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<h2>Civil Society Exchange is a program designed for civil society organizations from Turkey and Europe. It supports the idea of a unified Europe through cross-border cooperation. We encourage civil society organizations to form and foster partnerships between Turkey and Europe and to work together in partnerships on capacity building models.</h2>

Civil Society Exchange supports the idea of a unified Europe through cross-border cooperation. We encourage civil society organizations to form and foster partnerships between Turkey and Europe and to work together in partnerships on capacity building models.

Civil Society Exchange

In a time when the oppression on civil society and democratic institutions increases and authoritarian conducts influencing political leadership worldwide, new cross-border cooperations and friendships between actors and ‚city-makers’ becomes more significant and important. The Civil Society Exchange has brought 17 CSOs from Europe and Turkey together, who were already in a partnership or established it during the 5-day kickoff meeting in Istanbul. In result, eight tandems from different fields worked together and inspired each other. The range was broad, so there were CSOs from the field of ecology &amp; environment, cultural heritage, local democracy &amp; participation, art &amp; architecture (that’s us!), refugee aid, humanitarian affairs, youth and family support. And yet, it was interesting to see how many common fields of challenges are being faced: whether fundraising, working in networks and keeping them alive, or working with volunteers. There were a lot of common topics despite different goals and countries. The exchange program is organised by the Association MitOst (Germany) and by Istanbul Bilgi University (Turkey), with the financial support of the Mercator Foundation (Germany). The participating CSOs of this pilot exchange are from Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Poland and each collaborates with a partner from Turkey. The final event is planned for February 2018 in Berlin.

civil society exchange in Istanbul

kitev & Herkes İçin Mimarlık

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kitev + Herkes İçin Mimarlık + Netzwerk ImMigra

Herkes İçin Mimarlık (Architecture for All) and kitev has met for the first time in analogue life, although they were in touch before. In both work co-creation in architecture is a crucial principle, when developing local projects, targeting urban change. During the six-month exchange the partners, together with a 3rd organisation Netzwerk ImMigra from Germany, will visit each other and work together on their models in order to increase the diversity and openness in their organisational structures. The organisations agreed to strengthen the capacity building models of the partners by providing mobility and a space for mutual learning. During the five days the program was filled with diverse activities and coachings, focusing the exchange of best practices among all participants and the partnership building and planning of the future activities of those CSOs who are going to work closely together within the next year.

market in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul by night

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Istanbul's waterfront

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Istanbul Gezi

Adalet! Justice! During the stay in Istanbul, also something else and really remarkable happened, which was not on the agenda of the program. The „big march for justice“ of the leader of the biggest opposition party (C.H.P) has arrived in the city and a few of the participants joined in. During the rally of Kemal Kilicdaroglu from Ankara to Istanbul (425km!), thousands of people have entered the march. At its final point in Istanbul, there was a huge demonstration. You could feel the tension in the air, but also hope. Lots of people called this a historic moment, when the peaceful protesters reminded the government, at the moment ruling by decree and intimidation, about the social contract: the citizens are willing to submit to the authority of the state in exchange for the protection of civil rights. Instead, in the last year since the coups d’etat, the Turkish democracy has shifted in another direction.

adalet - march for justice

Demo kl 170709 civil society exchange istanbul cs 021

further links: <a href="http://herkesicinmimarlik.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Herkes İçin Mimarlık</a> <a href="http://netzwerk-immigra.de" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Netzwerk ImMigra</a> <a href="https://civilsocietyexchange.org">Civil Society Exchange </a>

Stadt boot kl 170711 civil society exchange istanbul aw 171 2

Erst kürzlich wurde Oberhausen in einem ansehnlichen Artikel, erschienen bei <a href="http://citiscope.org/story/2017/how-declining-german-city-reviving-itself-bottom">Citiscope,</a> als Startrampe für soziale Innovationen und eine urbane «bottom-up» Erneuerung charakterisiert. Es ist schön zu sehen, dass unser gemeinschaftlicher Einsatz, in einer Stadt, der es wirtschaftlich besser gehen könnte, als eine Art «Ausbruch neuer Experimente» verstanden wird. Damit wird das Beispiel am Ort Oberhausen offenbar zu einem, von dem man lernen kann. Allerdings bleibt noch immer sehr viel zu tun und die Luft nach oben lädt zum Träumen ein. Der gegenseitige Austausch in den einzelnen Gemeinschaften muss fortgeführt werden, um von den individuellen Erfolgen sowie Herausforderungen zu lernen.

Als nächstes wollen wir von der Türkei lernen, im Speziellen von unseren Kollegen*innen in Istanbul. Wir werden die Reise mit einer großer Neugier, aber auch bescheidenen Haltung antreten. Denn es wird sicherlich eine Herausforderung sein, in nur relativ kurzer Zeit ein Gespür für diese Metropole zu bekommen. Dennoch hoffen wir, wenigstens in ein paar Mikrokosmen der Stadt einzutauchen und ein Verständnis für dessen Dynamik zu bekommen. Dieser Austausch wird durch das Programm <a href="https://civilsocietyexchange.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Civil Society Exchange</a> möglich gemacht, welches sich um die Entstehung von Partnerschaften zwischen Türkei und Europa bemüht. Ziel dieser Partnerschaften ist es, die Tragfähigkeit von erstellten Modellen der einzelnen Partner zu stärken und dadurch den Raum für ein gegenseitiges «von-einander-Lernen» zu schaffen. In einer Dauer von 6 Monaten werden sich die Partner im Rahmen des Austauschprogramms gegenseitig besuchen, um fortwährend gemeinsam an ihren Aktivitäten zu arbeiten.
Wenn die Bereiche der Politik schon versagen, gilt es umso mehr den Glauben in die Zivilgesellschaft aufrecht zu erhalten. Regelmäßig gelangen die Nachrichten über die türkische Regierung zu uns. Darüber, wie sie ihre Macht demonstriert, indem sie unschuldige Personen hinter Gittern bringt und Demonstrationen im Land mit aller Gewalt unterbindet. Unter diesen sehr schwierigen Bedingungen überhaupt operativ tätig zu sein und auch zu bleiben, verdient bereits im Vorfeld den höchsten Respekt an die türkischen Kollegen*innen. Unser Partner und Gastgeber in Istanbul ist <a href="http://cargocollective.com/hayrettingunc/Herkes-Icin-Mimarlik-Architecture-for-All" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Herkes Icin Mimarlik</a> (Architecture For All). Die, in 2011 gegründete gemeinnützige Organisation entwickelt architektonische Lösungen für soziale Probleme und fördert mitzuwirkende Design Prozesse. Wie geht die Organisation mit den aktuellen politischen und sozialen Herausforderungen um? Wie nutzen sie die Stärken eines Netzwerks? Woher nehmen sie ihre Energien? Wir sind sehr gespannt auf diesen Austausch!
Zu oft nehmen wir in Deutschland eine freie und funktionierende Zivilgesellschaft für selbstverständlich. Auch wir können nur hoffen, dass es so bleibt, aber was sich momentan in Oberhausen abspielt, bereitet uns große Sorgen. Plötzlich liegen Angst und Hoffnungslosigkeit in der Luft. Einige unserer Team-Mitglieder der Refugees´ Kitchen werden in naher Zukunft ihren Bescheid vom Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge über ihr Asyl-Verfahren bekommen. Wie wird es sein, wenn der Bescheid negativ ausfällt und alle Versuche dagegen zu klagen zwecklos bleiben? Was wird das mit uns machen, plötzlich Zeuge zu werden, wenn Mitglieder unserer Gemeinschaft abgeschoben werden? Diese asylsuchenden Mitglieder haben hier bereits Wurzeln geschlagen und wertvolle Arbeit in partizipativen Prozessen geleistet. Es wäre ein unvorstellbarer Verlust, wenn uns einer unserer Freunde verlassen müsste. Ganz abgesehen davon, welche katastrophalen Konsequenzen die Abschiebung für die betroffene Person selbst hätte.
Wir bleiben hoffnungsvoll, für Istanbul und Oberhausen.

Oberhausen has recently been characterised as a launchpad for social innovation and bottom-up urban regeneration. It is great to hear that our collaborative effort seems to be ”fueling a burst of experimentation” Citiscope, in a town that is not doing well economically. It seems that Oberhausen has become a place to learn from. However, there is still so much to improve and to get done! We have to continue exchange of ideas between communities and to learn from each others’ success and hardship.
Our next teacher will be in Turkey and especially with our collegues in Istanbul. We are going there with a curious but humble attitude. It will be challenging to get a first grasp of the metropolis over a prolonged weekend, but we hope to get to understand at least some microcosm within the city. This trip is made possible through <a href="https://civilsocietyexchange.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Civil Society Exchange</a> that fosters partnerships between Turkey and Europe. The partnerships aim to strengthen the capacity building models of the of partners by providing mobility and a space for mutual learning. During the six-month exchange period the partners shall visit each other and work on their model together.
The more the realm of politics sucks, the more important it is to keep up the faith in the civil society. We get to read regularly about the Turkish government putting innocent people behind bars and banning demonstrations. Considering this constant hardship in the operating environment of our exchange partners, we are raising our hats high for them already in advance. Our partner and host in Istanbul, <a href="http://cargocollective.com/hayrettingunc/Herkes-Icin-Mimarlik-Architecture-for-All" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><a href="http://cargocollective.com/hayrettingunc/Herkes-Icin-Mimarlik-Architecture-for-All" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Herkes Icin Mimarlik</a> (Architecture For All), offers architecture solutions to social problems and promotes participatory design processes. How does this independent non-profit cope with the current political and societal challenges; how do they use the power of networks; where does their energy come from? We are really looking forward to the exchange!
In Germany it is easy to take a free and functioning civil society for granted. We truly hope that we could continue to do so, but what is now happening in Oberhausen raises our concern. There is anxiety and hopelessness in the air. Some of our long-time team members are about to receive the asylum decisions from the German migration authorities. What if the decisions are negative and filing in complaints won’t help? What if we have to witness deportations of our community members? These asylum seekers have already grown roots here and done valuable work; it would be an unbelievable loss if our friends had to leave. Not to mention how catastrophic consequences the deportations would have for the persons themselves.
However, we remain hopeful, both for Istanbul and Oberhausen.