İSTANBUL BİLGİ UNIVERSITY CHILDREN’S STUDIES UNIT

İstanbul Bilgi University Children’s Studies Unit has initiated its studies in 2007 to work with children and their immediate environment for the realization of children’s rights. Aiming at the fulfillment of the opportunity for every child to be all she or he can be, the main field of work for the unit is to develop and disseminate training models and programs on children’s rights. ÇOÇA aims to empower children’s immediate environment in addition to children themselves; their family members, educators, social workers and other people working with children.

Research, reporting and advocacy for children’s rights are also involved within ÇOÇA’s field of work and ensuring the participation of children in all its activities, the Unit endeavors to contribute to the policies developed concerning children. Target group of ÇOÇA involves children aged between 7-18, people in the immediate environment of children and those who develop and implement child policies in Turkey. ÇOÇA is under İstanbul Bilgi University Center of Civil Society together with NGO Research and Training Center and Youth Studies Unit. It is situated within santralistanbul Campus of İstanbul Bilgi University.

OBJECTIVES

  • » Increasing awareness on children’s rights among children, teachers, families and relevant NGOs and empowering them in their protection to disseminate a culture of children’s rights among the society.
  • » Along with their awareness on human rights, development of critical thinking skills of the children.
  • » Enhancing participation of children in every field of life including decision and policy-making.
  • » Keeping the needs of the children on the agenda and advocacy for the active participation of state and non-state actors.
  • » Enhancing and sustaining interdisciplinary cooperation within and out of the university to contribute to the realization of children’s rights.

FUNCTIONS

  • » Development and implementation of training program models and training tools on human rights for children and adults transforming theoretical knowledge into practical implementation.
  • » Making researches within the field and their dissemination.
  • » Advocacy to support children’s rights and their dissemination in Turkey.
  • » Cooperation with non-governmental and governmental organizations including media to unify efforts for the best interests of children.

PRINCIPLES

Giving priority to children in all fields and protection of his/her best interests, supporting the life and the development of the children, respect for differences and non-discrimination, encouraging participation of children, self-realization and achievement.

PRIOR & ONGOING PROJECTS

  • » Children Have a Say Children’s Rights Training Program that involves development and dissemination of an innovative training material, a board-game for children above 10 for raising their awareness on children’s rights.
  • » Compassito Translation and Dissemination Project in which Compassito (a human rights training book prepared by the Council of Europe for children) is translated, adopted and printed to be disseminated towards NGOs and teachers in Turkey.
  • » Child Wellbeing Research Project which is executed with the partnership of İstanbul Bilgi University Children’s Studies Unit aims to change the perspective of child poverty from the income-based approach to the rights-based approach and influence the relevant national policies.
  • » Children’s Rights Radio Program which is carried out by 10-14 age group children in Açık Radyo. The program aims at raising awareness on children’s rights.
  • » Media and Children Course in the university towards media and communication department students to empower them to protect children’s rights during mass media communication.
  • » Implementation and evaluation of various training materials on rights in education in cooperation with Sabancı University Educational Reform Initiative.

ÇOÇA has received financial support from Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Australian Embassy, Embassy of United States, Sabancı University in Turkey, Consulate of Netherlands, TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) and private donors from Turkey.