Youth Agenda

National Network

Türkiye

Address

Barbaros Bulvari
Istanbul/
Turkey

Telephone

00902122588121

E-Mail

info@youth-agenda.org

Mobile Phone

00905324363068

Website

http://www.youth-agenda.org

Organisation Type

Non-Governmental Organization

Year of Establishment

2008

Fields of Activity

Democracy and community development
International/Cultural relations
Others
Youth and education

General Information

Youth-Agenda Association has been established in 2008 in order to solve youth problems in Turkey in societal level and to enable young people to be heard. The main reason behind its establishment as a youth NGO is the lack of a sound and specific youth policy in Turkey in state level. Young people suffer from this lack of interest from governmental standpoint. There is no a legal definition of “Youth” in Turkey, whereas in European Union youth is defined as people between 13-30 years old. Furthermore, in Turkish constitution there is only 1 law concerning “youth”, which does not include a clear definition. In that law, youth is demonstrated as a fragile and risky group within the society who needs to be protected, especially from drug use and it is mentioned in that law that state has to ensure extracurricular activities for them, such as sport. Moreover, the sole institution in Turkey responsible of Youth is “Youth and Sport General Directorate” which simply cares for support part of its mission and does not incline so much on youth issues. In addition, Democratic participation and active citizenship mechanisms for youngsters in Turkey are insufficient and inefficient and civil society consciousness is low among young people due to lack of an organized youth information system in Turkey. Youth Agenda Association writes EU Grant projects to CFCU and Turkish National Agency, as well as it establishes partnerships with EU countries on project base. For instance, it has established a partnership with a Polish organization on an EU Action 1.1 Youth Exchange Project, entitled as “Food as a common ground a universal experience”. After conducting the necessary procedures to become a partner in the Project, a group of 6 people from Youth Agenda Association got involved in the Project implementation in Poland for one week. Also, they have participated in YIA Project "East Meets West - For Future to Europe" which took place in Georgia in March 2010. Again, they wrote a project called ‘’ Against Racism and Prejudices ONE MİNUTE !’’ to apply for Europe Youth in Action Programme with partnerships of Greece, Bulgaria, Israel, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Lastly, the association is now working on a project entitled as “Triple Culture Camps”, which aims to organize 3 culture camps with the participation of young people from all over Europe in three mystique and historical cities of Turkey, Mardin, Trabzon and Bursa. Main objective of this project is to decrease xenophobia both in Turkey and in other participant countries and increase sense of tolerance among them. When we look at its management structure, major decision making organs are General Assembly and the board. There are 12 young people on the board with different responsibilities. Youth-Agenda has about 55 volunteer members, who are basically students or former students. In Youth-Agenda Association, there is not a formal mechanism between the executive members and other members. Thus, it is not difficult for a member to express his/her own ideas about every topic held within the organization, from management structure to ongoing projects. The visibility of every member is one of the democratic structures in place in that organization. Secondly, every member is empowered in the projects run by the organization, there is not a central group imposing what to do on other members. Contribution of every member is possible within a broad framework. The management structure of Youth-Agenda organization is namely decentralized, as although its headquarter is in Istanbul, association members from other places work voluntarily outside the headquarter. This aspect has some positive and negative effects on its democratic structure. Strong points of this approach are firstly that it is able to mobilize its members by ensuring interior democratic participation. Executives can reach other members and their support through technological means and also, without directly being present in executive members’ meeting, members can reach them. Also, every member voluntarily takes the responsibility of a task based on interest areas and locational closeness to the subject held, and during these tasks they are self-managed without being subject to a hierarchical imposition. This empowerment and power sharing promotes the democratic management.

Mission and Objectives

Youth Agenda Association is sensible towards these problems and its main mission is to provide an effective youth service to compensate this lack of interest in state level and to empower these young people through promoting democratic citizenship to be active in civil society.
The main objectives of Youth Agenda Association are running workshops in social, cultural, political, educational and sportive fields; contributing to improve and strengthen collective activities of civil society and cooperating with the individuals and legal persons working in these fields; providing an active support for the improvement of youth politics; pioneering for the protection and the development of constitutional democratic rights of youth; providing a vision for cooperation and solidarity among youth; equipping the youth with unlimited resources and assistance in order to create progressive and modern masses who would conceive the ‘reality’ in national and global levels.

Main Projects / Activities

Main activities of the association are Conducting research and working together with other institutions and foundations for the purpose of protecting the democratic rights of youth without any discrimination on the basis of language, race, religion, sex, working and cooperating with international youth organizations and foundations in order to strengthen the bonds and relations outside of the country through the methods of youth exchange, youth enterprise and inter-cultural dialogue, contributing to prepare adequate ground for more active youth and women in political platform, being included in international activities through membership to external and international organizations and partnership on the basis of projects and association, working for preserving and extending democratic rights and freedoms of youth and taking place in joint projects with other organizations for the issues and problems existing in youth agenda.
Youth Agenda, as an association working mainly on EU projects, has selected its main target group as young people in local, national and international level, between 18-30 years old, similar to the definition of European Union.
Specific projects that Youth-Agenda Association has been working on are various. First of them is “Facestaj” project, which is awarded in World Bank “Creative Development Ideas Competition” among 791 competing projects and is funded by World Bank. This project aims to solve the unemployment problems of Turkish youth. Through this project, it is established a network where unemployed young people are given necessary personal development trainings and are provided employment opportunities. www.facestaj.com website has been established in the scope of this project and through this website, university and vocational high school students can find convenient internship positions as well as they can open their own groups to discuss relevant topics.
Moreover, one of the biggest problems of Turkish youth is not to speak English in an advanced level. Thus, Youth Agenda Association has organized and International English Speaking Camp in Turkey in August 2009 ( Antalya ), February 2010 ( İstanbul ) ,June 2010 ( Kuşadası ) , September 2010 ( Bodrum ).With the participation of foreign trainers and participants, Turkish youngsters find the opportunity to practice English.Main activities of the association are Conducting research and working together with other institutions and foundations for the purpose of protecting the democratic rights of youth without any discrimination on the basis of language, race, religion, sex, working and cooperating with international youth organizations and foundations in order to strengthen the bonds and relations outside of the country through the methods of youth exchange, youth enterprise and inter-cultural dialogue, contributing to prepare adequate ground for more active youth and women in political platform, being included in international activities through membership to external and international organizations and partnership on the basis of projects and association, working for preserving and extending democratic rights and freedoms of youth and taking place in joint projects with other organizations for the issues and problems existing in youth agenda.
Youth Agenda, as an association working mainly on EU projects, has selected its main target group as young people in local, national and international level, between 18-30 years old, similar to the definition of European Union.
Specific projects that Youth-Agenda Association has been working on are various. First of them is “Facestaj” project, which is awarded in World Bank “Creative Development Ideas Competition” among 791 competing projects and is funded by World Bank. This project aims to solve the unemployment problems of Turkish youth. Through this project, it is established a network where unemployed young people are given necessary personal development trainings and are provided employment opportunities. www.facestaj.com website has been established in the scope of this project and through this website, university and vocational high school students can find convenient internship positions as well as they can open their own groups to discuss relevant topics.
Moreover, one of the biggest problems of Turkish youth is not to speak English in an advanced level. Thus, Youth Agenda Association has organized and International English Speaking Camp in Turkey in August 2009 ( Antalya ), February 2010 ( İstanbul ) ,June 2010 ( Kuşadası ) , September 2010 ( Bodrum ).With the participation of foreign trainers and participants, Turkish youngsters find the opportunity to practice English.

How can you contribute to the Network in your country?

We can participate in training, projects and different activities with dissemination of activities and share exprience

Why do you want to join the ALF Network?

To have better networking, more opportunities for fund, to share and exchange experience with others and to promote our NGO activities.

Contact (1) Full Name

Sima Baktas

Job Title

President

Head of the organisation

sima Baktas