Conference on “Refugee Friendly Municipalities” took place on 24 May 2017 in Ankara, and organized by QUDRA Program and Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers (ASAM), with the support of UCLG-MEWA.
During the conference held for the introducing the QUDRA program, the participants concluded that planning and service delivery made with multi-stakeholder structure increases resilience in local governments; and discussed the necessity of establishing migration units in the municipalities of the MEWA region, as well as establishing refugee committees within the citizen assemblies. The Interior Directorate General of Migration Management informed that Syrian data update will be completed in 2018, and migrants will be settled to the secure zones to be established, on a voluntary basis.
The Conference went on with panels titled “Possible Cooperation Opportunities for Municipalities”, “Challenges and Best Practices”, “Successful Strategies and Innovative Solutions”, “Preparedness and Forward Thinking”; became an important platform for knowledge and experience sharing on the problems caused by the refugee influx, providing good examples and increasing the dialogue between Syrian refugees and their host communities.
Next Steps:
A field study including 5 provinces was conducted in 2016 within the context of QUDRA Program. After the field study, according to prepared report and program which will be prepared by GIZ, ASAM and UCLG-MEWA; the following activities were planned:
- National Workshop: A national workshop will be held in 2017. 10 municipalities from Turkey and 5 associations from EU will be invited to the workshop.
- Field visits: After the workshop, field visits will be organized and 5 municipalities will be invited. It aims to share examples of good practices within the context of the field visits that will give an opportunity to see what is happening on this field in Turkey.