MEKDER- Mesopotamia Education and Culture Association (TURKEY)

Mesopotamia Education And Cultural Association (MEKDER) is a non-profit organization
established in 2011 in Mardin (TURKEY). We Believes in the power of culture in social
development and believes in the power of education in personal development. MEKDER is set in
a remote disadvantaged rural area in Southeast of TURKEY, running ecological and environmental
protection activities; voluntaring in social work; protection of human rights and the rights of
children and women especially in the rural area; empowering young people and women from the
rural area; supporting young people and women with educational and economic difficulties and
structured on 3 main departments: Projects (in charge of international networking and partnership,
implementing international projects and PR), Networking (responsible of national and local
networking, raising funds, and volunteers management) and Resources and Training (dealing with
educational materials, logistics, data bases of learning e-tools, staff’s professional development,
research and innovation of learning process). After the Syrian refugee crisis in 2011, we
included migrants among our target groups. We also included migrant women and children in all
our work.
Our association aims to :
 periodically create informative materials for young people and the local community;
 organize training courses, seminars, conferences, public debates, social events and public
opinion awareness campaigns;
 To include disadvantaged people in social life through different sports branches
 implement national and European educational partnerships,
 support social assistance activities in the rural area
 inform and promote the human rights;
 raise awareness upon the democratic principles such as: equality, degnity, freedom.
 Immigrant rights
Our main activities are:
• Sports, Tradional Sport, ecological and environmental protection activities;
• voluntaring in social work;
• protection of human rights and the rights of children, especially in the rural area;
• empowering Women and young people from the rural area;
• supporting young people with educational and economic difficulties.
MEKDER make partnership in projects funded by European Programs, such as Erasmus+ Its aim is to provide
new opportunities and perspectives to disavantaged people living in Mardin , with the goal of contributing to
the development and protection of marginalized territories, combating climate change, and fostering youth and
women entrepreneurship.

3 | P a g e

Our projects under the E+ :

 “MUSIC:THE COMMON LANGUAGE OF THE HUMANITY” -13-21 April 2012 TR-11-829-2011-R5
 Let Live The History and Show the Culture 1-9 March 2012 TR-11-849-2011-R5
 T.C “FORUM THEATER VS YOUTH VIOLENCE” 15-23 SEPT 2018 2018-1-RO01-KA105-048640
 Y.E. “Intercultural Bridge” (about the traditional dance and culture value as tools
topromote the cultural values still present in rural areas, October2019, Tortorella)
 Y.E. “Ruraland” #Liveinruraarea #ispossible (about young entrepreneur in rural
area,next April 2024)
 Bests Volley - Beyond Sport through Sitting Volley – Partner NGO KES with
MEKDER Erasmus+ Sport (2020 – 2022) – using Sitting Volley as tools to include
able and not able to play together.
 Wonder M.Art – Lead NGO Heracles ASD E+ Sport (2022 – 2023) – empowerment of women
 Sport throught Sitting Volley KA105-7AB14608 2022
 ERASMUS-SPORT-2021-SSCP (Small-scale partnerships) ERASMUS-SPORT-2021- SSCP
ERASMUS-LS 101050265 WONDER M.ARTS Type of Model Grant
Agreement: ERASMUS Lump Sum Grant 2022-2024
 “First: Fight Gender Stereotypes”, Small-scale partnerships in adult education 01-12-
2022 - 31-05-2024 2022-1-IT02-KA210-ADU-000080880 (With our local
partner KES)
 “IMAM- dIgital sMArt Mother VIRTUAL” ( ID 101083431), 01 December 2022- 30
November 2025 ERASMUS-EDU-2021-VIRT-EXCH-NDICI