The “Civil Society Dialogue Between the EU and Türkiye IV”, designed as part of the 2011 programming activities, marked a period during which it adopted a comprehensive strategy with its nine components on one hand, and on the other hand, it grew as a brand and increased its visibility. The grant programmes in the fourth phase, implemented from 2015 to 2017, were determined within the framework of the policy areas of importance to the EU and prominent chapter headings.
- Environment
- Energy
- Protection of Consumers and Health
- Justice, Freedom, and Security
- Right to Establish a Business and Freedom to Provide Services
- Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments
- Business and Industrial Policy
- Agriculture and Fisheries
- Education
77 projects were supported with approximately 10.4 million euros within the scope of 9 different policy components:
- Environment component, 2 million euros in grant support for 15 projects.
- Energy component, 843,000 euros in grant support for 6 projects.
- Protection of Consumers and Health component, 1 million euros in grant support for 8 projects.
- Justice, Freedom, and Security component, 1.1 million euros in grant support for 8 projects.
- Right to Establish a Business and Freedom to Provide Services component, 284,000 euros in grant support for 2 projects.
- Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments component, 1.3 million euros in grant support for 9 projects.
- Business and Industrial Policy component, 1.2 million euros in grant support for 9 projects.
- Agriculture and Fisheries component, 1.3 million euros in grant support for 10 projects.
- Education component, 1.3 million euros in grant support for 10 projects.
The most important common feature of CSD III and CSD IV Programmes is the emphasis on “rights-based” projects.
Especially in CSD III, women’s rights and prevention of violence against women, disabled rights and active citizenship, minority rights, transparency and accountability issues were frequently discussed. In CSD IV, rights-based projects were mostly clustered around “refugee & immigrant rights”. Projects related to refugee rights were also heavily included in CSD V and VI Programmes.
The visibility and dissemination activities carried out with the “Media” component in the previous phase also opened the doors to a mutual learning experience. Civil Society Dialogue has become a leading name in promoting Türkiye-EU relations and EU values by using the increasingly widespread social media and different tools of traditional media. The Civil Society Dialogue documentary, which impressively describes the reflections of the Dialogue, was broadcast on Türkiye’s first documentary channel, beIN İZ. The Dialogue projects reached millions of viewers in the TV program “In Search of Natural Delicacies from Europe to Anatolia” on NTV channel and in the documentary “My European City”, that was broadcast on TRT Haber.
Within the scope of the promotion and awareness activities of the projects, 73 videos, 28 radio programs and two documentary films were produced. 900 thousand people were reached through the Programme’s social media campaigns. The “Capture the Dialogue” exhibition, which showcased the Dialogue projects with photographs since 2008, met with art lovers in Ankara’s leading contemporary arts centre, CerModern, and in Brussels. The exhibition also had the opportunity to reach a much wider audience in the virtual environment through the Programme’s website and social media accounts.
The CSD IV compendium can be accessed here.