NGO Speaker Steven Smith

NGO Speaker Discusses Management with Turkish Opinion Leaders

October 13-19, 2005

Steven Smith, of the University of Washington, visited Turkey October 13-19 to discuss the development of Turkey’s fast-growing NGO sector.  Mr. Smith, who first visited the Marmara region as a speaker for the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul ten months earlier, was invited back by Canakkale University for its second annual NGO management conference.  He addressed to a large group of participants on how NGOs are organized and regulated in America.  He also visited Bilgi University's new NGO Training and Management Center, the Third Sector Foundation (whose staff is working on the legal framework for Turkish NGO operations), and the  charity group Deniz Feneri.  Smith explained to highly motivated audiences how the United States dealt with specific NGO-related issues that are now arising in Turkey.