Turkey and the European Union on sharing information and experience among local governments together to discuss the future of the city bridges, including establishing a permanent pairing TWINT Online - International Town Twinning Summit, held on 12-13 November 2020. http://www.twinningconference.com/en/homepage/ https://twingrants.org/stand/1745 (İzmir Governorship (Coordinator), Ripalimosani Municipality, ARES Scarl, World Doctors Association)

Local authorities and networks from Turkey and the EU are coming together on 12th -13th November 2020 at “International Town Twinning Summit – TWINT Online” for developing new cooperation within the scope of  the “Town Twinning between Turkey and the EU Project (TWIN)”. For further information please use the link http://www.twinningconference.com/en/agenda/. The project entitled with “Empowerment of the Local Authorities/Administrations in the Management of Migration (Together&Stronger) led by Izmir Governorship EU and Foreign Relations Bureau in cooperation with Ripalimosani Municipality and ARES Scarl From Italy and Doctors of the World from Turkey as the projects partners will be exhibited by opening online stands where we will have the chance to introduce our project and meet with potential partners for new projects.

Together & Stronger Project disseminated on the Jean Monnet Chair “Multifaceted Approaches to Migration in the EU and Turkey” Opening Meeting, which was organized on 11 October 2019 at Yaşar University Selçuk Campus with participation of Yaşar University Rector Prof. Dr. Cemali Dinçer, academics, students and representatives from Izmir Governorship, Metropolitan Municipality of Izmır and UNHCR. Özlem Gül, EU Office Project Expert of Izmır Governorship; provided information about Together&Stronger Project and activities carried out within the scope of migration and social integration of migrants.

We had participated in the 17th ‘’European Week of Regions and Cities’’ which was held at Square-Brussels Conference Center in Brussels to promote “Together&Stronger” Project led by Izmir Governorship in the scope of Town Twinning Programme and to make a presentation about “migration phenomenon and good practice examples in Turkey”. We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the organization of the program.

The project entitled with “Empowerment of the Local Authorities/Administrations in the Management of Migration (Together&Stronger) led by Izmir Governorship EU and Foreign Relations Bureau in cooperation with Ripalimosani Municipality and ARES Scarl From Italy and Doctors of the World from Turkey as the projects partners has been granted by CFCU in the scope of Town Twinning Action Between Turkey and EU Grant Scheme. “Local Authorities and Migration Management Policies” Symposium and workshop were organized between 3-4 October, in 2019 at Balçova Termal Hotel. The symposium was about the roles and responsibilities of local authorities in migration management. The programme started with the opening speeches of Deputy Governor, Dear Mr. Uğur KOLSUZ and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs Representative in Izmir, Dear Mr. Ceyhan ÇİÇEK. Then, the programme continued with the presentation of Özlem GÜL, Project General Coordinator, who gave a general information about the project. Project Co-applicants, Municipality of Ripalimosani (Mrs. AnnamariaTrivisonno, Vice-Mayor), ARES Scarl (Mrs. Paola Pietrangello, President) and Doctors of the World (Mrs. Aslı Soysal, Field Coordinator) also presented their existing services and studies towards the migrants/refugees in their regions. Speakers at national and international level were invited to make presentations on migration management. They made speeches in two different sessions; respectively “European Experiences in Migration Management and “Migration Management and Local Authorities (Please find the detailed programmes below). An international cooperation agreement in migration management was signed between Izmir Governorship and Ripalimosani Municipality. On 4th October, a workshop on migration management was held at the same hotel. Representatives of different organizations such as local municipalities, district governorships, universities and NGOs were invited to attend the workshop and they were asked to work in groups of 14 (7 round tables) lead by a moderator to evaluate the current situation of refugees and discuss solutions to their social and economic adaptation to the society. Findings of each group were consolidated, and a workshop report will be drafted in the end. Afterwards, with the results of needs assessment with migrants and results of the workshop, “A sustaninable Migration Management Policy Text” will be developed. We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the organization of the event. Special thanks to Dear Mr. Uğur KOLSUZ (Deputy Governor), Our district Governors; Dear Mr. Fatih GENEL, Bornova District Governor, Dear Mr. Mehmet ERİŞ, Konak District Governor, Dear Mr.Ercan ÖTER, Torbalı District Governor, Secretary General EU-Turkey Forum European Parliament, Dear Mrs. Laura BATALLA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs Representative in Izmir, Dear Mr. Ceyhan ÇİÇEK, Project Co-applicants, Municipality of Ripalimosani (Dear Mrs. AnnamariaTrivisonno, Vice-Mayor), ARES Scarl (Dear Mrs. Paola Pietrangello, President) and Doctors of the World (Dear Mrs. Aslı Soysal, Field Coordinator, Pınar ERDİL, Project Coordinator, Mrs. Dilek Batmaz VURAL, Manager), Director of Labour Agency of the Italian Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, Dear Mr. Biagio Testa, Yaşar University (Assoc. Prof. Dear Mrs. Ayselin Gözde Yıldız), Bahçeşehir University (Assoc. Prof. Dear Mrs. Ulaş Sunata), Dokuz Eylül University, Prof. Dear Mr. Abbas Türnüklü and Dr. Dear Mrs. Ayçıl YÜCER, Head of IGAM, Dear Mr. Metin Çorabatır, Project Manager UNDP Turkey, Dear Mrs. Ezgi ARSLAN, Karabağlar District Governorship EU office, Dear Mrs. Pınar ŞENGÜL, EU Office, Izmir Governorship Project Expert, Dear Mr. Serkan KURTULUŞ.

“International Local Authorities and Migration Management” Workshop and Symmposium’s organisation works continuing with participatio of Young Volunteers from diferent Universities. The The Workshop and Symposium will organize by Izmir Governorship within the scope of “Together and Stronger Project” which imlementing under“Town Twinning Programme”. We would also like to thank Nuri Soyucak, the leader of the Atatürk Youth Center, for his contributions.

“Together & Stronger” Project disseminated during the “Thematic Workshop on Town Twinning” event which organized by Directorate of EU Affairs of ministry of Foreign Affairs at 27-28Th of August 2019. Project Coordinator Özlem GÜL participated event for represent the Izmir Governorship. The Aim of the event was negotiate and offer sollutions regarding “ The bottlenecks facing current twinning relationships and the steps needed to achieve targeted, more efficient, quality and sustainable twinning relationships” with represantative of different organizations working in the relevant field

Official visits organized to institutions responsible for migration management in Italy's Molise Region In the scope of “ Together & Stronger “ Project’s study visits. The Turkish Delegation interwiewed with the head of the Molise Region Mr. Donato TOMA and the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Molise Region Mr. Salvatore MICONE to discuss migration management policies.

Together & Stronger Project partners Ripalimosani Municipality, ARES Scarl and İzmir Governorship was organized a four-day study in Italy's Molise Region. During the first two days of the event, meetings were held  with Co-Applicants of the Project and relevant authorities working on migration field in the Molise Region were visited to learn and observe the Co-Applicants' services intended to migrants / refugees in the region. The last two days have been devoted to training on the protection system for immigrants and refugees (SPRAR) consisting of a network of local authorities and the implementation of legislation on migration management in EU and its implementation in Italy. The implementation of integrated admission projects includes access to the main futures of the protection system, including the authorities, within the available resources, according to the National Fund for Asylum Policies and Services and a multi-level governance logic; local governments volunteered to participate in the host projects network was the main subject of the trainings. Deputy Governor Ahmet Ali BARIŞ was the chairman of the delegation of 15 people who participated in the study visit. District Governor of Konak Mr. Mehmet ERİŞ, District Governor of Karabağlar Mr. Cemil Özgür ÖNEĞİ, District Governor of Bornova Mr. Fatih GENEL, District Governor of Torbalı Mr.  Kadir SERTEL OTÇU, District Governor of Dikili Mr. Alper GÜNGÖR, Project’s General Coordinator Özlem GÜL, Represantative of Doctors 0f The World Association Aslı SOYSALRepresantatative of Provincial Migration Directorate Aylin AYDI SARITOSUN, Social Inspectors from District Governorships Özden AYTUN, Deniz ÇATALBAŞ , Hüseyin ZEYBEKOĞLU, Serdar SEVİM, Akın KAYA has taken place the Turkish Delegation.

Our project entitled with “TOGETHER&STRONGER” led by Izmir Governorship EU and Foreign Relations Bureau in cooperation with Ripalimosani Municipality and A.RE.Sscarl from Italy and Doctors of the World from Turkey as the project partners; has been awarded to receive %90 grant by CFCU in the scope of Town Twinning Action between Turkey and EU Grant Scheme (TTGS).  The specific objectives of the action are; to increase the capacities of the local administrations/authorities to implement migration management policies on the basis of knowledge acquired during the practical training sessions and through the network provided via the platform and; to establish international cooperation among local authorities/administrations by transferring good practices.  On 22nd of March, Press Conference of the project started with the opening speech of Deputy Governor of Izmir Governorship, Dear Mr. Uğur KOLSUZ. Mayor of Ripalimosani Municipality, Dear Mr. Michele Di Bartolomeo, Anna MariaTrivosonno (the Assessor);  President of A.RE.S scarl, Paola Pietrangelo, Maria Raffaella Di Cesare (Administrator), Roberto D’Amico, EU Project Designer; Izmir Field Coordinator of Doctors of the World, Aslı  Soysal, Pınar ERDİL (Project Coordinator) and Özlem GÜL (Project General Coordinator) from EU and Foreign Relation Bureau of Izmir Governorship also attended the meeting.  We would like to present our special thanks to Our Deputy Governor Dear Mr. Uğur KOLSUZ, Our Provincial Editor in Chief, Dear Özlem AKYER GÖKÇE and our project partners and project team for their contribution and support that they provided for the project.