IRI Conducts Youth Workshops

December 19, 2003

This December, IRI has undertaken an ambitious schedule of GencNet (translated “YouthNet”) regional workshops. These workshops, held each academic year throughout the country, give local youth the opportunity to address community needs through strategic projects.

On December 6, the Institute co-hosted a workshop in Isparta at which 61 youths created a project aimed at improving transportation in their city. The participants organized themselves into five committees responsible for organization, fundraising, communication, advertisement, and external relations. The following day, approximately 20 youths gathered in Burdur and planned campaigns to upgrade the university’s library and collect clothes for the needy.

The following weekend, IRI held workshops in Gaziantep and Sanliurfa with more than 60 young participants. The youth of Gaziantep launched a project to improve communication in their community through such initiatives as an e-mail sign-up drive, better posting of events on university bulletin boards, and a public speakers lecture series. In Sanliurfa, participants chose to address a similar communication deficit. Using IRI’s problem-solving framework, the youths divided the work among three specialized committees to enhance dialogue among students, between students and local people, and between students and the university administration.

IRI will facilitate the work of these groups and encourage project implementation throughout the academic year through the GencNet website (www.gencnet.org) and inter-city follow-up workshops.

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