Project environment

The project will be based in Istanbul. The Unit has an office and a room to be used as the youth center within Istanbul Bilgi University's Santralistanbul Campus. The campus is located in the neigbourhood of Eyup which is a town in Istanbul and where young people who are in contact with the youth center mostly live in. Eyup is a town which is in a distance to Taksim 15 mins by bus. Moreover,there will be shuttles bus leaving for Taksim in every 20 minutes. So,volunteering in the Unit will not keep you away from the city center.

Istanbul is a metropol of 14 million people. It has the conservative and modern and the poor and rich side by side. It is full of historical places, lively and stimulating with festivals, concerts, art exhibitions but you can always find a quiet place to go or enjoy the view of Bosphorus, go swimming in the summer. The volunteer will be given an orientation about living in Istanbul by project leaders and the former EVSers of the Unit. Turkish language course will be a part of orientation.

The volunteers will interact with the youth who is in contact especially with the youth center which has been established under the Unit and also located within the University. Youth who are in contact with youth center are between aged 15-22,lives in Eyup,comes from conversative families and either studies in high schools or left to study. They might be also working for the jobs which has no need qualification.The youth center runs free-of-charge (art) workshops for these young people as main activity (you may have more detailed information in ''the description of the organization).The activities for the EVS volunteers will consist of assistance in office work, leadership in preparation of at least one workshop and trainership of that workshop, assistance in Unit's research , advocacy and networking projects, assistance of seeking for opportunities in the city in which young people can perform what they learn in the workshops. The youth center of the Unit is a Eurodesk Relay Point. Not as priority but as preference,the volunteers can take responsibilities for the things around being Eurodesk Relay Point as well.

Two volunteers at the same time are foreseen to be hosted in the Unit. The volunteers will have an opportunity to work also with some other youth organizations in Istanbul. This opportunity will be always ready to be used. Istanbul will not leave the volunteers lack of activity enjoyable. So, after orientation process,we believe that the volunteers will find also their own way to enjoy their stay here.


The volunteer will have at least 2 hours Turkish lessons per week and will have the opportunity to take part in many social and cultural events organized by the Unit or the Youth Center or that they are invited to. Turkish lessons will be given by a professional teacher or a young person who can speak english fluently. A language course could be arranged according to demands of the volunteers. So,we are open to arrange all according to the volunteers' spesific needs. Volunteers will live in a rented and shared flat.

The volunteers will have 2 days off per week. As we hold the workshops in weekends, the off days will be during the week days.

The time schedule to be at the office and all the detailed daily activities will be decided with the volunteers by being faitful to the programme criterias.
The Unit and the youth center ,as a project of the Unit, runs currently several of projects in which the volunteers can take part in any form they wish such as a trainer,organiser,participant,facilitator etc. The volunteers are mostly expected to volunteer mainly for the youth center but not that much for the Unit.

As a brand new Eurodesk Relay Point the youth center is open to share the responsibilities of it with the volunteers.

Visual documentation especially of the whole activities of the Unit is very important task for all the staff. The volunteer should feel the importance of it.

Promoting not only EVS but also some other european opportunities available for young people is one the main tasks of the volunteers. The volunteers should find a structured way for this.

Living Library is a project being run under the Unit. That is a library being established in spesific events such as festivals. Assisting to the staff is appreciated.

The volunteer can feel free also to implement the things in his/her mind which is in the paralel of both the Unit and the youth center do.
We would like to host /send volunteers who are interested in working with youngsters from different ethnic enviroment on the field and who are ambitious about building a tolerant society with equal opportunities for all.

We will welcome volunteers who would like to learn from the local people about their culture, history and contemporary issues.

Namely we will welcome everybody who is ready for a challenging experience, who has got a sense of humour, compassion, an open mind and an ability to work in/with a team. Each volunteer should bring his/herown skills and we welcome people from all sorts of different backgrounds.
Our staff and volunteers will support EVS volunteer. The working place are safe for young people. All EVS volunteers will have insurance.

Motivation and EVS experience

We believe that EVS is a golden opportunity for young people who are willing to see and experience “more” in their lifes that will enlarge their points of view to life itself. We are already doing our youth work in our Unit with our full eagerness to do “more” for youth studies. We have friendly and enjoyable working field which includes a lot of cooperation. What we belive is that we are more than ready to be responsible in EVS as a coordinator, host and sending organisaiton. We also have experience of working with EVS volunteers, who are voluntters in Community Voluntters Foundation and aslo we hosted volunteers since 2009.

As a host organisation; we believe that our working atmosphere can be a great opportunity for a young person who is willing to do his/her EVS in Turkey, in Istanbul. There is enough space for volunteers in our office to “enjoy” the youth work that we do together with us. We can say that we have a lot of experience in youth area both in Turkey and in European level as professionals of this Unit, we are ready to share our knowledge with our EVSers. We also have members who already did a lot of exchanges and EVS itself. So we believe that it will be easy for us and also for our EVSers to get used to our new working environment. EVS volunteers should have experience working as a voluteer in social projects and also they should have some ideas about volunteerism. he EVS volunteers should have at least basic level of English and computer skills. They are better to tend to create new ideas. They are also expected to like travelling and tend to learn other cities in Turkey. We prefer to work with established volunteer that we can exchange our knowledge on Youth Work.

As a sending organisation; again we are willing to send our volunteers to other countries to do their EVS. From experience we know that this opportunity does not come everyday in life. So why not let our volunteers to enjoy it? We already have some volunteers who are waiting to do EVS and we think that EVS will add a lot to their personal developments. We are willing to be a tool for them to reach their goals, which is to do an EVS in a place that they want to live and be a volunteer in some period of their lives. Keeping contact and sharing with them during their EVS, also after they turn back home will add a lot of new insights and new understandings to our working environment in Youth Studies Unit. Our volunteers have experience work with children and youngsters. They have basic level English and computer skills and they have also some new ideas create activities for support social local projects. Voluntters get 3 main training about volunteerism, project management and communication.

As a coordinator organisation we believe that we can take full responsibility of coordinating the parties that will have an EVS partnership. We as professionals of this unit, have a lot of experience in coordinating youth exchanges and youth organisations for a lot of years now. We know how to lead the dynamics that is going on between the partners, we know how to clarify expectations and we know how to run the agreements between parties. So the coordinator role of Youth Studies Unit will be both functional and enjoyable for the people that we will be in contact for EVS as a coordinator organisation.
YSU is promoting “youth work” on local and national areas. We run networking activites between public organizations and NGO's for enhance and spread of youth work. We want to improve our projects international relation, european dimension, volunteerism, diversity and intercultural learning. We also have partnership with international organizations on youth work topic. We would like to experiment and season from different countries how does it work in other fields. The EVS volunteers should have at least basic level of English
We would like to host/send/coordinate voluntters to provide a learning opportunity to a young adult from another country with the possibility of pursuing future work in this field. Volunteers from abroad add an international perspective to organizations. Also all volunteers bring new ideas with them and are encouraged to make suggestions of ways of widening the service receivers experiences and interests. They should have new ideas and create their activities.
Description of the organisation
Youth Studies Unit was founded in August 2006 by a joint protocol between the University and the Community Volunteers Foundation (Toplum Gonulluleri Vakfi, TOG). The Unit is an organization that is working under the Civil Society Studies Center (http://stcm.bilgi.edu.tr) of Istanbul Bilgi University (http://www.bilgi.edu.tr) .The Unit has been running projects in order to contribute to the recognition of youth work in Turkey and for development of a democratic youth policy in Turkey.

Objectives of the Unit are:
-Promoting youth policy formation and monitoring process through a consultation process from the local to national level.
-Providing support to networking among the stakeholders that are active in the youth field.
-Modelling through realising projects that are enriched by the knowledge and experience of local youth work and to advocate by these models.
-Monitoring youth services of the state and youth work practices of youth NGO's on the field.
-Promoting youth research in order to start a process of knowledge based policy making.

Within the Networking Program, we provide opportunities for the stakeholders in the youth field in order for them to learn from each other.

Under the Modelling Program, we implement innovative youth work projects in order to create a multiplier effect.

With the Research Program, we do youth research, specifically on issues of youth work and youth rights.

In the Advocacy Program, we are trying for legislation changes from a right based perspective. Under the each program, we are running several activities.

What we achieved: From 2006 to 2008, we have organized a festival for youth organizations called GePGeNc Festival. The last research book that we have published is called “Youth Work and Policies in Turkey” that was published by Istanbul Bilgi University Presses. The book is composed of 21 articles and 17 researchers writing on issues specifically on youth work. We ran the Secretariat of the European Youth Campaign called All Different All Equal in Turkey.We organize study visits for youth organizations. We implement innovative youth trainings for youth workers and leaders on topics such as internet activism, using foreign language in youth work, local activism and non formal learning.

What we do now:We are working on several research papers on issues of volunteering, mobility and accommodation rights. Through a series of meetings, we are bringing the stakeholders in the youth field on issues that directly effect the everyday lives of young people such as unemployment, gender equality, physical disability. With the Community Volunteers Foundation (Toplum Gönüllüleri Vakfý, TOG), we are in the process of organizing local youth watch groups in order to monitor state/local municipality youth services. We are also supporting youth watch groups within TOG in order to develop a model for monitoring gender equality situation in youth NGOs. With TOG, every year we organize Living Libraries in Istanbul. For more info please visit the web site.

Besides all these above, the Unit runs a local youth center called Kisa Dalga (Short Wave).The youth center was established in the 2007's december.Currently 200 young people between the ages of 15 – 20 are in contact with the Center participating to the workshops, activities, performances and other forms of learning opportunities. There are two reasons why such a local youth center exists within the Unit.

1.Implement innovative youth work implications with the young people living in the near neighbourhood of Eyup.
2.Provide mutual learning opportunities with the other stakeholder working in center based local youth work in Turkey.

In order to do so, the Unit has two full time staff. The method applied in the Center is based on organizing weekly workshops. Each workshop is implemented by a part time trainer from outside the Center. Each youth worker also participates to the workshops. The trainers provide a learning space for young people’s involvement into the workshop and increasing their skills on the subject. The staff of the youth center is responsible from organizing a learning environment both in and outside the workshops. In this respect, the youth worker provides other forms of learning support so that skills as well as attitudes of young people change positively.