ABOUT OUR PROGRAMME

Civil Society Dialogue is a programme bringing together civil society organisations from Turkey and the EU around common topics, to exchange knowledge and experience, and to build a sustained conversation between the organisations.

The Programme is co-financed by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA). The Ministry for European Union Affairs is the responsible institution for the technical implementation of the programme, while the Central Finance and Contracts Unit is the contracting authority.

Since its launch in 2008, the Civil Society Dialogue Programme has supported over 600 dialogue partnerships through 350 projects in many different fields, witnessing hundreds of activities to bring EU and Turkish communities closer together and create a greater mutual understanding amongst them. To date through the first three phase, a total of 42.5 million euros has funded these activities.

FOURTH PHASE (2015-2017)

The fourth phase of the programme supported projects across nine policy areas of the EU with a total budget of 11 million euros. These areas included environment; energy; consumer and health protection; justice, freedom and security; right of establishment and freedom to provide services; regional policy and coordination of structural instruments; enterprise and industrial policy; agriculture and fisheries and education.

Fourth Phase Grant Projects Activities and Achievements Book (PDF, 6MB)

THIRD PHASE (2014-2016 )

The third phase of the Programme hosted  dialogue projects from civil society organisations and institutions from Turkey and Europe that are active in the fields of media and the EU accession political criteria. 2.1 million euros was granted to 16 dialogue projects of media institutions, to help support their role in making the EU, its values and the benefits of membership better known to the public both in Turkey and the EU member states. Grants amounting to 4.9 million euros were awarded to 39 projects on three main priorities: human rights, anti-discrimination and democracy and the rule of law with the goal of enabling civil society to make its contributions to the political reform process and to assist it in conveying the results of this process to the public.

To read more about dialogue projects and their stories visit here.

In parallel to the grants, a series of dialogue seminars were organised to create a strong network between civil society organisations, media members and public officials as the primary actors in the accession process. Dialogue Seminars were held in 6 provinces to strengthen the capacity of these actors to work collectively to support improved understanding of EU-Turkey relations. Please visit http://civilsocietydialogue.org/dialogue-seminars/ for more information.

SECOND PHASE – 2010-2012

In the second phase of the Programme, focusing on Culture & Arts, and Agriculture & Fisheries, 42 dialogue projects were successfully completed, with a budget of over 5 million euros and involving 154 different partnerships from Turkey and the EU. In addition, almost 300 thousand euros supported the award of micro grants that helped small size dialogue ideas of CSOs.

To read more about dialogue projects and their stories visit here.

FIRST PHASE (2008-2009)

The first phase of the Programme was implemented during 2008-2009 period. In this phase, 19,3 million euros of financial support was granted to 119 projects designed and implemented by municipalities, professional organizations, universities, and youth organisations from Turkey and the EU for their dialogue and networking activities. In total, these projects helped to foster 238 civil society partnerships from Turkey, involving organisations from 21 different EU Member States.

To read more about the dialogue projects of the first phase and their stories visit here.