Participants of the introductory workshop standing in front of the building of Technical University of Istanbul, Turkey

On the 9th of June, Tuesday, an introductory workshop on TAI and PP10 was held in Istanbul by Csaba Kiss, Core Team member for Europe for a number of interested Turkish NGOs. The meeting was organized by EMBARQ-Istanbul - WRI Centre for Sustainable Transport, and made possible by the generous offer of the Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences. Funding for the meeting was secured by WRI within the DGF grant (year 2) of the World Bank. Participating NGOs included: TEMA, Greenpeace Mediterranean, Youth for Habitat, Doga Dernegi, STGM, EMBARQ-Istanbul - WRI Centre for Sustainable Transport, Bugday and Turmepa. Also the Instabul University, the Technical University of Istanbul, the Bilgi University and UNDP were represented at the meeting. After a round of detailed introductions, a presentation on TAI, the methodology and the operation of the network ensued. In the afternoon, participants learned about report writing and follow-up advocacy activities. Before the closing of the meeting, a lively discussion took place on the relevance and feasibility of a TAI national assessment in Turkey. Participants agreed to discuss the issue on the national level and formulate a common standpoint on the possibility of conducting a TAI assessment, however, noted that such a meeting involving that many NGO representatives at a time happened the first time, and that it is a very useful tool for networking.