Issue: 53
Though admittedly doubtful at first as to what could possibly excite them in a museum, Damla and İsmail were pleasantly surprised when they came to the Turkish capital to visit the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in the scope of the UN Joint Programme “Alliances for Culture Tourism in Eastern Anatolia”. Fascinated by the historical artifacts, most of which dates back centuries, these two youngsters, along with 34 more children and 23 adults from 10 different cities in Turkey attended a special training programme organized in Ankara on 12-14 April 2010. Both children, who are now certified Museum Trainers, will take this experience back to their cities to share with their peers.
The training in Ankara was implemented by expert trainers and researchers from Ankara University Educational Sciences Faculty, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and various museums around Turkey in order to create a positive perspective about museums and art among children who generally associate museums with boring and pointless school trips. By helping them develop an appreciation for museums and raise awareness about cultural heritage, this special programme will also be able to create a museum training culture among the participants and their peers.
Activities of this programme included several workshops where the participants created replicas of sculptures and jewelry from the civilizations who previously called Anatolia home such as the Hittites, Phrygians and Lydians. The “Mute Map” work encouraged children transfer their perception and the impact of history and culture on the paper, both with drawings and words. The participants also visited the Çengelhan Museum, home to more recent historical items.
At the end of the three-day training, children said that their perceptions of museums changed after they realized that museums build bridges between societies and they also began to understand the importance of history and cultural heritage. They said they will now look at “those monotonous history lessons” through a more informed eye. The common enthusiasm that they all shared was the idea of repeating this “museum training” in their cities for their peers. It was not just the children who benefited from the training. The 23 adults agreed that “museum training” should be added into children’s rights trainings.
The “museum training” will be repeated in Erzurum and Kars in May and June with the overall aim of creating “children friendly museums” and “museum friendly children”.
United Nations Joint Program “Alliances for Culture Tourism in Eastern Anatolia” (UNJP) aims at developing and enhancing cultural tourism in Kars, contributing to social cohesion and reducing income disparities between the people of Kars and the rest of Turkey. The UNJP is funded by the MDG Achievement Fund entrusted to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) by the Government of Spain, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and United Nations Organisations UNDP, UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization), UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization). As one of the four agencies of UN Joint Programme UNICEF aims at raising awareness among children about cultural assets and heritage and promotes their active participation in process.
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Udovicki visited many government officials in Turkey, including the Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Minister of State Cevdet Yilmaz, to speak about UNDP's ongoing programme in the country. According to Udovicki, Turkey can become a significant global partner for UNDP.
What is the purpose of your visit to Turkey?
My visit to Turkey had two purposes. Firstly, I attended a stakeholder workshop on the Assessment of Development Results report which evaluates UNDP’s contribution to development cooperation in Turkey over the past five years. I found the workshop very beneficial in bringing together our partners to discuss what have been UNDP’s achievements, and what can be done to advance our cooperation even further. The participants made some excellent suggestions, not only for the Country Office, but also for the wider UNDP, and we are looking forward to the next five years of our cooperation.
Secondly, I was here to meet with UNDP’s counterparts to discuss a different kind of partnership that we can have with Turkey, taking into account its status as a “middle-income” country and donor and its growing role in the international development cooperation.
I have also, of course, met with the team of UN agencies in Turkey, as well as the staff of the UNDP Country Office.
Can you describe the general impressions of your meetings with Turkish officials? What did you talk about? What are their expectations from the UNDP Turkey office?
During my visit, I have spoken with many government officials, including the Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Minister of State Cevdet Yılmaz, regarding our ongoing programme in Turkey, as well as the prospects for a more strategic partnership. They have all expressed their appreciation for UNDP assistance in the country and confirmed interest to develop in further, exploring new regional and global dimensions of our cooperation.
In particular, in line with the new United Nations Development Cooperation Strategy and UNDP Country Programme Document, UNDP looks forward to a stronger partnership with the State Planning Organization (SPO), based on Turkey’s potential to become a hub for knowledge transfer and South-South cooperation. Energy, environment, disaster risk reduction and private sector development are among areas we could explore. Turkey, in particular, has a strong private sector tradition and much can be shared with other countries. With SPO, we also agreed to continue advance our cooperation in the GAP region and in strengthening regional development.
With Musa Kulaklıkaya, the President of the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA), we discussed UNDP’s cooperation to develop TİKA’s capacity in line with the Paris Declaration and Aid Effectiveness principles, and our commitment to contribute to the South-South cooperation and the strengthening role of TİKA and Turkey in providing development assistance as an emerging donor. Sharing Turkey’s experience in development and transition can provide benefit to many countries inside and outside the Europe and CIS region.
Our efforts to tackle climate change together with our partners are ongoing. In speaking with Sedat Kadıoğlu, the Deputy Undersecretary of Ministry of Environment and Forestry we emphasized the need to move forward towards a programmatic approach which will encompass two main pillars: Market Transformation toward Low Emission Economy; and Capacity Development for a climate resilient economy. On the former, Turkey in becoming a leader in the region and a knowledge hub to promote solutions in this field. On the latter, we expressed a desire to develop national capacity to initiate pilot Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions for the waste, forestry and energy sector, to continue to work on setting the framework of evolving carbon market structure for Turkey, and to launch the national carbon registry system in June 2010.
As a fairly recent area of cooperation for UNDP in Turkey, I spoke with Galip Tuncay Tutar, Deputy Undersecretary of Ministry of Justice and we agreed in our meeting to move towards a strengthened programmatic approach to our partnership in strengthening rule of law and access to justice for all.
Finally, with several partners we discussed the upcoming regional meeting that the Government of Turkey is organising with the UN family on the Millennium Development Goals ‘MDG+10 Review Conference for Europe and the CIS – Status of the Region: What works and what Does Not?’ in Istanbul in June. We hope that the conference that is expected to bring together representatives of over 20 countries will contribute to identifying the main challenges in achieving the MDGs in our region and to finding policy-oriented solutions.
Turkey, as an emerging donor, has recently achieved an upper middle income country status. How will this affect its status within the global UNDP network? How will Turkey benefit from this status?
UNDP resources are allocated to countries in part based on their GNI per capita and their population levels, and we revise these allocations every four years. According to the latest statistics from the World Bank, Turkey has a GNI per capita of $9,340 which is roughly equivalent to Spain’s GNI per capita in 1989 (three years after joining the European Union). As a “middle income” country, Turkey is eligible for a limited amount of resources from UNDP, although less than a “low” income country . As such, UNDP’s partnership with Turkey is focused less on resource transfer, and more on providing capacity building and technical support to the Government to achieve its national priorities.
But “status” is more than GNI per capita: Turkey is a unique country, a country with a majority Muslim population, yet a European outlook, that bridges Europe and Asia. It is increasingly visible on the international stage, and is playing a constructive role in the neighbourhood with its “zero problems” policy. It is also a country that has weathered well the recent financial and economic crisis. Turkey has experiences that both UNDP and other countries can benefit from. When viewed from this perspective, Turkey can become a significant global partner for UNDP.
The negative impacts of climate change is no longer just a concern for experts, but a pressing issue on everyone’s agenda. Even so, the issue does not always get the attention it deserves. Speaking at the 'Climate Arena' panel; organized jointly by the United Nations Joint Programme Enhancing the Capacity of Turkey to Adapt to Climate Change, Middle East Technical University (METU) Science and Society Centre and the British Council; manager of the Greenpeace Mediterranean branch Uygar Özesmi explained that they have lost a lot of time with those who deny climate change. Drawing on the severity of the issue, Özesmi shared concerns by asking “Let’s say that there is no climate change, why should I not save? Should I continue to pollute the atmosphere by burning petroleum and coal and live permanently dependent on fossil fuels? Let’s say there is no climate change, should I continue to destroy this planet like this?” to an audience of approximately 100 who participated in the panel.
In the panel held at the METU Cultural and Convention Center issues like how climate change came about, its effects, national, regional, and local measures in climate change adaptation and the difference individual efforts can make were discussed. Atila Uras; manager of United Nations Joint Programme Enhancing the Capacity of Turkey to Adapt to Climate Change; said that the affects of climate change are inevitable, and that the necessary steps should be taken quickly in all areas to adapt these effects. Uras explained that Turkey is currently developing a national strategy to adapt to climate change in the context of the Joint Programme.
In addition to Özesmi and Uras, Meryem Beklioğlu; associate professor in the Depratment of Biology of METU; Bahar Gedikli; chairperson of Department of City and Regional Planning in METU; Nuzhet Dalfez from ITU Eurasia Earth Sciences Institute and Oya Ayman also spoke at the panel. In an interactive format, where the audience were encouraged to ask questions, the panel also aired on Radio METU presented by Ege Kayacan.
On climate change, Meryem Beklioğlu said that “we can understand that climate is constantly changing by looking at the geological time period of the earth, considering the last 3.9 billion years”. When recent history is taken into account, Prof. Dr. Beklioğlu explained that human-induced climate change was triggered by the industrial revolution for a number of reasons. In the new era, it is not only the climate that has changed but also the ecosystem as well as organisms that have started to become extinct. Beklioğlu said that “Ecosystems are the systems which provide us the raw materials of the each resource we use in this world. We must care for them, we must approach climate change with these changes in mind”.
Nüzhet Dalfez from ITU Eurasia Earth Sciences Institute expressed that, finding a solution for climate change is not easy. “It is not an easy system to solve because the climate system itself is complicated. This complex system includes many time scales. We see that human beings have an impact on the climate. Climate has been changing on all of these time-scales, since the formation of the earth, and the processes which are the reasons of this change are still around” Dalfez said.
Oya Ayman shared the changes that can be made at the individual level and emphasized the importance energy conservation in all areas of life to cope with climate change.
The Climate Arena Panel is expected to continue in different cities at various universities.
"There is a demand for UNDP’s role as a traditional development partner to change in Turkey" said UNDP’s Evaluation Office Director Saraswathi Menon. New Horizons interviewed Menon after the meeting.
What is the purpose of your visit to Turkey? What did you do? How did you do it? What was the process? What was the result? What would be the outcomes of this evaluation?
The Evaluation Office has completed an evaluation of UNDP’s work in Turkey over the last 5 years. This evaluation is more or less finalized, it’s in draft form and we held a stakeholder meeting on the draft report with our partners. Among stakeholders we count everyone, who is engaged with UNDP here, the Country Office and the primary partner the government and the State Planning Organization both on the implementation side and the strategic side. Among the stakeholders are other UN agencies, other donors but also its very important that we listen to civil society, the academia and so on.We wanted to get their comments on the report, especially on the recommendations and see how we could make the report even more stronger and useful in Turkey.
Did you find the comments from the participants useful?
Extremely useful. What struck me especially was the diverstiy of comments. There were many implementing partners of UNDP Turkey who focused on their particular experience in formulating or managing a project. And others were looking at the UNDP engagement more generally, like the SPO. Issues for Turkey but could be addressed by working with UNDP such as the whole question of concepts in development. There are different perceptions of what gender means, what capacity development means and so on. They felt that the way UNDP goes about solving some of its problems would help them solve their problems in Turkey. For instance on capacity development UNDP could organize a meeting on what that means and people in Turkey could what that means to them. If there is a better agreement on these concepts, then there would be a better agreement on the next step, on actions to follow. Above all what I saw was that UNDP is in a very interesting position in Turkey. We have been a traditional development partner for a long time but now more and more the demand is for UNDP to play a different role because Turkey is changing. That came through in many of the comments and I think the report will really have to think that point through very carefully before we finalize it.
Does this relate to some of the new trends in M&E?
Not so much in Monitoring and Evaluation but in terms of development, how the world is changing. But I would also say that evaluation has to change. Even the criteria we use today of effectiveness, efficiency, and so on. These were all developed around the evaluation of development projects. More and more, we are not evaluating projects, we are evaluating Joint Programmes, we are evaluating sectoral strategies, non-project work (a lot of UNDP work is advocacy, promoting UN values, conventions and norms) so you are evaluating at a different level from the project and evaluation will have to change in terms of the level. Evaluation will also have to change because we have traditionally done evaluation from the outside, looking at what an organization brings to a country and what contribution that makes. But more and more as countries are taking greater leadership over their development, when they have the capacity to define what they do in aid and development cooperation you start to have a smaller catalytic part. Then you have to look at evaluation from the perspective of the country. It must be what the country wants to monitor, what the country wants to evaluate and what we do has to fit into that. That is a challenge for us because we are not used to it.
How do you plan on overcoming this?
You can only concretely address this not theoretically but you actually have to work together. And I hope Turkey can be an example of that because the UNDP Turkey and government partnership is different. It’s almost an opportunity that monitoring and evaluation has been weak according to the report’s findings and has to be addressed. Now they can address it differently. Rather than inventing their own systems of monitoring and evaluation for the office, maybe they should be doing is to work with the government to see where government needs support needs to be strengthened, they can learn from other countries with strong support systems, and see how UNDP will plug into that. National programmes, it doesn’t make sense for UNDP to monitor a project if it is not part of the national effort.
Can you comment on the dual position of UNDP? Does this concern Turkey’s recent position as a higher MIC country or does it have to do with the South South Cooperation project?
A little bit of both. Many countries are engaged in the South South Cooperation. In Turkey, this has been formalized. You have TIKA, an institutional arrangement promoting this kind of cooperation. UNDP has to come to terms with not just supporting an institution but supporting South South Cooperation in Turkey that promotes the development principles of the UN. After all, we are not just looking at the replication of the old and unequal aid relationships. South South Cooperation is among equals, among countries who share development challenges. So how do we help Turkey to be a good equal partner of other developing countries. That’s the kind of experience UNDP can create.
What do you expect from the stakeholder meeting? What do you think will improve?
Two things. Most immediately, from our point of view, we will have a better report. Because we had so many good stakeholders in the room, we hope that hey will read the report and use it .For UNDP at two levels. Because you have a new RR and you have the bureau director. I hope that UNDP will benefit from this, in terms of a new and stronger programme. We heard that the RR has a new vision and the report will help him carr that out. Because the regional director was here, we hope that the experiences in Turkey will be shared much more broadly and that the bureau will be able to support Turkey better and that they will use these of a new kind of partnership, etc.in other countries in the region and beyond.
Do you have any further recommendations for the CO aside from the ones in the report?
We will have more recommendations because the draft recommendations will be deepend, elaborated, and maybe some prioritizing will be necessary.
When will the report be finalized?
The report will be finalized over the next month, and it will be printed and made available to the executive board of UNDP by the end of May, beginning of June.
Are all ADRs distributed throught the UNDP?
Yes. We send a copy to every country office, so they can learn from other country examples.
For further information evaluation and monitoring at UNDP as well as online copies of ADR reports, please visit www.undp.org/eo.
Turkish industrialists and stakeholders; who learned in the meeting that a total of £780 million profit has been generated in the UK from the implementation of industrial symbiosis; came together to identify the areas of cooperation for this initiative which enhances the environmental and economic performances of enterprises by using resources more efficiently.
Providing information on symbiosis applications at the meeting in Adana on 7 April, UNDP Environment and Sustainable Development Programme Manager Dr. Katalin Zaim said “The Industrial Symbiosis approach is important in taking steps towards a greener economy. This approach improves the infrastructure of businesses and reduces the pressure on the environment, and also contributes to the sustainable economy. In many countries some steps have been taken related to this and further policies are being implemented.
President of ADASO Ümit Özgümüş explained that some of Turkey’s most important commitments should be in the field of environment in the context of Turkey’s harmonization with the EU. Özgümüş added that the industrial symbiosis activities initiated in the İskenderun Bay area should encompass the whole country.
Director of UK National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) Peter Laybourn said that the programme is being applied in the UK for the past 5 years, bringing important gains to the Sustainable Low-Carbon Economy. Laybourn drew attention to the fact that companies have generated £780 million in profits over a period of 5 years. Moreover, 49 million tons of raw materials and 48 million tons water have been conserved and 53 thousand people were provided employment opportunities. CO2 emissions have also been reduced by 30 million tons.
Sharing her experiences regarding the Eco-Industrial Park Programme in Canada, Tracy Casavant; CEO of Canada Eco-Industrial Solutions Ltd., pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of the programme, partnerships, lessons learned and structure of the implementation.
Chairperson of Environmental Engineering Department at METU Goksel N. Demirer’s Cleaner Prodution presentation generated great interest.
Towards an Industrial Symbiosis Programme in Iskenderun Bay Area project aims to increase the competitiveness of the firms in the region through forming potential partnerships, adding value to the region, obtaining economic benefits, opening up new markets in the region and mitigating pressure on environment by reducing the use of natural resources. The project will help to expand this approach across Turkey.
Industrial symbiosis is already being applied in many countries like Canada, Denmark, the UK, and USA, Mexico, China, Japan, Austria, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Italy, India, Brazil, Romania and Hungary. In addition to its economic benefits industrial symbiosis creates new jobs, conserves water and raw materials and reduces waste products in countries where it is applied.
During March 2010, eight IBM volunteers from US, Brazil, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore with diverse expertise ranging from marketing, Information Technologies, IT architecture, project management and finance collaborated with Gaziantep Chamber of Industry, Metropolitan Municipality of Gaziantep, Technopark, Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce, Gaziantep University and Gaziantep Organized Industrial Zone.
For the third term of IBM CSC Programme, the global CSC team, divided in groups, worked to develop a strategic plan for the city’s Technopark to support the Gaziantep Smarter Industry Initiative, which was initiated by Gaziantep Chamber of Industry and aims at increasing the competitiveness of Gaziantep and the region. As part of IBM’s vision of a Smarter Planet and Smarter Cities, part of the team worked with the Metropolitan Municipality of Gaziantep to turn Gaziantep into a smart city by formulating methods to simplify the job of municipalities in operational activities and IT area. This team came up with strategic recommendations in the field of Smart City Solutions and IT strategy, and provided recommendations and roadmaps for IT Infrastructure along with common IT services. Another part of the team developed a Tourism Sector Strategy for Gaziantep aiming to develop and promote Gaziantep’s tourism sector with an emphasis on congress tourism. In order to boost tourism IBMers recommended four complementary strategies for Gaziantep together with the related actions to activate these strategies in the field of marketing, offering development, infrastructure, human resources and establishment of a tourism platform. There is still yet to come... The project will continue in Gaziantep and another CSC team composed of 10 IBM experts will be in Turkey between 15 May – 13 June to undertake further work on the above topics and serve the province.
In addition to the above project outputs delivered to local beneficiaries, the CSC volunteers also delivered an interactive workshop titled “Pursuit of Excellence” to a group of young and women entrepreneurs of Gaziantep in order to support women & youth entrepreneurship in the city which is one of the key objectives of local project partners. Also an IT Strategy workshop was conducted by the CSC team, targeting all IT related staff of the Municipality.
Speaking about the Corporate Service Corps initiative, IBM Türk CEO Michel Charouk said: “IBM intends to serve for the society not only through innovations but also through corporate citizenship projects. As part of the programme which started in Mersin in 2009 and which will continue in Gaziantep, social and economic solutions will be sought for the cities of Turkey having a high development potential. We, as IBM Türk, believe that the activities in Gaziantep will provide a roadmap for the progress and development of the city. Turkey step of the program will proceed with Malatya in the second half of 2010.
“Private sector is able to offer significant opportunities for the development of societies thanks to manpower, knowledge, technology, products and services at its disposal said UNDP Private Sector Program Manager Hansın Doğan. Through the Corporate Service Corps program which we see as one of the best examples of this, IBM sends its selected experts from various countries and provides its most valuable assets, namely its human resources and knowledge, for the benefit of development to serve the progress of cities with a high potential of development. Following the first phase of the program implemented in Mersin in 2009,IBMers will work in Gaziantep and Malatya in 2010 and will bring innovative solutions to local challenges We are glad to cooperate with IBM, State Planning Organization, Digital Opportunity Trust and the Corporate Volunteer Association in this programme, which is a successful example of public sector - private sector civil society cooperation.”
Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Vice-President Jane Jamieson said: “The CSC program in Gaziantep focuses on creative solutions that intersect technology, business and society and serves as an important model for corporate social responsibility in Turkey. Project assignments emphasize strong partnerships, innovative approaches to local economic development and cross-cultural awareness generated by the IBMers from six countries living and working side by side with the citizens of Gaziantep. As a global NGO Partner for the CSC program, DOT has worked with IBM to draw on the successes of the CSC program in Turkey and adapt these to other countries in which IBM is introducing the Corporate Service Corps. In Turkey, the CSC program is anchored by a vibrant public-private partnership among (DOT, UNDP Turkey, State Planning Organization, and the Turkish Private Sector Volunteers Association), who all work with IBM to implement the program and promote private sector participation in development efforts.”
Corporate Service Corps (CSC) is a global employee leadership initiative of IBM which began in Turkey in the summer of 2009. The programme in Turkey, was launched by IBM in partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), State Planning Organization (DPT), Corporate Volunteer Association (OSGD) and Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT).
The CSC initiative gathers teams of IBM volunteer executives, drawn from different countries and business units and places them in priority emerging markets to tackle important social and economic issues in collaboration with NGOs, national and local partners around the world. In the scope of the CSC programme, IBM leaders are able to tap into their “global citizen” side having the opportunity to understand the social dynamics and business conduct of a foreign country. The programme in Mersin aimed to engage local partners, SMEs, and the youth to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of IBM leaders.
The Conference, being held in conjunction with the Global Leadership Series of the Yale World Fellows Program, is devoted to the 10th anniversary of the Global Compact’s launch. Supported by a range of institutions from Turkey including UNDP, Boğaziçi University, Koç Holding, Coca-Cola and Siemens, the conference aims not only to share the experiences of the business leaders and policy makers regarding the Global Compact on current business practices, but also to encourage the leaders of the future to embrace the principles of the Global Compact through benefiting from lessons learned.
The Yale World Fellows Program is an international leadership training program which brings emerging leaders from a range of disciplines and fields around the world together to create a global network, deepen their resource base, advance their breath of understanding and advance their skills.