Issue: 128
People around Turkey and beyond will share their thoughts during Social Good Summit İstanbul meet-up, on how technology and new media can help achieve equality for all by 2030 with the changing dynamics our new world.
Social Good Summit meet-ups organized all around the world are looking for answers to the question of “How can technology, innovation and new media be used for social good?”
Social Good Summit 2016 İstanbul meet-up is organized with the partnership of Türk Telekom.
In Social Good Summit İstanbul meet-up, speakers will share thoughts on how technology and new media can help achieve equality for all by 2030.
Livestream
In the meet-up which is entirely livestreamed, individuals all around Turkey and the region can share their opinions and ask questions to the speakers of the meet-up. #2030Şimdi-#2030Now hashtags are used for the discussions on social media during the event.
More information about the meet-up can be found on http://www.sgsistanbul.org/
In NYC
Global Social Good Summit 2016 is hosted by UNDP in New York organized for the seventh time this year (The first one was in 2010).
Social Good Summit is held during the United Nations Week brings a dynamic community together. The importance of innovative thinking and technology on finding solutions to the most crucial challenges we face is discussed in the summit.
In 2013 Social Good Summit was held for the first time in Turkey. During the meet-up in İstanbul, it was emphasized that we should change the point of view in solving our greatest challenges with innovative social good projects for the future we want in 2030.
Why #2030Now?
#2030Now builds on the UN-led process to craft a post-2015 development agenda that follows and accelerates progress on the Millennium Development Goals that cover the period from 2000 to 2015.
Starting from 1 January 2016, we entered a new 15 year period with a new global development agenda: Sustainable Development Goals aka Global Goals
Hence, the hashtag for this event #2030Now is extremely important. We would like to discuss the post-2015 global development priorities and use every innovative and technological tool which is available to us to take us to a better world by 2030.
More info on the Global Social Good Summit in NYC 18-19th September 2016 mashable.com/sgs
More infor on Regional SGS in Istanbul on 29th September 2016 sgsistanbul.org
Carried out in cooperation with the General Directorate of Forestry and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the project titled "Integrated Management of High Conservation Value Mediterranean Forests" promotes the sustainable management of forests across Turkey. The General Directorate of Forestry and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has kicked off collaborations with Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in an effort to develop Decision Support Systems making use of up-to-date technologies for the management of forests in consideration of the needs of the future generations as they offer local solutions for global problems.
Within this scope, a workshop on Decision Support Systems was held in Ankara on May 30 to June 3, 2016 and attended by Prof. Chad OLIVER of Yale University, Mr. Devin Routh, Mr. Alark Saxena, Mr. Martin Gehrig of the Gold Standard as well as project consultants and UNDP project team.
On the occasion of the workshop, the participations discussed over the suggestions and expectations of the General Directorate of Forestry for Decision Support Systems, and the system proposed by Yale University's experts for Decision Support Systems along with their assessments. They also dwelled on how to decide on the content and software procedures of Decision Support Systems and how to relate it to the MRV process.
At the Wrap-up Meeting held on the final day of the workshop, the Department of Foreign Relations, Training and Research decided to identify one official from the Department of Forestry Administration and Planning, the Department of Information Systems and other relevant Departments of the GDF to be incorporated into this effort. In addition, the participants decided to let the experts of Yale University and the Gold Standard Foundation meet until the second half of June 2016 to draw up a working schedule that allows to see what to do and how to do them and submit them to the GDF and the UNDP and organize a meeting in Ankara in the late-June if a need arises.
Aiming to develop the capacity of attorneys who have provided or will provide legal aid services to disadvantaged groups, thereby ensuring the provision of efficient and quality legal aid service throughout Turkey, field visits under the project entitled “Support to the Improvement of Legal Aid Practices for Access to Justice for All in Turkey” to Southern provinces that host a large number of Syrians has been completed at the end of June. Project experts found the opportunity to conduct in-depth interviews with a plethora of stakeholders, including judges, prosecutors, representatives of bar associations, intergovernmental organizations, officials of removal centers, local and international NGOs and Syrians who have benefitted from legal aid.
These interviews helped identify the problems faced by the population in the region regarding access to justice, along with the solutions proposed by the provincial bar associations and NGOs working in the field. Included among the serious problems and violations faced by the whole population in the region are workplace accidents, child labor, arbitrary annulment of rent contracts, child marriages, violence against women and girls and legal and practical obstacles to divorce. Additional problems with regard to individuals’ access to legal aid include lack of legal knowledge and rights, distrust of the judiciary, communication problems due to language barriers, lack of coordination between institutions and NGOs, and lack of specialization as regards behavioral and legal approaches to vulnerable groups.
A human rights based approach necessitates that people have the political, institutional and material means to demand, exercise and monitor their human rights. The “needs-assessment and recommendations” report will be drafted based on this principles with data collected from the field visits. In line with the participation principle, the report will be presented to the Advisory Committee, a platform bringing together relevant state and civil society actors that has met twice already, in the beginning of September, and used in the most effective way possible through the support of its members.[1] Following this, the report will be turned into training curriculum by the experts, which in turn will be used to train at least 200 Code of Criminal Procedure lawyers in the pilot provinces visited by the end of 2016. Furthermore, the report will be presented in a conference and a series of workshops to be held at the end of September with the participation of 79 bar association presidents and the Union of Bar Associations, under the second component of the project entitled “Enhanced Capacity of Attorneys Practicing Legal Aid for Disadvantaged Groups”. It is hoped that the consensus reached here with regard to the principles and procedures to be used to provide quality legal aid service to disadvantaged groups will be turned into concrete implementation in the field.
[1] The Advisory Committee is comprised of the Ministry of Justice, General Directorate for Criminal Affairs, Ministry of Family and Social Policies, Ministry of Interior, European Union and Foreign Relations Department, General Directorate of Migration Management, Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, Amnesty International, Federation of Women Associations of Turkey, Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants, Agenda: the Child Association.
Among the buildings constructed in line with the principles of Integrated Building Design Approach as a part of 'the Project on Improving Energy Efficiency in Buildings of Turkey' are a vocational high school composed of a school building, a workshop premises, a dormitory building and a gym for the Ministry of National Education and a service building for the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre affiliated to the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization.
Carried out in cooperation with the General Directorate of Renewable Energy and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the project is also aided by the Global Environment Fund (GEF). Among the shareholders of the project are the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and the Ministry of National Education.
In company with the project team, a site visit was paid to "Etimesgut-Eryama Cezeri Green Technology Technical and Industrial Vocational High School", one of the sites where the construction is in progress.
Featuring advanced passive characteristics in design, the school campus is projected to consume energy to a minimum extent and offer adverse environmental effects as little as possible when compared to a traditional school premises. According to the life cycle analyses, the project is now even below the level targeted for performance indicators.
Within this framework, the building orientation and window surfaces have been optimized in an attempt to make the best of daylight to an utmost extent and some daylight lighting systems and sun breakers with capability to monitor the direction of sunlight have been put to use.
A strict attention is paid to the ventilation of indoors with 100% fresh air in order to allow students to study at a comfortable and healthy setting. The natural lighting techniques have been put to use to the utmost. In addition to passive systems such as solar walls for indoor conditioning, the building is equipped with a soil-borne heat pump, trigeneration, low-speed displacement heating-cooling systems and air-to-air cross-flow heat exchangers.
The school campus features photo voltaic solar panels and a wind turbine by seizing on renewable energy sources. The campus is designed in consideration of providing students with the use of renewable energy sources since it is a vocational high school based on green technologies.
In addition, the circulation spaces are designed as exhibition halls for promotional purposes after the construction of the school is completed and an automation system is projected to be incorporated into the halls to help visitors monitor instant consumption.
To be put into practice across the campus where importance is attached to waste and water management, some innovative solutions such as a rainwater collection system and greywater use will provide major returns for water efficiency.
The school building also features a variety of external insulation practices and a green roof.
At this stage, 70% of the construction is completed. The staff of the General Directorate of Energy paid a visit to the site to observe the latest status of the building and concluded that the construction is in progress in conformity with the project content.
Projected to be completed in December 2016, the construction of Etimesgut-Eryaman Cezeri Green Technology Technical and Industrial Vocational High School moves full steam ahead. After it is completed, the true consumption rates will be monitored and some efforts will be exerted to increase the number of sustainable buildings for the entire industry including the public sector to begin with.
Held this year for the second edition as a part of the Project on the Integrated Management of Mediterranean Forests carried out by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in cooperation with the General Directorate of Forestry (GDF) and with the GEF's financial contribution, the "Forest and Human" themed Photography Contest is now underway.
The Contest is open to any professional and amateur photographers aged 18 or older except for Jury Members, TFSF (The Photographic Arts Federation of Turkey) representatives, those tasked with the coordination of the contest for the GDF and UNDP and their first-degree relatives. Those photographers restricted from participating in any TFSF-certified contest are not allowed to take part in this contest. The contest is free of charge. Each contestant is entitled to take part in the contest for at most 4 (four) color photos.
For more information and access to the specification of the contest the deadline of which is October 30, 2016, please click on the following link:
International Consultant: Development of Group Structure Options Paper for UNDP HIV, Health and Development Group (Deadline - 16-August-2016)
Consultant for Development of the Regional Report on “South-South Cooperation: “Using Agricultural Biotechnology for Enhanced Food Security in Arab States, Europe and the CIS countries” (Deadline - 17-August-2016)
International Consultant for Providing Support to Emerging Donors on Engaging the Private Sector in Development Cooperation Efforts (Deadline - 17-August-2016)
Consultant to provide technical expertise for Regional Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) work (Deadline - 18-August-2016)
Common Services Radio Operator (Deadline - 18-August-2016)
Database Administrator (Deadline - 18-August-2016)
Consultant: Supporting Mentor for Anti-Corruption at the Local Level (Deadline - 19-August-2016)
Consultant: Lead Mentor for Anti-Corruption at the Local Level (Deadline - 19-August-2016)
Consultant for Technical Advisory Services for New World Project and SDGs (Deadline - 19-August-2016)
Consultant for Development of the Regional Report on “South-South Cooperation: Supporting Farmer-based Organizations for Enhanced Food Security in Arab States, Europe and the CIS countries” (Deadline - 19-August-2016)
Data Center Operator (Deadline - 19-August-2016)
Municipal Infrastructure Field Officer (Deadline - 19-August-2016)
Programme Support (Deadline - 19-August-2016)
Project Manager (Deadline - 19-August-2016)
Software Engineer3 (Deadline - 19-August-2016)
Consultant for Developing a Private Sector Engagement Compendium with Case Studies for the ECIS region (Deadline - 22-August-2016)
Project Associate Syria Projects (Sanliurfa) (Deadline - 22-August-2016)
Skills and Competency Development Officer (Deadline - 22-August-2016)
Project Manager - Inclusive and Sustainable Development Portfolio (Deadline - 24-August-2016)
Project Associate (Deadline - 24-August-2016)