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Toplum Gnllleri

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Toplum Gnllleri Vakf: Community Volunteers Foundation
Toplum Gnllleri Vakf [TOG] is a foundation that contributes to the personal development of young people throughout Turkey by enabling them to develop and participate in social responsibility projects as volunteers.

Details on the Youth of Turkey

Population: 70 million Population ages 15-24: 13 million Percentage of Youth in the Population: 18.6% Percentage of Youth in School: 30% Percentage of Youth Working: 30% Percentage of Youth Idle: 40% Unemployment Rate: 10% Unemployment Among Youth: 20% Voter turnout in 2011 election: 87% Rank of Youth Participation: 55th of 55 countries GDP: $400 million Public Expenditure on Education: 105th of 177 countries Rank on the Human Development Index: 84th of 177 countries

Turkeys Need:

The report Studies on Youth Policies in the Mediterranean Partner Countries notes that Turkeys government has rightly insisted, youth [are] the future of the country. However, the report adds, no measures or targets to achieve this end have been taken. This is a clear gap in the governmental institutional structure. Through projects and trainings that empower youth, TOG is part of the non-governmental framework filling in the gaps in the governments youth policy. TOGs services are essential to the youth of Turkey. The government entity that provides youth services budgeted roughly 50 cents (in USD) per young person per year for 2008, a number that is woefully inadequate. Similarly, the governments education budget is very small in comparison to that of other countries and is allocated unevenly across regions. Furthermore, Being Different in Turkey notes that the educational system is marked by a lack of creative stimulus, freedom, and inquiry in the formal educational system. TOG creates opportunities for youth to empower themselves without the need for government action. +

Toplum Gnllleri Vakf:

Setting Young People in Motion
TOG works to create an environment in which young people can solve their problems through volunteerism and shape their own future. Since 2002, TOG has worked in over 60 cities in Turkey, providing support to young people to raise their own voices and empower themselves. The foundation supports projects designed and implemented by young people, organizes peer-to-peer trainings, helps young people create social responsibility projects throughout the year, and mobilizes youth both inside and outside the country.

TOG is involved in a wide variety of projects to meet these aims. TOG:

Trains the trainers who implement peerto-peer trainings on subjects such as volunteerism, project management, human rights, social rights, reproductive health, health literacy, and organizational management

Offers face-to-face support to university student clubs according to their local needs

Provides scholarship and internship opportunities to young people Creates learning environments that increase youth mobility, which in turn supports learning from other young people and youth organizations

Supports young peoples ideas on social problems specific to their projects and helps them find financing for these projects

Investigates and contacts stakeholders to increase awareness of the needs of university students in the public sphere

TOG brings young people together so they can

learn by experience, and so they can contribute to the continuity of a democratic society. +

23,880
volunteers

youth clubs in universities and communities

94

people reached through local, national, and international projects

235,349

1,103,386
volunteer hours

TOG by the Numbers in 2010:

Our Response to the Needs of Youth

6,980,905
budget, in Turkish Lira

projects implemented locally, nationally, and internationally

794

percent of budget used for administrative expenses

10

youth centers

Projects:
Young people explain a few of TOGs programs

Health to Youth
This health literacy program provides information on solutions to health issues that young people face. By preparing young people to become peer trainers, the program succeeds in spreading important health information to young people. Its [important] need to know the risks of sexually transmitted infections and reproductive health vulnerabilities, said Duygu Gner, the project coordinator. +

Youth and Social Rights Training

Sometimes young people dont know their rights, Alper Senturk, the coordinator for the program, explained. By coordinating trainings, TOG enables young people to inform their peers on these issues using non-formal educational away from the trainings ready for action and armed with new information. We help them[understand] when [their] rights are violated, Senturk explained. +

European Voluntary Service & Youth Centers

At the youth center we are organizing English workshops and taking part in other activitiesI really enjoy it, said Eliza Jaka, one of the EVS volunteers coordinated by TOG, when asked about with what she learned while volunteering in Pink House, one of TOGs three youth centers. After participating in youth council and seeing TOG volunteer projects, I am actually inspired by how active the young people in Turkey areI really enjoy my time here, she added. +

for us and for young people who methods. The students come

Evidence that TOG works for Young People:

A study , conducted by N. Ekrem Dzen through Izmir Universitys Department of Psychology, evaluated the effectiveness of TOGs university clubs in helping young people. Students who were active in the clubs scored higher on all seven indicators than their non-active classmates. These indicators are important factors that form the building blocks to a successful society of fully functioning citizens. These indicators include: Selfhood Autonomy Individuation Self-efficacy Social adjustment Conformity Noncompliance

Duzen, N. E. (2011). Left alone and left behind: Impediments prohibiting Turkish university youth to become political beings. Paper presented in 34th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP), July 9-12, Istanbul, Turkey.

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To Donate:
Please go to our website:
www.tog.org.tr

Or please use:
Garanti Bank Baglarbasi Branch ( 422) USD: 9089635 (IBAN:TR 76 0006 2000 4220 0009 0896 35) EUR: 9089634 (IBAN:TR 06 0006 2000 4220 0009 0896 34)

Address:

Hobyar Mh. Rahvanclar Sk. No:5 1.Vakf Han Kat.1 34112 Eminn/stanbul, Turkey

Tel:

+90212 522 10 32 +900212 522 10 30

Fax: E-mail:

+90212 522 10 34 info@tog.org.tr

Created by Lucia G. Arthur-Paratley

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