In Türkiye, civil society continues to defend human rights, build solidarity, and create spaces for advocating for justice and care despite growing restrictions on civic space and increasing pressure on human rights defenders. Drawing our inspiration and strength from the resilience of civil society in Türkiye, we are launching our new programme Advocates for Change – Strengthening Civil Society in Türkiye, extending our previous work. The programme will be implemented by The Norwegian Helsinki Committee in collaboration with our partners from Türkiye, with support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). Together with our partners, we will work across women’s rights, LGBTIQ+ rights, and climate and environmental justice as key programme areas, drawing on different perspectives, knowledge, and networks.
Across Türkiye, civic space has continued to narrow in ways that mirror wider global trends, where democratic backsliding and restrictions on civil society are increasingly observed in different contexts. This is further exasperated by Türkiye’s unique challenges. Those advocating for human rights and equality are frequently subject to systematic smear campaigns, investigations, judicial harassment or strong bans and barriers, contributing to a wider climate in which dissent is often met with efforts to limit organising and public expression. Against this backdrop, countless voices across civil society are relentlessly navigating shrinking space for equality, democracy and human rights.
In this context, sustained support for independent civil society is more important than ever. We believe that meaningful social change grows through collaboration, shared knowledge, and the persistence of communities working together for rights and justice. Advocates for Change aims to go beyond funding to create spaces for peer learning, exchange, and solidarity through workshops, collaborative learning and exchange spaces, accompaniment, advocacy initiatives, and networking opportunities, contributing to a more connected and resilient civic space. Running from May 2026 to the end of 2028, the programme takes forward the foundations, networks and achievements created through the previous Advocates for Change – Civil Society Support for Türkiye 2024–2025.
At its core, the programme seeks to amplify collective efforts to advance human rights, equality, democracy, and environmental rights. We will connect with and support organisations promoting gender equality and women’s rights, LGBTIQ+ rights, and climate and environmental justice, with a particular focus on initiatives rooted beyond the major cities of Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. This includes a particular emphasis on intersectional approaches to human rights, as well as organisations across different regions of Türkiye that often face barriers to accessing funding, networks, and opportunities for mutual exchange.
We look forward to learning from and collaborating with organisations across Türkiye over the coming years, whose knowledge, determination, and collective power continue to drive change.
Stay tuned and watch this space for our upcoming grant call planned for the beginning of July, and for more updates from the programme soon!