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From participatory budgeting to community-led services: The co-production journey of Çanakkale in Turkey

Learning points

The fact that the Mayor takes part in the meetings with citizens is a significant factor in increasing the number of engaged citizens in Turkey. It enables face-to-face communication with the local leader which is seen as a positive factor.

The transfer of responsibility for the allocation of resources from the ‘community fund’ to local area committees and muhtars has also proved to be very successful. This means that the local authority cannot interfere with the allocation of resources of community-led projects, which depoliticises the commissioning process.

At the same time, Çanakkale Municipality has become aware that it needs to do more to support citizens to overcome barriers to co-production. Public discontent with the performance of the municipality (such as long waiting times for services) may lead some citizens to take action themselves but there is a need for capacity-building both of local communities and of front-line staff and managers of the municipality, so that both work in a more collaborative way based on co-production principles. This will also require a clear definition of the ‘mutual tasks and responsibilities’ of local communities and the local authority. Most importantly, there needs to be a clearly defined role for local councillors who still have a very weak role in the recently decentralised local government system in Turkey.

About this case study
Main Contact

Ferhat Emil
Governance International Associate
Email: ferhat.emil@govint.org

H. Evrim Akman
Director of Strategy Development Unit
Çanakkale Municipality
Email: 
evrimakman@canakkale.bel.tr

www.canakkale.bel.tr

The case study was written for Governance International by Ferhat Emil and Evrim Akman on 22 July 2014.

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