BACKGROUND

Children and youth between the ages of 10-18 living in the villages on the Munzur side of Erzincan and Istanbul Fatih Karagümrük are forced to drop out of school due to various reasons such as early marriage, employment or labor and poverty. The ones who are able to attend the school have weak ties due to adaptation problems, long-term absenteeism and they are not sufficiently supported socio-emotionally. There is a need for safe spaces where children and youth in the region can express themselves through art, and for approaches that will enable them to acquire self-healing skills to cope with the difficulties in daily life. On the other hand, it is necessary to ensure that public officials, other civil society organizations and citizens in the region adopt a child rights and child/youth-oriented approach and support the development of children and youth in a multidimensional way.

PROJECT GOALS

• Workshops and trainer training contents will be prepared for children, youth, caregivers, and teachers.
• Workshops will be organized in Erzincan and Istanbul for 12 weeks with the participation of at least 120 children and youth.
• Workshops will be organized for caregivers focusing on children's rights, child safety and the importance of children's school attendance.
• Workshops focusing on child rights and child safety will be organized for teachers, public employees, and local NGOs.
• A model that can be applied in different geographies will be developed with the comparative impact report to be prepared at the end of the implementations.

PROJECT RESULTS

• Rights-based workshops were held with children in schools and in the associations’ own premises in Istanbul and Erzincan. A total of 153 children and young people were reached with children’s rights and art-based workshops.
• 42 adults participated in the children’s rights and safety and rhythm workshops for adults.
• 12 adults, mostly teachers, participated in the training focused on children’s rights, learning through play and child safety, which was held for public employees and civil society organizations.
• 2 short films were shot with stories written by children in stop-motion workshops, which were among the workshops held with children.
• A monitoring and evaluation report was prepared within the scope of the project, which will allow the comparison of the impact of the work in both cities and highlight their differences and commonalities.

Testimonials