Municipality Coordination Meeting’21

UNHCR and WALD have been organizing annual inter-municipal coordination meetings since 2017. The coordination meetings were formalized in 2018 under the name of Municipality Coordination Meeting Within the Context of Refugees. The framework of works was determined with the Istanbul Declaration signed by more than 20 municipalities from the Union of Municipalities of Turkey and the Marmara Region. 

 On this occasion, IV. Municipality Coordination Meeting Within the Context of Refugees was held online on 18 February 2021 in cooperation with WALD, UNHCR, and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. At the meeting, the following topics are discussed.

- Global Perspectives on Local Governments’ Role on Refugees

- Istanbul Declaration and Next Steps 

- Shared Problems, Shared Solutions: Local Government’s Increasing Role in Refugee Context

The meeting was moderated by Hülya ALPER, WALD Academy Director. Tansel KAYA, WALD Vice Chairman of the Executive Board, was among the names addressing the opening speech of the meeting. Kaya said, "Our main goal is to share the good practices of local governments in the field of refugees, to create a platform where the locals will discuss their needs for their work involving refugees, and to generate inclusive solutions for current problems." 

As the keynote speaker, Jean-Marie Garelli, UNHCR Turkey Deputy Representative, emphasized the importance of coordination platform’s works and highlighted that this platform is a pioneer. The session titled “Global Perspectives on Local Governments’ Role on Refugees” was moderated by Elif Selen Ay, UNHCR Istanbul Head of Office. In this session, participants mentioned Turkey's projects and funding activities, and also discussed global studies.

In the session moderated by Mehmet Duman, WALD Chairman of the Executive Board, Istanbul Declaration was discussed. It was stated that the declaration will be redrawn in the context of feedback received from the field.

In the final session moderated by Yavuz Saltık, IMM Head of Department of Social Services was shared through local experiences by funding institutions in the panel on Panel:  Shared Problems, Shared Solutions: Local Government’s Increasing Role in Refugee Context. The meeting concluded after questions and answers.