Turkey

Duygu Guven Soyer has ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Throughout her career, she has gained experience in different fields of nonprofit activities, such as disadvantaged youth and youth participation; regional environmental issues; rural development and poverty reduction; and, capacity building for local nonprofit organizations. Such experience equipped her with various skills and competencies such as project design and management, reporting, monitoring and evaluation at different levels as well as supervision of fieldwork. In 2001-2005, Duygu volunteered for the Youth Association for Habitat and Agenda 21 with the Implementation of Local Agenda 21 project, working on management of volunteers, relations with public institutions and fundraising. In 2005-2007, she worked professionally for an international organization, Regional Environmental Center, as an Executive Assistant, responsible for reporting, developing projects and evaluating activities. Between 2007 and 2010, Duygu worked for the Sustainable Rural and Urban Development Association (SURKAL), where she was in charge of fundraising, monitoring-evaluation and reporting activities. She has also taken responsibility for the program design of rural development projects, capacity building of local nonprofit organizations, and socio-economic research in rural areas.

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Host Organization: HasNa

Ihsan Karayazi has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from Kafkas University and a Master’s degree in Cultural Management from Istanbul Bilgi University. Ihsan has worked for both public and civil society areas with a particular focus on conflict resolution alongside the border with South Caucasus. From 2005-2009, Ihsan was employed by the Municipality of Kars as an officer in charge of external relations and project coordination. In 2009, he joined UNDP Turkey as the site manager of UN Joint Program Alliances for Culture Tourism in Eastern Anatolia, which uses tourism to generate income and eliminate poverty. Ihsan has worked as an advisor to many national and international organizations including the International Institute of Urban Development (IIUD), International Alert of London, TESEV (Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation) of Istanbul, Anadolu Kultur of Istanbul, City Research Center of Gyumri, Armenia and Barents Secreteriat of Kirkenes, Norway. Ihsan has participated in training programs including the Emerging Young Leaders program offered by US State Department, the summer university program of the Central European University (CEU-Budapest) on Public Management of Urban Challenges in Transitional Cities, and a European Diploma program in Cultural Project Management.

Host Organization: HasNa

Selma has five years of experience in Turkey’s non-profit sector. She earned a Bachelor’s of Political Science and International Relations from the Bahcesehir University in Turkey, during which she was an Erasmus exchange student at European University Viadrina in Germany for one semester. She also holds a Master of Global Politics and International Relations from Bahcesehir University. She most recently served as Deputy Director of International Leadership Application and Research Center. There are two departments in this center: the School of Government & Leadership, and the American Studies Center. She worked closely with the government to facilitate dialogue among policy makers, experts, civil society leaders and academics on regional and global issues. She also helped to organize Bahçeşehir University’s School of Politics U.S. program, which is a two week program for graduate school students to meet with political and business institutions including nonprofits, the U.S. Congress, think tanks, media organizations, and lobbying groups. Selma also organizes the Global Leadership Forum, which gathers international policy makers, academics and experts from around the world. In 2012, Selma led the Young Turkey – Young America Program, representing both Turkish young professionals as well as her own university. Selma enjoys focusing on the topics of leadership development, global politics, diplomacy and youth empowerment. She is also a Co-Opinion Young Professional Fellow, which is a policy-oriented youth solidarity network that advocates an integrated approach for youth policies in the Middle East and North Africa region to improve the agency of youth and to enhance their economic and social prospects. She has a strong passion for human and social capital development. Through these experiences, she has developed strong project coordination, implementation and management skills. In addition to her professional roles, Selma works on a social project to help Syrian refugees. Selma has been continuously contributing opinion pieces and interviews to Project on the Middle East and the Arab Spring (POMEAS), an online open forum for reflecting on and analyzing the various dimensions of the Arab Spring and its echoes in the region today. Selma has a passion for soccer, theatre and urban exploration.

Host Organization: John D. Evans Foundation

Role at Host Organization: Selma will be maintaining relationships for the foundation’s Grantees. In addition, she will attend various meetings with the Foundation. She will conduct necessary research and will also help with the Board work of the Executive VP’s foundation duties.

Efe has seven years of professional experience and almost ten years of volunteer experience in civil society. After finalizing his AFS year in Wisconsin in 2004, he started as a volunteer in community based activities in Istanbul, Turkey. As a graduate of Psychology, Bilkent University in 2010, he took civil society field as a profession and worked both in the field and in providing operational support with UN-FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations), AFS (American Field Service) Turkey, Violence Stories in Turkey with CRA (Cross Cultural Research Association), LGBT and Human Rights with SPoD (Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association) and KAOS GL, and Refugee and Asylum Seekers Rights with MdM (Medecins du Monde). As his primary interest in Human and LGBTQ Rights, he has prioritized a gender-based advocacy in the institutions and projects he has worked for. In 2015, he founded Harup, a project space that combines LGBTQ advocacy and arts as a medium. He has worked with several national and international media platforms where his writings and interviews were published. His intention is to be able to combine his passion for arts and culture and human and LGBTQ rights in order to work closely with different advocacy methods while keeping ties with local and global community.

Host Organization: Human Rights Campaign

Fellow Role at Host Organization: Efe will be a member of the HRC’s Global Office assisting with assignments to support programs in HRC Global and the HRC Foundation.