Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) holds a very important place in local administration organization of Istanbul. Its area of responsibility encompasses the entire provincial territory, which spans a total area of 5,343 km2. IMM has 23 municipal enterprises, 2 subsidiary public utility corporations (Transport Authority and Water & Sanitation Authority) and 43,500 employees in total. It is responsible for wide variety of areas including environment, natural-gas supply, energy, infrastructure, planning and development, IT, transportation, community services and vocational education, health-wellness, food & catering, culture, tourism etc.

As mentioned above, the responsibilities of IMM are divided into various categories, and youth is one of the most essential ones. IMM carries out its youth activities through its Youth Department which was established four years ago. Moreover, IMM has a Youth Council which was found 4 years ago in order to provide active participation of young people in decision making process. The Youth Council is an organization that gathers 347 young people from different economic, social and educational backgrounds and enables them to have a voice in order to raise their concerns, participate in local government and be empowered to take decisions; thus, young people’s involvement in IMM’s structure, activities and decision making process is provided.