YouthBank Turkey

Volume 1 August - November 2012

Newsletter

YouthBank has been implemented in Turkey since the beginning of 2011. The second year of the project started in January 2012 with the 6 YouthBank teams in 5 di erent locations opening the new perspectives and opportunities for projects development. Popularization of the project, engaging more and more young people coming from disadvantageous backgrounds and in this way providing support to their personal development is the main aim of Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG) SATR Project Cooperation and Joined Projects of YouthBank from Turkey and Armenia
The cooperation of YouthBanks from Armenia and Turkey under the SATR project, that started in 2011, nish with the end of the program sponsored by USAID. Only in 2012 two youth exchanges to Armenia and Turkey took place accompanied by the joined actions and projects.

Evaluation and Networking Workshops - YouthBank Camp

Between 9th and 15th of August YouthBank members from all locations in Turkey participated in the domestic workshops - YouthBank Camp in Pamucak. During one-week event the young people had chance to meet again their project counterparts from di erent regions in Turkey, participate in the workshops on civic activism, team work and project management, share experience and ideas on the project.

Young Ideas and Creativity YouthBank Teams and Their Projects

The six YouthBank teams located in Istanbul, Samsun, Seluk, Arhavi and Batman have already implemented some interesting projects that have engaged their peers and local communities.

Togs Youth Meeting and YouthBank Istanbul, 27-28 September

YouthBank volunteers are the part of the bigger group of young people implementing the social responsibility projects with TOGs support. Every year TOG supports the realization of over 800 projects with the participation of about 35,000 young people in over 100 university clubs all around the Turkey

Five Regions, Five YouthBank Projects Regional YouthBank

The activities of the Regional YouthBank project are carried out in ve regions (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and Turkey) by Eurasia Partnership Foundation in cooperation with Toplum Gnllleri Vakf and Save the Children. The YouthBank committees members from all locations will participate in the set of activities, including exchange visit and nal conference in Istanbul. The aim of the Building a Young Constituency for Peace across the South Caucasus and Turkey project granted by the Belgian Government is to build the YouthBank network in the region and facilitate the cooperation between the volunteers.

How to Develop The Project? Support Trainings for Youth in YB Locations.

Field work and experiences gained during the project shows that young people have some di culties in turning their ideas into the project eligible for YB support. The word project seems to be very di cult term. Young people need support and some knowledge to develop the content and manage their own projects.

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Evaluation and Networking Workshops - YouthBank Camp

YouthBank teams. By the time the teams selected the projects that will receive the grants the motivation of the teams decreased a little bit. The new questions and concerns appeared and need to be answered; the new YouthBankers joined the teams and were looking for the information and theguidelines. During the camp all those questions that arose were answered. Thanks to the Seluk Municipality who support the event, the members of YouthBank teams from all over the Turkey spend one week in the youth camp facility in Pamucak. Between 9 and 15 of August 17 members of the YouthBank committees at least two participants from every location gathered together in Pamucak. Designing the program was challenging to give the necessary and useful information without making the program overloaded and leave the space for interactions and networking. The new members of the teams who joined the project in the meantime received the orientation that covers such topics as civil society, youth, youth work, Toplum Gonulluleri and the concept of YouthBank. Later on, together with more experienced participants we had a look at project circle and focused on developing the skills that useful in work on the YouthBank teams team work, communication and feedback. How to explain the YouthBank project to the people? How to engage the young people living in the neighborhood? We did some works on that as well to get ready for the second grant circle. The YB teams spent some time on preparing the plan and calendar for the next 5 months of the project. The participants left the camp motivated and ready to carry on the project.

Between 9th and 15th of August YouthBank members from all locations in Turkey participated in the domestic workshops - YouthBank Camp in Pamucak. During one-week event the young people had chance to meet again their project counterparts from di erent regions in Turkey, participate in the workshops on civic activism, team work and project management, share experience and ideas on the project. The YouthBank volunteers were working hard since the introductory training in January. A lot of things were going on around, some of the volunteers are students, some of them work, all of them were sometimes having hard times trying to combine their responsibilities with the voluntary work in their local

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Young Ideas and Creativity YouthBank Teams and Their Projects

The six YouthBank teams located in Istanbul, Samsun, Seluk, Arhavi and Batman have already implemented some interesting projects that have engaged their peers and local communities. they proposed building the little fences around the trees in Osmanl Park. On the 2nd of September the project team together with the YouthBank gathered in the park to implement the project together. Few days before starting, the YouthBank teams obtained the permission from the local municipality. Group of 15 young people painting worked together all day building the fences and them, receiving also help from passers-by. For the project team and many young people who took part in the works it was the rst social responsibility project they participated in.

Painted Hands Ksa Dalga GenBank (Istanbul, Eyup district) has implemented two of its projects. The rst one was submitted by zlem, Eda and Kbra who live in the Alibeyky neighborhood of Eyup. To protect the trees and to make the whole area more colorful and joyful

Second implemented project was more di cult but also more rewarding. Project was brought to the YB by the Boyal Eller gra ti team (Painted hands), the gra ti group created by young people that has already gained recognition of the local municipalities and has decorated with gra ti many public places. This time the group wanted to paint together with children gra ti inside of orphanage in Eyup. The orphanage authorities welcomed the idea and prepared the wall for painting gra ti. Two-day project was implemented on 22 and 23 of September. Because of the delicacy of the situation and protection of the identity of the children, only YB members and project teams participated in the event. Over 50 children (age range 7 12) living in the orphanage, most of them staying there because of very bad economical condition of their families, painted the colorful gra ti on the wall surrounding the inside garden. The activity got the appreciation from the carers who joined the children. Everybody had a chance to use the spray paint, paint the wall and got some useful tips from young gra ti artists. Creating the painting together, having an opportunity to redecorate the space they live in gave the children a lot of joy.

Engage and Include! YouthBank team in Batman usually chooses the projects that engage and support the members of the local community, in poor economic condition, young people with disabilities. In September team has implemented the project in cooperation with Yeiltepe ATOM (Yeiltepe Multifunctional Community Center). The arts and crafts workshops were organized between 2 and 7 September for the young women bene ting from the ATOM services. The travel expenses of the professional trainers and artists who facilitated workshops were covered from the YB grant. The prepared arts and crafts were presented and put on sale during the charity sale on 8th of September. The incomes gained from the sale were spent to support the families in poor economic conditions and to cover the school expenses of one young woman.

Another project aiming at engaging young disabled people and creating the space to socialize with peers started recently. The young people together participate in cotton thread jewellery workshops organized in the Batman Youth and Culture Center. Apart from learning, staying together and making bracelets and necklaces from cotton thread very popular among young people, young people become more emphatic and aware of the problems of disabled young people. Workshops have started on 13th of November and take place twice a week.

Lets Dance Seluk YouthBank (Seluk/Izmir) is currently implementing two sustainable projects. Having convenient o ce which becamethe youth center, place of meeting for young people from Selcuk, the YB team supported two long-term projects: English Conversation Club and Latin Dance Workshops. The idea of the rst project was presented to the YB team by Burak Turfan. What is the biggest di culty for the young people studying English is speaking? I understand but I cant speak its one of the most common complain. Burak proposed organizing speaking club. Facilitated by the pro cient English speaker, 2-hour English workshops take place once a week. Only 7 people participated in the rst workshops but later this number was growing and currently around 20 young people (age range from 15 to 25) participate in the activity. The Latin dance project was designed by Serdar Durmuolu. Although there is quite signi cant group of young people interested in Latin dances there is no dance school or even dance course in Selcuk. The dance teacher was found and at the moment, every Saturday youth from Selcuk can participate in the dance workshops.

Arrange Your Future! Pink House YouthBank from Istanbuls Kavacik district decided to support young people willing to

enter university. Institute for Arranging the Future is coaching program prepared by the teams of 3 young sociology graduates. During the ve-week long workshops the topics such as concentration techniques, setting the goals and motivation were discussed. Every week the participants had two meetings, workshops with whole group and face to face consultation with the coach. The project comes to the end at the beginning of December with the closing event organized to celebrate the participants achievements. The project gained recognition from the local municipalities and the future cooperation and implementation of the project in di erent locations is discussed. Another eld in which the Pink House YB supports the young people is art. The group of young people interested in Improvisation Theater decided to apply for the funding from YB

to learn more about the concept and develop their own play. The group planned to watch 4 di erent improvisation plays of di erent theater groups and organized meetings and workshops to discuss the concept leading nally to the creation of their own play. The group encouraged and received a lot of support from the professional theaters group.

Youth on Air Atakum YouthBank was presented with the project of internet radio. The aim of the project is to give the young people necessary knowledge and skills to create and broadcast their own internet radio programmes. By developing their programmes, making interviews with artists they will increase their self-con dence and become more aware of their choices in the eld of art and culture. More information on radio and its current programmes as well as access link can be nd on http://www.facebook.com/Radyoid The idea of organizing gra ti and break-dance workshops with mentally disabled students of Zafer Special Education School submitted to the Atakum YB gained its full support and was implemented at the end of October. Volunteers rst explain how to make gra ti and later together with children they started painting the walls of their school. Creating their own gra ti, holding the spray paints in their hands, watching and trying to dance hip-hop and break-dance gave the children a lot of joy. The whole group had a lot of fun working, dancing and joking together. The workshops nished but the gra ti paintings still welcome the children every day when they enter the school.

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How to Develop The Project? Support Trainings for Youth in YB Locations

Field work and experiences gained during the project shows that young people have some di culties in turn ing their ideas into the project eligible for YB support. The word project seems to be very di cult term. Young people need support and some knowledge to develop the content and manage their own projects. To facilitate the e orts of young people possible YB grantees and help the local YB teams the trainings on project circle and management were organized and delivered in 4 YB locations by Ouzhan aamer, the peer trainer. First training organized in Batman gathered 40 young participants who wanted to get knowledge on youth, youth work and social responsibility projects. Some of the projects written during the training were presented to the Batman YB teams and received the support. 24 young people participated in training organized in Arhavi between 17 and 18 of October. How is it to be young in Arhavi? What are the needs of young people living here? What can we do? These topics topics turned out to be the most important for all participants, as well as for the head of local municipality who joined part of the training. Two more trainings organized in Atakum and Selcuk also aroused the interest and gathered a signi cant number of the participants contributing to development of the new projects ideas.

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SATR Project Cooperation and Joined Projects of YouthBank from Turkey and Armenia

The cooperation of YouthBanks from Armenia and Turkey under the SATR project, that started in 2011, nish with the end of the program sponsored by USAID. Only in 2012 two youth exchanges to Armenia and Turkey took place accompanied by the joined actions and projects. Between 26th and 30th April 2012 the group of 5 young people, YouthBank committee members visited their project counterparts in Armenia. The aim of the visit was to develop the joined projects with the Armenian YouthBanks under the scope of Support to Armenia Turkey Rapprochement project. The 4-day visit was good opportunity to learn more about the YouthBank project in Armenia, to speak with the project participants and share experience although the main aim was to develop the ideas for the joint projects and strengthen the cooperation between Turkish and Armenian YouthBank teams. The group visited YouthBanks in Kotayk, Echmiadzin and. In Kotayk and Vaghnadzor YB volunteers participated in the meetings with local communities and gave a helpful hand in implementing two projects in local school and childrens center. The last day of the visit young people from Turkish and Armenian YouthBanks spend on brainstorming and designing the ideas of joint projects to be implemented in Turkey. The second exchange visit of the YouthBank volunteers from Armenia and Turkey took place in Samsun and Istanbul, Turkey, between 27th of August and 2nd of September. The visit started on 27th of August in Samsun and was hosted by the Atakum YouthBank team. The rst day of the visit passed on workshops and getting to know each other. The YouthBank members had

chance to present their local committees, implemented projects and speak about situation of youth in Turkey and Armenia. The second day of the visit was the Big Day. Volunteers from Armenia and Turkey together arranged a space in a little park in front of the ne Delii Youth Center by planting the Peace Sign and organized the surrounding area. The project had been organized with the support of the Atakum Municipality. In uenced by the project the authorities decided to name the square and from now on its called Peace Park. Three days with Atakum YouthBank volunteers passed very fast and time to leave to Istanbul had come. During 4-day the stay in Istanbul the volunteers had chance to visit the Hrant Dink Foundation and get familiarized with its projects, meet with YouthBank teams hosted by the Short Wave Youth Center and pay the visit to the Sulukule volunteers Association and Children Art Workshops working with children in the Sulukule district. Especially meeting with the young volunteers of the Children Art Workshops, learning their stories, listening their hip hop lyrics and playing music together was interesting and enjoyable experience for the YouthBank volunteers from Armenia and Turkey. The group of Armenian and Turkish volunteers visited also summer project organized by the young volunteers of Tog on Princess Islands. During the short meeting apart from introducing the YouthBank project in Armenia and Turkey some volunteers from Tog and guests from Armenia shortly presented their hometowns and countries. For more photos and information about the visit check: https://www.facebook.com/GencBankTOG https://twitter.com/GencBank

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Togs National Youth Meeting and YouthBank Istanbul, 27-28 September

the event, where they had chance to meet other volunteers, learn about di erent projects, participate in workshops on di erent topics organized by various civil society organizations (Amnesty International, Greenpeace and Hrant Dink Foundation among the others). During the university clubs and national projects fair YB members opened their stand that attracted a lot of attention and interest. The team presented the works of 6 YB teams and their implemented projects.

YouthBank volunteers are the part of the bigger group of young people implementing the social responsibility projects with TOGs support. Every year TOG supports the realization of over 800 projects with the participation of about 35,000 young people in over 100 university clubs all around the Turkey. Twice representatives of the university clubs meet during the Youth Council. The last council that took place in Istanbul was very special as it was marked by anniversary it was 20th volunteers meeting. The members of the YouthBank also participated in

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Five Regions, Five YouthBank Projects Regional YouthBank

The activities of the Regional YouthBank project are carried out in ve regions (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and Turkey) by Eurasia Partnership Foundation in cooperation with Toplum Gnllleri Vakf and Save the Children. The YouthBank committees members from all locations will participate in the set of activities, including exchange visit and nal conference in Istanbul. The aim of the Building a Young Constituency for Peace across the South Caucasus and Turkey project granted by the Belgian Government is to build the YouthBank network in the region and facilitate the cooperation between the volunteers. The rst exchange visit of the YouthBank teams members from Georgia and Turkey to Armenia took place in Armenia at the beginning of October. enable further development of the cooperation between the YouthBanks and building the network in South Caucasus region and Turkey.

The visit was preceded by the two-day Cross Cultural Communication Trainings preparing them for interacting and working together with the peers coming from di erent cultures and countries. The content of the training was designed by the cross cultural communication and con ict resolution expert together with the project coordinators from the regions participating in the project. Training was delivered to 6 YB members between 2 and 3 of October by the project coordinator supported by experienced Tog trainer. During the four-day long visit YB members from Turkey learned more about the YouthBank projects in di erent locations and met with the project volunteers from Armenia and Georgia. The group stayed visited the YouthBank teams in Dilijan, Ararat and Yeghenadzor. In Dilijan exchange participants worked together in the batik workshop founded by the YouthBank committee and painted two

pictures. Ararat YB invited the group to their o ce and presented their successful projects followed by the concert of the young musician who organized his rst big performance with the support of the local YouthBank. The last visited YouthBank team from Yeghenadzor invited the visitors to implemented one of their project. The YouthBank members from Armenia, Turkey and Georgia together arranged and redecorated square in Yeghenadzor.

Getting to know new people, places and cultures was a great experience for all of the participants. The YouthBank members from Turkey, Georgia and Armenia learned that they have a lot of in common and are looking forward to meet and work together again during the conference scheduled for February 2013.

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