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Community Development

Nadia Karayianni (right) and Tulin Aker (left) during a visit to an NGO in Washington, DC

Community Development

• Volunteer Network Project
• Cyprus Friendship Program

Volunteer Network Project

In 2008, HasNa played a significant role in the implementation of the Volunteer Network Project in Cyprus, a two-year project funded by UNDP-ACT and sponsored by the UN, which aimed to foster cooperation between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

The Volunteer Network Project was implemented by The Management Centre, The NGO Support Centre and HasNa. The project aims to build local and international networks among organizations in Cyprus that work with volunteers. Volunteerism is an essential part of an prosperous and engaged civil society.

By promoting volunteerism in Cyprus, the Volunteer Network Project will gather the skills Cypriots already possess into a powerful force capable of accomplishing real change and improvement. Such island-wide cooperation will encourage more individuals to invest in the peaceful development of their communities and establish new relationships with one another based on common interest.

Crucial to the project’s success is the establishment of a strong infrastructure that is capable of effectively promoting, supporting and celebrating organized forms of volunteer action. In order to accomplish this, HasNa joined the efforts of the Volunteer Network Project and conducted a two-week training program in Washington, DC. The training program hosted two project coordinators participating in the Volunteer Network Project. One of the project coordinators was from The Management Centre located in North Cyprus and the other was from the NGO Support Centre in the South.

After receiving two days of conflict resolution training, the project coordinators visited several organizations in the Washington, DC area that work on women’s, youth, health and environmental issues. These visits provide the project coordinators with techniques for how to recruit, supervise, motivate and train volunteers that can be utilized to enhance volunteer action on Cyprus.

The participants also learned how to engage the nonworking sector (i.e., students, housewives, the unemployed, the retired) in volunteerism to further strengthen the volunteer infrastructure on Cyprus. The information and training gathered during these visits has been compiled into a brochure that will be used by similar organizations in Cyprus so that they may develop their own volunteer programs.

Click here to read the brochure that was prepared called “A Guide to Strengthening the Role of Volunteerism in CSO’s in Cyprus.”

Cyprus Friendship Program

In keeping with our mission to promote cross-cultural understanding in culturally divided areas of the world, HasNa is in the beginning stages of planning the Cyprus Friendship Program. Modeled after the Children’s Friendship Program for Northern Ireland, The Cyprus Friendship Program will bring youth from northern and southern Cyprus together to stay with American families over the summer.

These families will host one Greek and one Turkish Cypriot teenager in order to help bridge the divisions between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. The program will not only foster cross-cultural understanding, but it will also build trust and friendship between members of these communities. Such attributes are necessary in order to work towards peaceful coexistence. HasNa hopes to initiate a pilot program as early as 2009. It is also hoped that the Cyprus Friendship Program will involve young adults from Northern Ireland who were involved as youth in cross-community activities as possible group leaders.

Click here for more information on the Cyprus Friendship Program