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The Euro-Med Action 1
project entitled “Having Equal Opportunities In Order To Live in a
Sustainable Environment”, prepared within the framework of the YOUTH
program of the European Union, is realized with the cooperation of Youth
Association for Habitat and Agenda 21 in Şanlıurfa, between 3rd
and 11th of April 2004.
The young volunteers
working actively in Şanlıurfa Youth and Culture House, one of the youth
houses built within the South-East Anatolia Social Development Program
for Youth, coordinated by Youth Association for Habitat and Agenda 21 in
association with the GAP (South-eastern Anatolia Project) Administration
of Regional Development and United Nations Development Program, adopted
the idea of developing this project in order to build a discussion
platform for the conditions of living in a sustainable environment and
the provision of equal opportunities by sharing their experiences with
young people coming from abroad and from different regions of Turkey.
When the project ended, 38 young people coming from France, Italy,
Greece, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey owned a new perspective of sustainable
environment that they could share with their environment by getting an
international experience and that they could improve by concrete
projects. On the other hand, this international experience offered to
Şanlıurfa, extended this perspective to a larger mass, providing an
interaction between the inhabitants of the city and the young
participants of the project.
The notion of
“Sustainable Environment”, which designates the agenda of 21st century,
is defined as meeting the needs of present generations without
compromising the needs and resources of the future generations”. Based
on this definition, during several workshops realized within the
project, after the participants had been given basic information and
informed about the main approaches concerning the subject, in other
words the treatment of the subject in the international documents, they
were asked to exchange ideas about the challenges encountered by young
people in their environment and about the key responsibilities to be
undertaken by young people in order to live in a sustainable
environment. On the other hand, with energizer games, voluntary works
and cultural activities supporting these workshops, the participants had
the possibility to discover their common interests, their common
problems that they have to think about, and to build common methods in
order to overcome these problems, despite the cultural differences
between them.
At the beginning of the
project, beside the presentation of the project and of the activity
program, presentations of Şanlıurfa, Şanlıurfa Youth and Culture House
and the administration of GAP (South-Eastern Anatolia Project) were
performed. During the workshop entitled “The Role of Young People In
Order To Live in a Sustainable Environment”, the Sustainable Development
Chain was presented to the participants and the relations between
natural resources, production, consumption and externalities are
explained.
After that the
participants split up into groups, discussed the role of young people in
this cycle and designed new models including the role of young people in
order to constitute a sustainable environment. In another workshop
realized in Mardin Youth House in Mardin, another place where the Social
Development Programme for Youth is applied, the participants were asked
to sound like some animals in their own language. Then, the participants
discussed about the cultural diversity and they insisted on the common
problems they challenge in their environment in spite of these
differences. In the second part of the workshop, the participants split
up into two groups, they discussed about the common threats that they
challenge in their environment, the successes obtained and hopeful
developments and they determined common symbols within the framework of
the sustainable development perspective created in the previous
workshop, in order to express them. They put these symbols in a suitable
form for the messages they wanted to transmit to the children during the
workshop which would be held in the primary school, and they drew
pictures in a more child-friendly expression. These pictures transmitted
to the paper by two participants, were then drew to the wall of the
primary school by one of the participants.
On the fourth day of the
project, the participants were informed about the dams and the energy
production in the region with a presentation performed by the
General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI). Then the
participants made a guided visit to Atatürk Dam, with more detailed
information about this 6th biggest dam in the world. With the
workshop entitled “The Efficient Management and Governance of Water”,
the participants had the possibility to think about the importance of
water in order to build a sustainable environment model and to express
their ideas to the rest of the group. Furthermore, the participants were
informed about the institutions built by young people in regional and
global level in order to make young people participate to the water
management process with a presentation on the “Youth Initiatives for
Water Management”. As for the workshop facilitated by a participant from
Jordan, entitled “The Challenges and The Opportunities for Young People
In Order To Live in a Sustainable Environment”, the participants
expressed the prejudices of their societies and the ways to overcome
them. Split up into groups, they shared with others the opportunities of
the young people living in their countries in order to live in a
sustainable environment, their strength points and their weaknesses. In
the game complementary to this work, the facilitators stuck labels to
the foreheads of the participants so that they can’t see them while the
others could. The participants having the same labels formed two main
groups, but two participants with different labels on their head were
excluded from both of the groups. Then they shared their feelings with
the whole group.
In the workshop entitled
“Future Projects and Networking” realized at the end of the project, The
Jordanian participants presented their Euro-Med project “The Effects of
The Surrounding Environment on Youth”, already adopted by the European
Commission. This project having a suitable structure to the sustainable
environment perspective based on equal opportunities was determined to
be realized as the follow-up of the project held in Şanlıurfa. At the
same time, another group discussed about a new project idea and they
wrote down the main components of this new project. The aim of this
project was to raise awareness of children on sustainable development
and on their responsibilities in this process via an initial project in
one country and following projects in other countries.
During the project,
voluntary works suitable to the workshops were also realized. On the
second day of the activities, in Harran University Campus, the
participants hoed an area at the entrance of the university with
university students. The songs sang in different languages during the
work, the discovery of common melodies provided the sharing of the
cultural richness observed during the project with university students.
Another voluntary activity was realized in Vakıflar Primary School. One
of the groups formed, painted the pictures determined in one of the
previous workshops and already drawn to the wall, with the paintings
provided by the sponsorship of Şanlıurfa Chamber of Commerce and
Industry. The administration of the school offered the support of a
painting teacher and the rest of the staff to the participants. The
second group, made gardening by putting in a row the special stones
provided and transported by the sponsorship of Şanlıurfa Chamber of
Commerce and Industry. The last group polished the fences bought
with the sponsorship of Şanlıurfa Chamber of Commerce
and Industry. Both the participants and the students of the primary
school had an unforgettable memory thanks to the time spent by the
participants in the school and their communication with the students and
the teachers during all day, the games they played with the children and
dances together, their visits to the classes. The participants affected
by the day they spent in the primary school, agreed on a project draft
aiming to raise awareness of the children during the workshop realized
on the last day.
At the end of
their city tour, the participants went to Şanlıurfa Youth and Culture
House and met there young people living in Şanlıurfa. Taking the
advantage of the common language of music, young people tried to know
each other by sharing their ideas. This interaction increased the
motivation of participants and also of young people from Youth House,
concerning future projects. During the tour of Mardin, there was the
same atmosphere. Visiting the historical places of Mardin, participants
talked to members of Mardin Youth House and were informed about their
activities. On next days, participants went to
The General
Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI), to Atatürk Dam and to Harran
Plain and they were attracted by the activities on the region. Also,
they were interested in Harran Houses and in daily life of local people
in Harran.
At the end of the days
passed by an intensive interaction, there had been intercultural and
local nights. In the kitchen provided by regional office of
South-eastern Anatolia Project (GAP), participants of each country
cooked their traditional food and they presented the special things from
their country. Different cultures with their national music and dances
met during this intercultural night. In addition, in the Turkish
traditional night, participants recognized the local food and music.
This project
on sustainable environment contributed to enhancement of consciousness
on sustainable development among young people not only in the region but
also from various countries. As the project city, Şanlıurfa, is a less
developed city, the project was a great opportunity for young people and
local people of the city. |
