Exactly these small-scale projects have caught my attention. It is a financing mechanism for strengthening civil society in all its aspects and variety. There are two partner institutions for applications stemming from Turkey; one is to be found in Ankara at the Dutch Embassy, and the second one is located at the Dutch Consulate General's offices in İstanbul.What is of great interest is the fact that it promotes small projects that can easily be planned for and carried out by local initiatives without too much external support. The maximum amount available per grant is 15,000 euros. More often than not, civil society financing is limited to the big, professional organizations that operate on a national level. Small but nevertheless vital groups simply fall through the net and receive neither attention nor much funding -- if they receive any!
The guidelines focus on initiatives that promote an open and pluralist civil society and aim at "less spectacular" projects. It is demand-driven by allowing applicants to decide which content they wish to pursue. It intends to establish close ties between the Turkish and Dutch civil societies. Eleven very wide-ranging topical areas are mentioned in the application pack, including the environment, labor and social policies, housing and the media. I have picked "housing" and "media." Let me briefly explain to our readers why.
We just enjoyed another bayram -- the most recent Turkish national holiday week -- during which many of us visited friends and families.
Housing in Turkey is unique in so far as it offers, in most instances, spacious accommodation which outperforms many European countries by size and interior quality of the flat or house in question. Europeans do not know how the average Turkish family lives. Would it not be interesting to establish a civil society-run, black-and-white photo exhibition that travels to Europe via the Netherlands introducing "The Way We Live" to our European partners? Perhaps this could become part of Matra/KAP? We need enthusiasm, a camera and suitable "objects."
Most of all, you need an audience! However, the advantage of projects like these is that they have a "built-in" audience as this is part and parcel of the visibility activities required by all such funding tools.
The second topic is the development of the regional press. Turkey has its fair share of broadsheets and tabloids, but most of them are nationwide publications with very limited regional news. What is missing is a strong and independent regional and local press in the form of weekly, in some places perhaps even daily, editions. Wherever I go in Turkey, I check the newsstands and the availability of local publications. We do find them but not to the extent required. I can imagine that there is demand as we all need to know what happens in our neighborhoods. I furthermore reckon that there are many enterprising minds out there who would choose journalism as a career if there only were enough newspapers that would later on employ them.
Can we learn from other countries experiences in this regard? Why not support an initiative that starts with one small local paper? You need funds for one or two salaries, paper and a printing house and of course expert guidance. Let the project run for a year or two and then decide whether it is worthwhile. It would just about fit in with Matra/KAP.
Previously supported projects include "Waste is everywhere" in Denizli, "Film festival of a town with no cinemas" near Mardin and "Increasing public awareness on diabetes and blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy" in Ankara. I found it very encouraging to learn about the variety of topics and initiatives that had been given a grant. It supports individual ideas instead of trying to squeeze a proposal into the tight framework of applicant's guidelines and thematic sub-areas, etc.
Now think about a combination of both my chosen topics: The way we live is very much based on the way we read and in particular on what we read. Why not bring books and other reading materials to those without access to them, or in other words why not make use of "mobile libraries"? I recently heard about the success story behind one such "books on wheels" project in Denizli. I have seen it in many other countries, and it works. The logical continuation could be the opening of more permanent libraries away from the big cities.
All this is part of Turkey's approach toward implementing a knowledge-based economy. Knowledge stems from written, spoken and visual information. Our children must get used to learning about the value of knowledge at the earliest age possible. While the system of the village teahouse lecture may be over, good mobile libraries can replace them. Books are still by far the best medium to jump onboard the knowledge train. If you are interested in learning more about the Matra/KAP proposals, contact the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ankara or the Consulate General of the Netherlands in İstanbul.
