about us

Supports

Since its creation in 2012, SD has supported small-scale, short-term activities in a fast, flexible and innovative way from 81 provinces throughout Turkey. It has provided thousands of civic actors opportunities for networking, experience sharing, collaboration and learning through forums, roundtables, campaigns and trainings.

Sivil Düşün supports rights-based actions of CSOs and activists who would like to grow by developing new skills, creating an impact on decision-makers, getting heard, and improving organisational skills and capacity.

In addition to its general support, Sivil Düşün also publishes Special Lot calls that focus on a specific theme, field of rights, or geographical location and are open for limited periods apart from its general support.

General Call

Sivil Düşün offers in-kind support to civic actors to help them achieve their goals under four categories:

Learn New Skills and Techniques, such as

  • Communicating ideas and presenting information more effectively
  • Increasing the involvement of volunteers, members and supporters
  • Working with diverse stakeholders
  • Raising funds and managing budgets
  • Developing policy recommendations
  • Using digital tools and platforms more effectively

Get Heard for

  • Providing the public with reliable and objective information
  • Raise public awareness
  • Fighting disinformation
  • Becoming more visible and gaining public support
  • Engaging citizens in rights-based actions

Strengthen organisational capacity by

  • Improving your rights-based approach
  • Becoming more productive and better able to serve the needs of your target audiences
  • Forming collaborations, partnerships or networks
  • Diversifying funding sources and achieving sustainability
  • Developing and implementing a long-term strategic plan
  • Managing change and adopting more innovative and creative approaches and tactics

Impact the Public Policy by

  • Gaining the support of decision-makers
  • Increasing digital and conventional media coverage
  • Securing the support of opinion makers and key stakeholder groups
  • Mobilising citizens
  • Developing policy recommendations
  • Establishing a coalition or network

Sivil Düşün covers the cost of the following items up to 5 thousand Euros for each application:

  • Mobility and Networking
  • Event Organisation
  • Digital/Print Materials
  • Audio/Visual Materials
  • Advertising
  • Digital Transformation
  • Public Opinion Research

Sivil Düşün also mobilises experts to help request owners with in-depth knowledge and extensive experience and to provide guidance, mentoring, training or technical services. Expert fees are in addition to the maximum €5 thous and support limit indicated above.

DO NOT FORGET

The maximum you can request is €5,000 for any combination of the eligible cost items listed below. You can submit more than one RfS, but the total may not exceed €10,000 during this phase of Sivil Düşün.

You can select more than one eligible cost item.

How to apply?

Sivil Düşün is open to receiving support requests continuously from 30 September 2020 through early 2025.

Sivil Düşün keeps the general calls for support available at all times, but occasionally, due to special support calls or high demand, it may temporarily suspend.

To request support from Sivil Düşün, you must register with Online Information System, create your account and fill in a simplified form to explain you or your organisation, your right-based action and what you would ask Sivil Düşün to support.

Click here to download the RfS Guideline.

How does the compliance check process work?

Sivil Düşün reviews each request for support on a first-come, first-served basis in three phases.

Phase 1: Technical Eligibility Check

Sivil Düşün determines whether your request for support meets the minimum technical eligibility requirements.

Sivil Düşün team members check the Technical eligibility of each request for support.

Phase 2: Qualitative Eligibility Check

Sivil Düşün determines whether your request for support fulfils the Qualitative Eligibility criteria. There are two sets of criteria: determining criteria and supportive criteria.

Two independent experts check the qualitative eligibility of each request for support.

Phase 3: Improvement Check

 

How to follow a request for support?

You can follow the status of your request for support via the Online Information System. Once your request for support is approved, you will be assigned a support officer from the Sivil Düşün team to help you throughout the implementation.

Sivil Düşün determines whether the request owner revised the RfS according to the feedback and recommendations in this final phase.

Sivil Düşün team members check the Technical eligibility of each request for support.

 

Special support calls

Sivil Düşün designs and issues call for support from time to time to respond to the needs of civil society. These can be thematic, geographic or targeted, depending on the gap the support can fill.

Gayret (endeavour) special support call | 31 March – 9 June 2023

Following the devastating earthquakes in February 2023, Sivil Düşün designed and launched a special call to support civic work in the recovery period. Under this special call, Sivil Düşün supports the work of civil society organisations, activities and communities to protect and strengthen human rights, environmental rights and animal rights during the recovery period.

Share your location special support call | 1 June – 1 October 2021

Special support catered to back up the work of grassroots organisations, activists and local communities in 50 provinces of the country. Sivil Düşün supported civic actors who wanted to take the first step in their neighbourhood and be part of a more extensive civic action.

Sivil Düşün has received a total of 228 work of 152 activist and 76 organisations from 46 provinces who shared their location and asked for support to learn, get heard, strengthen and create an impact.

Things connect us special support call | 11 May-11 June 2020

Sivil Düşün has designed and launched this special call to respond to the emerging needs of çivil society during the pandemic. A total of 353 civil society organisations and activists requested support to protect and strengthen rights during these difficult times. From 38 cities, 213 actions were supported with a total of 803 thousand euros, especially in children’s and women’s rights.

 

Sample stories of supported work

The Recording Room 
by Ensar Özdemir 

The Recording room is a documentary of six series raising awareness on women’s rights  and refugee and asylum seeker rights

Starting his career as a reporter, Ensar has worked as a photographer in many conflict zones, such as Iraq and Syria. Carrying children and women in the focus of his work for so many years, Ensar has developed a greater sensitivity towards  human rights.

Sivil Düşün supported Ensar in producing documentaries to raise awareness of the rights of women, LGBTI+, refugees and belief groups.

Click here to watch the documentary (in Turkish)

The Sound of the Cage 
by Sena Gizem Demir

The sound of the cage is a documentary raising awareness of Animal rights

Sena is an activist  who believes in the transformative power of civic space. She has built up a greater awareness of the protection of rights through her work in the field. Three years ago, she decided to reflect it through her lifestyle and became a vegan.  Sena believes in creating a broader perception in campaigning for animal rights and aims to move the direction to all animals, not just cats and dogs.

The Sound of the Cage, her documentary supported by Sivil Düşün,  is a current example of these efforts aiming to raise awareness of and become the voice of farm animals, test animals and mounts.

Click here to watch the documentary (in Turkish)

Follow Sena and her team’s work at https://www.instagram.com/kafesinsesi/

Gomidas 
by Ersin Umut Güler & Yolcu (Passenger) Drama Club

Gomidas is a play aiming to raise awareness on equality and non-discrimination, freedom of expression, conscience and religion

Ersin Umut Güler, director and actor, likes to stage plays that touch on social issues through new aesthetic forms. Sivil Düşün has supported the award-winning play Gomidas of Ersin and Yolcu drama club.

With Sivil Düşün support, the club toured the play Gomidas, which is about the life of Gomidas Vartabed, a musicologist, composer and choirmaster priest, to various cities across the country . Thanks to this tour, they managed to draw the attention of the masses to the rights of non-Muslim minorities and the beauty of living together.

Click here to check on the work of the drama club