Civic Engagement for Local Climate Change Governance Project Launch Meeting

The launch meeting for our project , Civic Engagement for Local Climate Change Governance , took place on December 17th in Ankara. Dr. Özge Aktaş Mazman, General Director of TESEV, Hakan Atik, Head of Project Implementation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate of European Union Affairs, Jean Barbé, Head of Section, European Union Delegation in Türkiye, Miodrag Dragisic, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Türkiye gave the opening speeches.

The project introduced digital policy tools for improved data-driven decision-making processes, monitoring and evaluation, informed participation, and municipality-civil society cooperation. TESEV Project Manager Tuğba Özsoy introduced the project, while Research Director Dr. Itır Akdoğan shared the MoDeL Local Climate Policy Monitoring and Participation Tool and policy recommendations for democratic local climate change management.

The key speaker Prof. Dr. Murat Güvenç presented the most important output of this project, The Climate Justice Map in his speech Mapping Vulnerability,

In the final part of the event, in a panel moderated by TESEV Research Director Dr. Itır Akdoğan, Bahadır Keşan, Strategy Development Manager of Maltepe Municipality, Neslihan Cankara, Civic Engagement Project Manager and Chief Technical Advisor of the UNDP Türkiye, Ömer Öztürk, Head of Climate Change Adaptation and Local Policies Department of the Ministry of Environment, City and Climate Change, Dr. Tezcan Eralp Abay, Director of the Civil Society Development Center, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yahya Can Dura, Strategy Development Manager of the Union of Municipalities of Turkey discussed democratic local climate change governance.

This project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union under the Civic Engagement Small Grants Programme. “Civic Engagement Small Grants Programme” implemented within the scope of “Strengthened Civic Engagement for Enhanced Democratic Local Governance in Türkiye Project” is financed by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The beneficiary of the project is the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye. As the IPA II Civil Society sector leader, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs is the lead institution of the project.