THE LAST DISTRICT COORDINATION MEETING OF THE YEAR 

World Academy of Local Government and Democracy Foundation (WALD) held its last coordination meeting of the year on 24 December 2021 with the participation of Sancaktepe Municipality, public institutions and organizations serving in the district, and representatives of non-governmental organizations. 

Sancaktepe Municipality Foreign Relations Manager Yunus Kul and WALD Academy Director Hülya Alper spoke at the opening of the meeting, which aimed to share the work of public institutions and non-governmental organizations in the district borders within the scope of the Social Protection Project carried out in cooperation with WALD, UNHCR and Sancaktepe Municipality since 2017, and to discuss future cooperation. They emphasized the importance of coordination meetings in order to increase inter-institutional communication and cooperation, to increase the quality of services provided to refugees, to prevent separatist discourses that would impede the social cohesion process, and to determine the opportunities for access to accurate information. 

It was underlined that WALD's services continue without interruption, even though all the opportunities provided by technology have been evaluated as changed during the pandemic period.  In this process, within the scope of WALD Sancaktepe Social Protection Desk activities, studies carried out in many areas such as health, education, identification process, sensitive case follow-ups, legal support, food support, financial aid, social cohesion continue over the phone and internet, and that communication tools are shared with relevant institutions. 

In the meeting, it was emphasized that the city council and sub-working groups should be formed, especially with an understanding of pluralist and participatory democracy.  The meeting ended by emphasizing that these groups would be effective in solving problems and creating a culture of coexistence, especially by participation of foreigners and refugees.