A Crossroads Event of THE:PLACE: a meeting point for engaged CSOs & LAs from the EU and Türkiye

Together with our partner MAD – Mekanda Adalet Derneği (Centre for Spatial Justice), from 9 to 12 October 2023, ALDA organised the ‘Crossroads Event‘, the mid-programme meeting of THE:PLACE programme. This event was meant to cross the paths between the participants of the 1st round of the programme, 12 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and 12 Local Authorities (LAs) from the European Union and Türkiye who have been collaborating for common projects in the past year, and the 2nd round of participants, 16 Turkish and EU CSOs who have just been selected to engage in the same process.

This variegated group of participants met in Izmir (Türkiye) for 3 days of intensive exchange and common reflections. Starting from the experience of the 6 projects implemented in the frame of the 1st round, new links have been created among the 28 participating Associations and 12 Local Authorities involved. The two main axes of the programme represented the main topic of discussion of the event: CSO-LA collaboration and EU-Turkish cooperation. In order to produce concrete outputs and change on these aspects, 8 new partnerships will be created to design and implement a one-year project that will have an impact both on the Turkish and European cities selected.

This variegated group of participants met in Izmir (Türkiye) for 3 days of intensive exchange and common reflections

A very important contribution has been given by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, which actively engaged in the programme by bringing its own experience in terms of citizen participation and international projects.

THE:PLACE – Türkiye Hand in hand with Europe: Programme for Local Authorities and Civil society Exchange aims to build up lasting Türkiye – European Union networks of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that work on local issues, promoting an exchange aimed to increase their capacity to create meaningful impact in their respective areas of work.

THE:PLACE programme is funded by the Mercator foundation and co-managed by ALDA and MAD.

More information can be found here: https://mekandaadalet.org/en/theplace-faq/