Civic Participation Among Turkish Youth

“We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
anklin D. Roosevelt

                 Begüm Çoban
                           Psy 273

       Human Development Report by UNDP                                                 Turkey,
2008
l   State of Youth Survey
l3,322 young individuals aged 15-24
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l12 different regions
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l24 focus group meetings with young people
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lFace to face interviews
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lnearly 40 academics and experts, at least 35 public institutions and more than100 volunteer young
people contributed
lmore than 5,000 e-mails were reviewed

   Results
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lDifferent Levels of Participation:
l      economic participation
l      political participation
social participation
l      cultural participation
l     - Creative new ideas + power!
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lThe youth in Turkey                    Lack of participation
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lReasons;
 -economic,
l      -attitudinal
l      -cultural
l      -political factors

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lArguments:
1-Dynamic impact that early childhood experience
l      2-The role that open, responsive, responsible and accountable institutions play in advanced
democracies
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lThe problem of young generations;
-family environment
-closest social circles
-insufficent economic resources
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    What can be done?
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lPublic funds
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lInstitutions and administrations’ role
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lNecessity for a menthality change
l     -35 people aged between 30-35, elected 2002-2007 parliament of 550 deputies
-19 people after the 2007 elections
lChange in the youth’s perception of politics
- “ more reliable”, “more transparent”, “more honest”

Can civil society be an adequate channel for youth participation?
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l             While the youths’ distrust towards politics seems to be rather widespread, civil
society can offer some adequate participation tools for the youth.
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lA 19-year-old girl:
l    “I expect solutions to problems only from outside the State. I also don’t expect my father to
solve problems because I cannot change him anymore. People can succeed in changing certain things
by helping each other and making them feel valuable because the person who helps will become more
social, she will feel that she is not useless and will spread this. This will have a chain effect”.
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lPositive impacts of volunteerism and youth services
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l4% of young people who participated in the State of Youth Survey are members of NGO’s.
46% of these are either university students or graduates.
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lThe important role of universities
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Significant role of NGO’s and the future
lNGOs transform youths into enterprising individuals.
lThey should create social activity areas free of charge + open various courses to poor youth.
lMessages should reach not only the youth but also their parents.
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     References
l     The National Human Development Report, 2008, by the United Nations Development Programme in
Turkey

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lTHANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION J
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