Local and Rural Development Certificate Programs Are Completed

Local and Rural Development Certificate Programs, aiming to bring a new vision in the fields of local and rural development, agriculture, food and ecology policies, to make functional information accessible and to establish networks have been successfully completed.

Two separate programs organized by the Sustainability Platform were held between August 24-28, and between August 31 and September 3. A total of 125 people were participated to the programs from the Ministry of Industry and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Development Agencies, Regional Development Administrations, international and national non-governmental organizations and universities. Together with the faculty members of our university, academicians from other universities, experts, representatives of local grassroots organizations and non-governmental organizations contributed to the certificate programs as instructors. From gender equality to youth and employment policies; from ecological sustainability to organizational problems in rural areas, programs covered a wide spectrum via online lectures, workshops and panels.

Our Rector Prof. Dr. Esra Gençtürk came together with the participants at the closing ceremony of the Certificate Programs, which has completed its 7th year and is unique in its field. Emphasizing the increasing importance of the local and the rural life in terms of culture, agricultural production, employment and decent life in the globalizing world, Gençtürk underlined that, they attach great importance to the mission of our university to be a bridge between the academy and the field through our certificate programs. More than 400 people have benefited from the Local and Rural Development Education Certificate Program so far, the first of which was held in 2014 with the cooperation of Özyeğin Foundation and has been continuing uninterrupted to date.

You can find the contents of the previous years’ programmes and the upcoming announcements here.

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