My work for the Istanbul municipality
“The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is the biggest municipality within Turkey and inhabits almost 16 million citizens. Istanbul is located in a very special area and forms the connection between Europe and Asia. The municipality is famous for its huge number of employees (47.000) and I am very proud to be one of them. At the department of foreign relations, we are responsible for communication with foreign municipalities. Next to that, we host a high amount of foreign visitors every year. Our goal is to follow new developments within foreign municipalities. One important area in the field of municipal services.”

Experiences in The Netherlands
“During the training course from The Hague Academy for Local Governance on ‘Local Service Delivery & MDGs’, I got the chance to meet a lot of colleagues from all over the world. This gave me the opportunity to exchange experiences and gain new knowledge in the field of municipal services. I went home with a lot of new ideas. The same happened during the Talent for Governance network event. This event also definitely added up to my personal development. It was the first time I participated in such an international event as a guest speaker.”

“As a part of the Talent for Governance programme, I visited the municipality of The Hague for a short internship. I was really impressed by the attention which was given to me by the employees of the municipality. During the three days, I had more than 20 meetings with people from all sorts of departments, including members from the city council and the heads of departments. Next to that, I visited several field sites, to get an impression of the municipality’s services. In brief: my internship couldn’t be better, I really enjoyed it!”

Back Home Action Plan
“I definitely believe that the different bodies of the municipality of Istanbul can benefit from what I have learned during the Talent for Governance programme. Through a report and presentations, I have shared my experiences with my colleagues, deputy and directors. In this way, they can all come up with different ideas for the benefit of our municipality. In the next couple of months, we will see together what can be done.”

Update in 2011
“Derya is still working as a Foreign Relations Expert at Foreign Relations Department of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. This Talent programme has broadened my vision and was a special experience for me. I got the chance to meet a lot of colleagues from all over the world. I exchanged experiences with them and gained new knowledge in the field of municipal services. I have shared my gained knowledge with my colleagues but we have not yet implemented them into practice.”

Derya Eren