"Since we want change, we must be stronger! Since we must be stronger, we must organize!" We discussed the role of community consciousness in non-governmental organizations to establish a better world.
Mural artist Halil Erkul performed at our meeting. Erkul completed his graffiti work on stage, in which he describes people trapped in the "comfort zone" created by developing communication technologies. Erkul, who discussed our socialization practices offered by modern communication and our quest for liberation in his work, explained that it is possible to break the isolating cycle of communication technologies and to remind the functions of providing communication by returning the tools to their original purposes.

Civil society can increase hope by organizing

At the meeting, our Board Member Ayten Atalay Durmuşoğlu talked about the role of community awareness in non-governmental organizations to build a better world, based on her journalistic experiences. Atalay underlined that the hustle and bustle in the field and the race to keep up with the developments are in almost everyone today through communication technologies. He said that in this challenging climate, acting together and coming together as a community to manage change in a fast-moving world will heal everyone.

Stefano Calabretta, Program Manager of the European Union Delegation to Turkey, who made the opening speech of our event, said that communication, coordination, and cooperation are the keywords for civil society actors, and said, “If civil society organizations develop, they can do a lot. We've seen this many times. STOCK, implemented by STGM with the support of the European Union, is a very good tool to achieve this.” he said.

Dr. from the International Children's Center (ICC), where we carry out the Civil Society Capacity Building Center project together. In her speech, Ayşegül Esin said, “Non-governmental organizations are needed to create a better world” and said, “We are going through difficult times, we need hope and we know that hope is in civil society. Civil society can generate hope and change the world.” he said.

One of our other project partners, Prof. Gender Equality Monitoring Association. Dr. Gülay Toksöz, on the other hand, said that monitoring is critical for non-governmental organizations and that effective advocacy is possible with good monitoring. “One of the most important functions of civil society is advocacy, and effective advocacy is only possible with good monitoring. Because monitoring allows to reveal the existing situation and inequalities and, if there is a change, present it through indicators.” Toksöz said, “If we want to create change, we must support our advocacy activities with monitoring processes. We can only do this with a strong and capable civil society.” said.

Our event, attended by the EU Delegation to Turkey, representatives of international organizations and associations, ended with a cocktail.