NGO 501 Civil Society Theory I

This course aims to study “civil society” from a theoretical and historical perspective. The impact of public sphere on the formation of civil society, the relationship between the state and civil society, and the effect of citizens on the creation of civil society will be discussed. The course will also focus on various debates and discussions from other countries with regards to the formation of civil society. The course aims to start new discussions about the appearance of the concept of civil society in the last century, its relationship with the public sphere, the organization of volunteer groups, and the global relations between civil society organizations. The course will be an introduction to the basic concepts, but will also aim to increase the students’ level of knowledge about the concept of civil society and develop their research skills about civil society.

The second part of the course will focus on how relationship of civil society concept with public sphere and state and impact of civil society on formation of citizenship concept is reflected in the literature about Turkey. While this course will study literature on Turkey, it can also be considered as an introduction into frequently used concepts about civil society like “advocacy”, “service oriented organizations” and “participation”. By the end of the course, the students are expected to develop their knowledge of the concept of civil society and increase their competencies about basic concepts.

NGO 503 Project Development and Proposal Writing Techniques

In this course, the whole process starting with the project idea with a societal objective until the presentation of the completed project proposal will be covered by utilizing the Project Cycle Management approach. The course will encompass the following subjects: Project design, the project cycle, identifying a project idea, the development of a problem tree and objectives tree, stakeholder analysis, the determination of the project purpose and objectives, planning of activities/time/resources, logical framework analysis, the risk analysis of activities and determination of assumptions, the determination of success indicators and verification resources, the monitoring and evaluation of projects and the sustainability and budgeting of projects.

NGO 505 Research Methods in Civil Society Studies

In this course, students will be provided with basic information about methods for conducting quantitative and qualitative research within the interdisciplinary field of civil society studies as a social sciences branch. Graduate students which have to write a thesis will be presented the necessary skills to do research in the field of civil society studies. The course content will focus on an introduction to the discussion of methodology in social sciences, the formation of the concept of research, the basic literacy of descriptive and interpretative statistics, methods of qualitative research and areas to be careful about when doing research in the field of civil society studies.

NGO 506 Collaboration With Volunteers and Management of Human Resources

This course aims to discuss the concept of “volunteering” from a critical perspective. The relationship between volunteering and citizenship will be analysed. On the one hand, discussions about the societal benefit that volunteering provides will be discussed, while on the other hand, the possibilities for citizen participation that volunteering provides will also be contemplated. The methods for coordinating volunteers will be studied in the second half of the course. By the end of the course, the students will have a conceptual grasp of volunteering and have developed managerial skills of working with volunteers.

NGO 507 Local and International Fundraising for NGOs

In this course, corporate funding programs of public and private sources that are geared towards NGOs that carry out societal activities for advocacy and public services will be studied. As a part of the course, research will be conducted about these funds, which are also political instruments, and the funds will be critically assessed on both an impact and procedural perspective. The funds provided by the EU for member states and Turkey and other enlargement countries and developing countries will also be separately studied in this course.

NGO 509 Advocacy and Policy Influencing

Advocacy can include various activities like attempting to change a specific law or differentiating a particular practice. The purpose of this course is to focus on the various phases that citizens can take part in to influence policy and participate in the decision making mechanisms by discussing the conceptual importance, conceptually evaluating and analysing how decision making mechanisms were historically constructed, as well as dealing with the methods of participating in these mechanisms. In the first part of the course, the relationship between the concepts of advocacy, participation, and citizenship will be studied. In the second half of the course, advocacy methods from various areas will be evaluated. By the end of the course, the students will have a conceptual understanding of the subject matter and develop their skills with regards to the methods.

NGO 510 Social Movements and Social Policies

This course aims to provide the students with basic knowledge about the role of social movements in the historical development of social and economic policies in the context of different societies and the areas of social policy and anti-discriminatory policies that these rights today form the basis of. With this aim in mind, the course intends to ensure students to conceive the current debates about impact of various social movements in the field of policy that intends to implement social and economic rights like policies of health, education, social services, social aid, employment, shelter and retirement, and develop their abilities to think analytically and express themselves in such matters.

NGO 511 Impact Measurement and Evaluation

This course aims at studying the meaning, scope, necessity, methods, and contribution to the process of the monitoring and evaluation in civil society organizations, by the help of examples from Turkey and the world. The main discussion points that the course will focus on are as follows: The analysis of the gap between what civil society organizations objectives to change and what they have changed; measurability of change; the monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of civil society activities; the impact evaluation methods and tools developed or being developed to this end; identification of indicators and criteria for monitoring; the monitoring and evaluation process; participation in the monitoring and evaluation process; and the impact measurement and evaluation as a process of learning and transformation.

NGO 512 Humanitarian Crises and NGOs - Response and Management

Responding to rising humanitarian crises of human and/or natural causes (violent conflicts, health crises, natural and man made disasters) has traditionally been self-determined missions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and numerous local and big international organizations have been established to provide humanitarian aid and ensure minimal cost and damage. On the other hand, despite the very eminent role of NGOs in humanitarian crises in the last 3-4 decades, discussions on the challenges that NGOs facing with because of the changing political environment around the world has already started. Within this course, structures and actions of NGOs responding to humanitarian crises such as violent conflicts, natural or man-made disasters and migration will be analysed and effective response, risk management and prevention and post-crisis rehabilitation will be dealt by interactive learning methods like guest speakers, case studies, simulations etc.

NGO 513 Innovative Practices in Civil Societ

This course will be conducted with the participation of representatives from active civil society organizations from such fields like Human Rights, Women’s Rights, Disabled Rights, Children’s Rights, Youth and the Environment via analysis of best practices, case studies and projects. The flow of the course has been planned to establish a conceptual and historical background by a rights based discussion for particular fields, followed by analysis of examples of national and international good practice and evaluating them in terms of the previously established background, and finally introduction of current debates within these fields. The students will also be introduced to various organizations and projects from the non-governmental field and learning and sharing opportunities will be created to support their participation. By the end of the course the students will have enriched their conceptual and historical knowledge of the studied fields, improved their skills towards studying and evaluating different cases, and increased their awareness of current debates in the fields.