CONTRIBUTING TO THE NGO MOVEMENT

Development of capable civil society organisations as elements of a participatory and democratic society is one of the priorities of the History Foundation, an independent and intellectual initiative itself.

Already in the first years of its existence, the History Foundation established the NGO Information Centre in 1995 with the support of the United Nations Development Program. A directory containing information on approximately 2000 leading NGOs in Turkey was published by the Centre in Turkish and English, and a searchable database containing approximately 4000 NGOs was made accessible on the internet. Research and publications on the history and the current situation of NGO's in Turkey accompanied the establishment of the directory.
A series of “NGO Symposia” have been initiated and organised by a group of NGOs, including the History Foundation, with the aim of developing communication and cooperation between Turkish NGOs and of providing a platform for discussing and solving the various problems they confront. The symposia began in 1994 and serve as a unique platform of NGOs for sharing each others' experiences and discussing their problems. They also function to enable NGOs to improve themselves and be part of the international NGO community. The list of the symposia held so far is as follows;

Non-Governmental Organizations in Turkey, 16-17 December 1994;
Growing Civil Society in the Smaller World, 23-24 June 1995;
Communication Problems and Solutions in Non-Governmental Organizations, 7-8-9 December 1995; Legislative Frame in Non-Governmental Organizations, 4-5-6 April 1996; Non-Governmental Organizations and Ethics, 1-2-3 July 1999; What Have We, Non-Governmental Organizations, Learned From 17th August Earthquake, 12-13 November 1999; State and NGO Relations in Turkey, 2-3 June 2000; The Role of NGOs in the Process of Turkey's Membership in the European Union, 15-16 December 2000; Internal Democracy and Volunteerism in NGOs, 2-3 June 2000; Youth, Participation and Civil Society, 2-3-4 November 2001; NGOs, Localisation and Local Governments, 21-22 June 2002; Projects, Project-based Work and Non-Governmental Organisations, planned for December 2002.

The History Foundation published a series of books containing all the proceedings, discussions and conclusions of these symposia.

The History Foundation is also active in the establishment and the work of various monitoring committees, such as the Monitoring Committee for Dams and Cultural Heritage and the Follow-up Committee for Turkish-EU Relations. The Foundation marked the first anniversary of the earthquake with four exhibitions, a forum in which close to 50 NGO's participated, and a series of other conferences, panels and concerts which took place in the Imperial Mint between the 10th to 20th of August 2000.