City and NGOs Summit

City and Civil Society Summit

The International City and Civil Society Organizations Summit, held under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Turkey and within the scope of the Municipality of Esenler, was held on 20-22 October 2017 at Yildiz Technical University Davutpaşa Campus. Many experts from several countries attended the summit as key speakers. Parallel sessions were held by various non-governmental organizations. One of these sessions was led by the Union of Non-gevernmental Organizations of the Islamic World. As moderator, member of the Board of Trustees of Sabahattin Zaim University, Dr. Ismail Adak’s session was “Capacity Building in Civil Society Organizations”. Prof. Dr. Adak emphasized the important points of the subject by mentioning the transformation and transition processes in which NGOs are actively involved in the management of modern cities.

Then Mohamad Raimi Abu Muslim Youth Movement President of Malaysia, took the floor and talked about the institutional capacity building of Islamic NGOs in Malaysia. During his presentation, Mohamad Raimi shared the experiences of NGOs in Malaysia and his knowledge with the listeners.

Another speaker at the panel was S.M Rasheduzzaman, president of the Social Agency for the Welfare and Development of Bangladesh (SAWAB). During his speech, Mr. Rasheduzzman talked about business networks and micro-finance applications, describing the activities that his organization involved and the events he performed.

The professor of the Lebanese University of Tripoli, Dr. Raafat Mikati made a presentation on “How should the cooperation between NGOs and municipal councils be”. In his speech, he emphasized the Social, Education, Health and Economic developments in NGOs.

After Mr. Mikati, the General Director of the African Education and Community Development Foundation, Dr. Ibrahim M. H. Bulushi’s presentation. His speech was titled “Sustainable Institutional Capacity in Kenya,” Mr. Bulushi shared his experience with the audiences on how to develop the sustainable fund capacity of regional organizations in Africa, and in this way, cooperation between city governments and NGOs.

NGOs and other organizations, such as municipalities and ministries which work closely with the NGOs, had the opportunity to promote themselves and their activities.