As a non-profit-oriented youth organization established for and by young people we believe that young people should be more involved in social issues regarding themselves and other segments of the society. In our view, young people should be able to participate to the decision-making process in their communities and act as responsible active citizens. Avoiding from political confrontations and from unrealistic utopist ideas, we aim at taking every possible action for social and personal development of youth, particularly of disadvantaged local youth.
Although we understand the concept of "youth" in social and cultural terms, not in biological terms, our primary target group is the youngsters aged between 15 and 30. GESOGED aims at taking a pioneering role in organizing every possible action towards social and personal development of its target group. It believes in the power of youth in creating a better world to live in. It has 25 active members at the moment but it has strong contacts with many youth groups in Balikesir.

With this proposal,  we would like to undertake a short term (2 weeks-2 months) project especially for volunteers coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. In doing so, we intend to;

·   contribute to social and personal development of disadvantaged volunteers,

·   give chances of  short term EVS for more youngsters (up to 30 volunteers),

·   get benefits, for the local community, from the knowledge and abilities of volunteers,

·   build partnerships with more European organizations,

·   transfer new perspectives and innovations on youth work taking place in European organizations,

·   contribute to the development of cultural tolerance among European young people,

·   mediate for the higher level of European awareness in our local community,

·   contribute to the development of life areas of some institutions serving to disabled youngsters, poor students and elderly people.

The project place is a school for mentally disabled children and young people run under the local administration of National Education Directory (MEM). Here the volunteers will be working in a backyard (of this school). They will take active roles in the planning and implementation of the design of this backyard. Additionally, the volunteers (around 20) will benefit from various educational opportunities such as learning on healthy life, Turkish language, traditional Turkish music and dance, art (ebru), etc. Furthermore, they will participate in sportive events and educational trips around Balikesir.