Projects 2014

YEAR/NUMBER	PROJECT NAME	PROJECT AIM (BRIEF INFO ABOUT THE PROJECT)
HUMAN RIGHTS LAW RESEARCH CENTER
October 2014-January 2016	Social Media and Minorities Project	Social Media and Minorities Project assesses the role of social media in promoting equal citizenship and existing (legal) limitations regarding freedom of expression. The project takes a step towards enhancing social and political participation of non-Muslim minorities by focusing on social media as a means. The project is implemented by Yeniköy Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church and School in partnership with İstanbul Bilgi University Human Rights Law Research Center and Hellenic Foundation For European And Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the situation of non-Muslim communities in Turkey as socially vulnerable groups by enhancing their social and political participation as equal citizens. The specific objectives of the project are: to explore and enhance the social media as a means to increase social and political participation of Non-Muslim community members and as a safe space for non-Muslim community members to exercise their freedom of speech; and to identify legal limitations around social media specifically regarding hate speech and/or insult. The project is financed in the context of Civil Society Dialogue Between EU And Turkey.
2006-…	Legal Assistance Network (Pro Bono)	Since 2006, Istanbul Bilgi University Human Rights Law Research Center has been running a pro bono aid network. Just like its predecessors abroad, lawyers work voluntarily. Free legal advice is offered to the non-governmental organizations that have meager means to pay for a lawyer, sometimes individual applicants are channeled through these NGOs for legal advice. In a sense, this is a work the lawyers carry out in parallel with their social responsibility. (For more information: https://probono.bilgi.edu.tr/en/)
2003-….	BILGI Law Clinic	The legal clinic is as much a method of law education as an outcome of the law faculty’s policy of directly serving society. This policy of education and social responsibility was introduced to law education in the US in the 1960s. At that time, the main aim was protecting the rights of black Americans, who were deprived of protections provided by law and lived in a society rift because of racial discrimination. Underlying the legal clinic is the idea of providing legal services to segments of society without access to such services to solve their legal problems. During the preparatory year preceding 2003, when education started at the clinic, the Bilgi Faculty of Law collaborated with the law schools of the American University and Georgetown University in Washington, DC, the Eötvös Lorand University (ELTE) in Hungary, and the University of KwaZulu in Natal, the Republic of South Africa, considering their strong and prolonged experience in clinical law education. Working meetings were held at these universities and in Istanbul, and followed by a capacity building program in this area.
EUROPEAN INSTITUTE
2014/1	Jean Monnet: European Values at School	The project aimed at providing education and preparing educational materrial on values identified with the EU, such as freedoms, the equality of men and women, rights of people with disabilities and environmental awareness, for teachers and students at primary schools, high schools and occupational high schools, which make up a major part of civil society in Turkey.
2014/2	Jean Monnet: Enhancing Learning EU at School	The e-book project launched in 2012 and developed as a tool compatible with the tablets used in the Ministry of Education's Fatih Project, was expanded. The language of the e-book was simplified and six animation and computer games were added. The e-book prepared contained information about the EU, such as its history, institutions, law, waves of expansion, and economic and political integration. It also described fundamental EU policies, including agriculture, education, youth, social policy, competition and consumer protection. In addition, the e-book contains a discussion on topics such as the perspective of EU citizenship and citizenship, participatory and plural democracy, civil society and the European public sphere, media and the EU, globalization, and the limits of the EU and Europe. A variety of visual and audio materials (animations, computer games and videos) were used in the e-book, which can be downloaded from Istanbul Bilgi University website..
2014/3	Marie Curie Enlargement and EU funded projects in Turkey: from design to implementation (EUTUR)	The project involved conducting a study of EU-funded projects in Turkey and, in particular, the policy tools and techniques used in the implementation of those projects. It was concerned with finding out what impact they had on the recognition of civil society organizations conducting EU-funded projects and on the European funds in Turkey.
2014/4	Jean Monnet Chair in EU Political and Administrative Studies	The project aims to provide students with a better understanding of the European integration process through supporting research, the enhancement of university networks and funding various teaching activities.
CENTER FOR MIGRATION RESEARCH
2014/1	Network on Seasonal Labour Migration	A network designed to increase the communication between researchers and academicians, local, national and international public and private organizations, NGOs and the representatives of affiliated social parties, and individuals working on seasonal labor migration in Turkey; to support partnerships; to collect information on the topic; to create awareness and to recommend social policies.
2014/2	Child Labor in Seasonal Migratory Agriculture-Round Table Meetings	The roundtable meetings were designed to share knowledge and experience by bringing people who conduct research on child labor in seasonal agricultural labour together with stakeholders that may be interested in the subject, and to contribute to recommendations that will make the problem more visible.
2014/3	Tarlabaşı Community Center	Tarlabaşı Community Center was founded to help strengthen social participation and reduce discrimination for the residents of the Tarlabaşı neighborhood. Through its educational and social activities, it has been supporting social integration there.
2014/4	Nilüfer Park Children	The project aimed at providing educational and social programs, through the support of volunteer instructors and students, for Syrian refugee children, particularly those working on the street in the vicinity of Nilüfer Park, next to the university's santralistanbul campus.
CENTER FOR CIVIL SOCIETY STUDIES
NGO TRAINING AND RESEARCH UNIT
2014/1	Public Expenditures Monitoring Platform	With the Secretariat and Coordination of the NGO Training and Research Unit, the Public Expenditures Monitoring Platform aims to monitor the process where the taxes collected from taxpayers were spent by decisions made in the parliament about how they will be spent. It works to maintain the transparency of this proces, to increase social welfare spending, and to promote the effective use of the taxes collected. Towards this end, since 2010, public expenditure-monitoring workshops and camps have been held. Moreover, the results of the public expenditure monitoring conducted with CSOs that are members of the platform, and related recommendations have been drawn up in letter form and sent to parliamentarians. Since September 2012, these letters have included the expenditures made on health, social security, social assistance-services, children, youth, the disabled, justice, local governments, and military and domestic security. These letters are also shared with the public online (www.kahip.org).
2014-2015	NGO CERTIFICATE PROGRAM PROJECT	"Social Projects and CSO Management" Program,was approved as a graduate program to be run by the Civil Society Studies Center, under the aupices of the Istanbul Bilgi University Social Sciences Institute. Because only students with undergraduate degrees could participate in the Master's program, there was a need for an advocacy-based certificate program for high school graduates and university students who either volunteered or worked professionally at NGOs and wanted to engage in long-term, in-depth trainings in the subject. The aim of this project was to fill this void.
CENTER FOR CIVIL SOCIETY STUDIES
YOUTH STUDIES UNIT
2014/ 1	Power2Youth: Youth empowerment: Freedom, Honor and Justice:A Comprehensive Approach for Understanding the Exclusion of Youth and Prospect for Youth-Led Change in the South and East Mediterranean”	This was a three-year project designed to conduct a comparative analysis of youth policies, especially in the areas of employment and political participation, regarding youth in South and East Mediterranean countries, to determine the areas where youth are socially excluded and the reasons why they are excluded, to make policy recommendations based on those reasons so that youth can experience greater social inclusion.
2014/2	Youth and Employment Study	The aim of the study was to prepare a report based on focus interviews conducted with young unemployed university graduates that addressed the problems young people have in looking for work and made recommendations to solve them.
CENTER FOR CIVIL SOCIETY STUDIES
CHILD STUDIES UNIT
2014/1	Empowering Teachers Working with Syrian Children: Research and Training Project	The purpose of this project was to evaluate the problems Syrian children encounter in the educational system in Turkey from the perspective of the children and teachers, and to provide teachers with information they need to solve these problems..
2014/2	Kırıkhan Community Center: Working with Children Project	The aim of this project was to empower skills of people working with Turkish ans Syrian children from a rights-based perspective.
2014/3	Fighting with Domestic Violence and Gender Inequality	The project aimed at using schools to raise awareness in society about gender equality and domestic violence.
2014/4	"Children have a Say" Radio Program	The project aimed at fostering children's participation in the media through a media camp to be held with children and an interactive website prepared for their use.
2014/5	Symposium on the Role of Child Ombudsmanship as a mechanism to actualize Children's Rights	The symposium that was held discussed the role of local governments, the media and civil society organizations in strengthening child ombudsmanship in Turkey. Research was conducted by means of five-week workshops with children on ways that children can seek their rights.
CENTER FOR SOCIOLOGY AND EDUCATION STUDIES
2014/1	Combating Disability Discrimination in Educational Settings	The purpose of the project, which was carried out in partnership with the Social Rights and Research Association (TOHAD), was develop a rights-based educational perspective among teachers to fight discrimination against the people with disabilities. The basic texts and case studies generated by the proejct were collected in the book Disability and Discrimination: Basic Texts and Case Studies for Educators.
2014/2	Inclusive Education in Junior and Senior High Schools in Turkey	In this project, which was carried out by the Education Reform Initiative (ERG), SEÇBİR conducted a needs analysis about what teachers could do to prevent social exclusion at schools.
2014/3	Education without Labels	The project, which was carried out by Hayat Sende Youth Academy Association, aimed to raise awareness among teachers, state and public institutions about the labeling in education of young people who are under legal protection of the state. Impact analyses of the program was conducted by SEÇBİR.
2014/4	Purple Certificate Program	The purpose of this program, which was conducted by the Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Forum, was to raise awareness among teachers about gender. To accomplish this, a certificate program and several workshops were implemented in the scope of the project.
CULTURAL POLICY AND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH CENTER
2014/1	“GAP Region Branding and Marketing Project"	The project was a part of the GAP Region Tourism Master Plan developed by the GAP Regional Development Administration. Its objective was to prepare a GAP Branding and Advertising Action Plan by setting up a "Tourism Brand Office" in Şanlıurfa as a part of the "GAP Region Branding and Marketing Project" initiated by the GAP Regional Development Administration.
2014/2	Project to Develop a Management Plan for the Historical Urban Area under protection in Eyüp	The purpose of the project was, to increase people's awareness and understanding of the cultural heritage in the historical urban area under protection in Eyüp and to make it more accessible to them to experience within the framework of the balance between conservation and use. The goal was to enable the local people, people from different distrcits ofIstanbul, as well as visitors, both domestic and from abroad, to acquire a better understanding of the value of this historical area. The spatial design vision and principles of usage in the Eyüp Sultan historical center and its immediate vicinity, visitor management programs and cultural programming approaches were all included in this protocol under the concept of "management plan to accomplish aforementioned goals of the project.
RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY
2014/1	Smart Stars Project	A scientific framework for teaching energy conservation to 4th grade students was developed and a four full day training was provided to teachers
2014/2	Turkey's Water Risks Report	The report was prepared to call the attention of stakeholders to drought. The report, which contained recommendations for the business world and policymakers, highlighted the dangers posed by drought.
FACULTIES
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
2014	Automatic Translation System for Turkish to Turkish Sign Language Translation and Avatar Animation	The project aimed at developing a software using Avatar technology that teachers could use in teaching their hearing impaired students, and at providing students a better education via this technology.
FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE
2014	Nilüfer Park Children	The project aimed at providing educational and social programs, through the support of volunteer instructors and students, for Syrian refugee children, particularly those working on the street in the vicinity of Nilüfer Park, next to the university's santralistanbul campus.
FACULTY OF COMMUNICATIONS
2014/2	Freedom of Information Day	The aim of the project was to organize a communication campaign about Freedom of Acquiring Information and to raise awareness through research.
2008-	Adım Adım/Step by Step	The project aimed at raising awareness and developing funding opportunities through sports for CSOs operating in Turkey.