The work on the EU-Turkey Intercultural Dialogue Programme, co-financed by Yunus Emre Institute and the European Union (EU) continues apace. During the 10th Consultation and Training Meeting, attended by the directors of Turkish Cultural Centers that represent Yunus Emre Institute around the world, the activities to be conducted as part of the EU-Turkey Intercultural Dialogue Programme were discussed on June 13, 2019. Focus group meetings and consultations were held with the Institute directors in connection with the institutional capacity development activities to be held under the Intercultural Dialogue Programme. In this way, the contributions from the Institute directors who are working abroad and, as such, have considerable knowledge and experience on intercultural dialogue were obtained and analyses that would provide infrastructure for the activities to be conducted were made.

Strategy Development and Institutional Communication Director Bülent Üçpunar made a presentation to explain the outlines of the components of the EU-Turkey Intercultural Dialogue Programme before Simon Forester, the team leader of the Technical Support Team that will be working at the Institute for 24 months on this field, took the floor. Forester provided detailed information on the goals and targets of the programme, the projects to which grants have been provided and the institutions which are conducting these projects.

The work that constituted the first leg of the institutional capacity development activities to be conducted as part of the EU-Turkey Intercultural Dialogue Programme was held for two groups of the directors working in the EU countries and the Balkans. During the exercise, the intercultural dialogue projects the Institute conducts and its activities abroad were evaluated, and the training needs in the field of cultural interactions were identified working with the Institute directors.

As a result of the activities that seek to enhance the capacities of the Institute's personnel in Turkey and abroad in the field of intercultural dialogue, a detail needs analysis will be made and the capability building activities will be planned according to this report.

The aims is to improve the technical support capacities as part of the EU-Turkey Intercultural Dialogue Programme as well as the Institute's relationships with the EU cultural institutes, and in this context, to build capacity for the Institute to design and implement projects on intercultural dialogue and interaction. 

The EU-Intercultural Dialogue Programme not only seeks to implement multi-national, multilateral, and quality projects that promote a common understanding between the EU and Turkey, but also comprises institutional communication and visibility, capacity building activities and the international activities and training to be conducted in the field of cooperation with the the EU National Institutes Network (EUNIC), an umbrella organization for the national cultural institutes in Europe.