and facilitate the establishment of networks, and to encourage organizations with more developed capacities and smaller organizations to act together were also among the proposed topics.
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