European Women between Tradition and Transition
Transnational meeting in Yavuzeli June 7-10, 2008

Hosts
T.C.Yavuzeli Hal k Egitimi Merkezi (Adult Education Center), Yavuzeli, Turkey
Funda, Halide, Nurai

Guests
Organizers and teachers from
Casa de la Cultura, Getafe, Spain
CIDF Phocéen, Marseille, France
Women’s Academy Ulm, Germany
Dayhighschool for Migrant Women, Copenhagen

Students from France and Germany

Spain and Denmark could not bring students. In Spain they have difficulties in finding students, who are able to travel, because they have to take care of children or elder relatives. In Denmark the migrant students don’t get the allowance from the social service to travel abroad.

The colleagues from Cyprus did not come because of safety reasons.
 
Contents
Presentation of the participants
Presentation and approval of the agenda
Latest news from the coordinator
The domestic situation and women’s rights in Turkey
Progress of the preparations for the exhibition
Visit to the Turkish students at Yavuzeli
Evaluation and feed-back

The location for the meeting and workshops was in a luxury hotel in the big industrial city of Gaziantep, 30 km away from the village of Yavuzeli where the partner organisation is located.

Excursion to Yavuzeli
The visit to Yavuzeli started with a reception at the major’s office. Girls and boys of the local school welcomed us with music and dances and an exhibition of their art work. A highlight was the dialogue with women of the local project group about life concepts and chances of personal development. Their teacher Funda gave a speech about Women in Turkey. No men were present at that time and the discussion was very lively. Personal contacts were established and all countries hoped that women from Yavuzeli would be able to come to a meeting in another country. Unfortunately this did not happen because of a lack of support on different levels.

Supporting programme
Creative Workshop with traditional techniques of the region:
marbel paper and string batik
Guided tour of the old part of Gaziantep
Excursion to the river Euphrat

Reflection
Being almost at the end of the first project year we had a half-term reflection on the project, including reports about the domestic situation in the partner institutions.
Short report of the domestic situation
France: The political domestic situation in France makes the work of CIDF Phocéen very difficult. They are actually very concerned about their future existence. The government thinks that women are already well integrated in all aspects of the French society and finds no need of a ministry of female gender and equal opportunity. 
Spain: The economical situation in Spain has no influence on the work in “Centro de Educacion de Adultos de Getafe”. They are financed by the governnment. 
Germany: Frauenakademie in Ulm is in financial difficulties. As the economical situation in Germany is critical, many women are obliged to find a job in order to secure the family finances and living standard. Only work related courses are valued by the supervisor from the municipality of Ulm. The concept needs to be adapted.
Turkey: In Gaziantep and Yavuzeli they have difficulties in recruiting students for adult education. The educational system in Turkey is old fashioned and the teacher is not able to make her own educational program, as there is a national program. Never the less there are huge differences between the different regions in Turkey. People working in civil services are getting poorer every year. In Turkey you find many different ethnical groups, many different religious groups, and everybody has to live with the fear of a military cup. The living expenses in Turkey are high, and the young girls in the villages in the south east of Turkey are getting married instead of getting an education.  
Denmark: In Denmark the new doctrine is: Work. It has a great influence on our work field, because we are not getting any approval on our students. From our point of view very few of our target group is actually able to get out and get a work. Most of our students have severe psychosocial problems and need more time in the school.

Conclusions
The participants agreed upon the fact that the project is born and now is living its life. The goal is a common one, but the means are different. The process is more important than the result. The Turkey meeting was a milestone in many ways.
We missed Cyprus in the meeting and we are looking forward to see them in Copenhagen. We encourage Panayiotis to send his female colleagues to the future meetings.