Adana is the fifth largest city in Turkey and it has a warm climate. In December, they organised a conference about EU Projects and the opportunities of the Erasmus Plus programme and in February, they organised a local thematic conference about empowerment, inspiration and career opportunities for women. Also, this Spring a Network Meeting (NWM) is going to take place there. After six years of organising only Summer Universities, AEGEE-Adana decided to take the chance and organise a NWM, too.
The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to organise the NWM? When did the idea arise?
Ekin Yalın: We have been thinking to organise NWM for more than a year, but we were not ready yet. We have about 15 new active members for six months now and we told ourselves we are ready for a second European event (after the SU Project) in a year and we applied. There were two other valid applications (AEGEE-Hatay and AEGEE-Bakı), but we got selected.
Who will be responsible for the organisation?
I am the main organiser. I have been an active member for one year and a half and right now I am a board member (European Affairs responsible).
When will the NWM take place and how many participants will be there?
It will take place from 14th through 17th of May and we can host about 30 participants.
Do you already have plans for the NWM?
Yes sure! We have some plans for the NWM. We will contact some sponsors and we will meet with the university and municipality.
Last December, you organised a conference about EU projects and the opportunities of Erasmus+ with about 350 students attending. Can you tell us more about it? How did you come up with the idea to organise it?
Culturally, Turkey is far away from Europe, so Turkish students are wondering about it. Discovering Europe is pretty hard for Turkish young people. Erasmus+ is a big advantage to explore Europe and and to expand our career opportunities in our work life . So we decided to organise this conference. We wanted to share the Erasmus+ opportunities to all students and the conference was attended by around 350 participants.
Recently you organised a local thematic conference about empowerment, inspiration and career opportunities for women. How did you decide about the topic? Can you tell us a bit more about the conference?
This conference was a cooperation with the Turkish Women’s International Network (TurkishWIN). They contacted us and we grabbed the opportunity. We had ten members in the organising team. There were two speakers: Melek Pulatkonak, founder and curator of TurkishWIN and Ebru Tuygun, a businesswoman from Adana. It’s name was “From Microsoft to Social Entrepreneurship Journey” and we had about 150 attendees.