Civic Engagement for Local Climate Change Governance
The project, in partnership with Maltepe Municipality, aims to strengthen civil society – municipality cooperation for local democratic governance of climate change. In line with this general objective, the project aims to a) prepare an interactive local climate change vulnerability map to strengthen informed civil participation and data-driven policy processes on climate change, b) develop a concrete model of municipality – civil society cooperation in Maltepe where civil society, particularly vulnerable groups and economic sectors, will actively and effectively participate in policy making and monitoring processes, c) advocate the developed interactive local climate change vulnerability map and monitoring and evaluation plan among other municipalities.
The main activities planned to be carried out to achieve these objectives are as follows:
- Scanning variables related to climate change, municipal services, municipal council decisions and civic organization at the neighborhood scale in order to see the spatial relations of climate change in Maltepe, collecting and organizing the identified data, mapping it with multiple correspondence analysis and presenting the data on a digital platform,
- Examining the current organization practices of civil society through expert interviews and meetings with mukhtars and/or neighborhood organizations in Maltepe. Organizing workshops for preparing a civic monitoring and evaluation plan focused on local climate change policies in a participatory manner, updating the MoDeL website so that it can be used in these studies,
- In order to disseminate the approach developed within the scope of the project at different scales, preparation of a policy note with feedback from the target groups, design and dissemination of promotional materials, organization of an introductory meeting.
Thus, the project will both improve civil society-municipality cooperation, ensure that policies reach the relevant vulnerable groups by providing an inventory and draft monitoring plan necessary to strengthen data-based decision-making in the municipality’s climate actions and strategies in the long term, and support the implementation of policies by proposing an effective and active method of civil society participation in policy processes.
This project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union under the Civic Engagement Small Grants Programme. “Civic Engagement Small Grants Programme” implemented within the scope of “Strengthened Civic Engagement for Enhanced Democratic Local Governance in Türkiye Project” is financed by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The beneficiary of the project is the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye. As the IPA II Civil Society sector leader, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs is the lead institution of the project.
