The first two semesters of the “Five-Dimensional Future Project”, carried out by IMU SOSYOPARK (Social Cooperation Application and Research Center), have been completed. The project is supported by ISTKA (Istanbul Development Agency), coordinated by Prof. Faruk BAL who is director of SOSYOPARK and member of Faculty of Political Sciences. The third and final phase of the project will be realized in 2023.
In the project Istanbul Medeniyet University collaborated with Kadıköy, Usküdar, Umraniye, Sultanbeyli, Sancaktepe district governorships as project partners; with Istanbul Academy of Sciences Foundation, Sultanbeyli and Üsküdar municipalities as project participants; and with Sancaktepe and Umraniye municipalities as project supporters. The aim of the project named “Five-Dimensional Future” was determined as “to increase the level of socialization in five main areas by providing the youth with positive elements that will enhance their social and psychological well-being in cooperation with the university, local and civil administration, non-governmental organizations and the private sector”. These five main areas cover personality-character formation and development, development in life skills and social relations, academic and professional development, consciousness development, and physical development.
With the project, which aims youth empowerment socially by providing learning opportunities, the following specific objectives were sought to be achieved:
- Developing youth’s life skills,
- To contribute to the personality-character formation and development, life skills, social development, academic and professional development, physical development of young people,
- To increase the time that parents and children do activities together and spend time together,
- To increase the school attendance of young people in educational processes; to strengthen career development through professional training,
- To enable young people to become more resistant to substance addiction, harmful factors caused by migration and urbanization,
- To strengthen the ties of young people with their family members and society,
- To increase the quality of the relationship between tradesmen, religious officials, headmen, teachers and administrators with young people,
- To develop young people’s awareness of learning, critical thinking and social contribution,
- To make the analysis developed for high school students determined on the basis of low-middle and high-level developed sub-regions a model primarily for Istanbul and then for Turkey.
As the first stage of the project, at a meeting held on January 12, 2022, details regarding the implementations were determined and plans were made in the districts where the project would be carried out, with the participation of local and civil authorities. The roles and responsibilities of the institutions involved in the project were discussed at the “Local and Civil Administration Information Meeting”, where the general framework of the project was discussed. In this division of labor, Istanbul Medeniyet University assumed responsibility for the organization of the project, the creation of the curriculum to be used in education and activities, the implementation of measurement tools, the preparation of educational materials and training, the training of trainers, and the preparation of the final report. On February 15, 2022, the project preparation works, and as of April 15, 2022; activities started. Project trainings were divided into three periods: 18 April-20 May 2022, 10 October-31 December 2022 and 20 March-20 May 2023.
In the project, trainings were prepared for young people in five main areas that make up the five dimensions of the project:
In the field of personality and character formation, trainings were designed for the ability to think independently, develop self-confident attitudes and behaviors, act constructively and empathize.
In the field of life skills, trainings were prepared on socialization and community relations, self-discipline and time management, development of self-control mechanism, active participation in opportunities for young people, healthy lifestyle and first aid skills, communication skills, responsibility and career management.
In the field of academic and professional development, trainings were prepared on vocational preferences and preparations, academic branches, and gaining religious knowledge.
The trainings within the scope of consciousness development focused on respectful-loving behavior development, sensitivity to social events and participation in decision-making mechanisms in line with democratization, assimilation of history and cultural heritage.
In the field of physical development, in addition to trainings on raising awareness of a healthy lifestyle and living according to the concept of halal food, camp activities involving health outreach were planned.
For the purposes of inclusive education in accordance with the principle of equality, young people who will participate in the project were determined to include lower-middle-upper groups both in terms of academic achievements and socio-economic qualifications of their families. Instructors were selected to coordinate the project processes in each school. Istanbul Medeniyet University students also voluntarily took part in the works within the scope of the project.
In the first period of the project, 114 trainings were organized by 12 trainers in 8 different fields, giving a total of 228 hours of training. Workshops were held in the fields of Digital Design, Photography, Theatre, Painting, Wood, Ney, Guitar, Baglama and Calligraphy at our university campuses and district centers. Between 06 – 09 May 2022, a nature and sports camp was held at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Antalya Alaaddin Keykubat Camp site in order to contribute to the physical and mental development of the young people participating in the project to help them adopt a healthy lifestyle. In the camp where 32 volunteer undergraduate students from our university took part, 152 high school students from different schools participated in various activities such as bicycle tours, rope course, paintball, street games, amusements etc. In addition to the activities, they also participated in archery training, which is Turkey’s intangible cultural heritage.
After the completion of the first semester training in 2022, an evaluation meeting was held in the Ziraat Bank Library of our University with the participation of project coordinators and relevant persons. After providing information about the first period’s work, a consultation was held on education and activities. At the meeting, the project activities were evaluated by listening to the opinions and recommendations of school principals, vice-principals and teachers. Ideas were exchanged on what can be done in the next period.
In the second period of the project, 128 trainings were organized by 11 trainers in 9 different fields, giving a total of 256 hours of training. Throughout the semester, in order to provide young people with skills in different fields at the Göztepe Campus of our university, in addition to kintsugi, watercolor, authorship, visual design, entrepreneurship, theater, civil society and thought academy workshops; Turkish paper decoration art marbling workshop was held, which is in the intangible cultural heritage list of Turkey. Three different camp activities were carried out, including two camp programs for girls and boys at Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Diriliş Camp on 14-17 November, and a camp program with female students at the Tuzla Martyr Ömer Halisdemir Camp area of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. During the camps, workshops, and seminars, 27 volunteer students from our University supported the activities.
Within the scope of the project, trainings for adults were also organized. In the trainings covering teachers, parents, shopkeepers, headmen and religious officials, 7 different trainings were held on bonding with adolescents, the risks and advantages of social media, the nature-centered approach in religious services, correct communication with young people, emotional regulation in adults, effective communication with young people and setting an example in kindness. 175 people were reached during these trainings.
On November 22, 2022, with a meeting of 250 people consisting of project coordinators and relevant people, a promotional program was organized with the presentations of our Rector Prof.Dr. Gülfettin ÇELİK. On December 1, 2022, a promotional and information meeting was held with the participation of approximately 950 people. In both meetings, project activities were explained by emphasizing and reminding the importance of communication between families, religious officials, headmen, tradesmen and educators with young people.
With all these efforts, 242 trainings were held in the first two periods of the project, in which 48 students took part voluntarily throughout 2022. Education was delivered to 1776 students and 175 adults from 17 different schools.
