In Turkey, both policymakers and civil society groups are striving to give citizens more say in how public policy is made, but it is rare for the two groups to actually come together.

To add momentum to their efforts, Turkish fellows from government agencies, legislatures and civil society organizations traveled to the U.S. recently to see citizen engagement in the political process firsthand. The five-week trip, sponsored by Freedom House in collaboration with NDI, was designed to show how citizens can participate in the policymaking process at the national and local levels. The trip was also an opportunity for fellows from both government and civil society to discuss with each other ways to encourage more Turkish citizen engagement. The fellows, selected by the U.S. Embassy in Turkey, Freedom House and NDI, were senior professionals with the authority to carry out changes in their organizations based on what they learned in the U.S. and from each other.

The mission kicked off with a weeklong orientation that included meetings with organizations as diverse as the Brookings Institution, the women’s campaign organization EMILY’s List, and the gay rights advocacy group, Human Rights Campaign. The visitors also did two-week fellowships with members of Congress, local government offices, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or lobby groups so they could observe how Americans engage with policymakers.

They learned how civil society organizations can mobilize grassroots networks in support of particular issues. And on Capitol Hill, they watched members of Congress and staff call upon the expertise of NGOs and other experts through hearings and direct contacts, and observed members responding to constituent queries and interacting with interest groups.

The fellows also heard from NDI’s governance and citizen participation experts about the diversity of voices that make up civil society, as well as the access points groups can use to convey their demands, such as committee hearings, town hall meetings and individual sessions with lawmakers, regulators or staff. Finally, they discussed the expectation of government accountability — that government will respond to citizen voices.

At the closing session, the fellows talked about their experiences and made comparisons between the U.S. and Turkey. One difference was in hearings, which in the U.S. are generally open and provide published transcripts and streaming Internet video, whereas in Turkey they are conducted behind closed doors, if at all. Another was the professional staff of U.S. NGOs compared to the volunteers who staff similar organizations in Turkey.

Based on their observations in the U.S., the fellows vowed to pursue several goals when they returned home: to advocate for public legislative hearings at the parliamentary and municipal levels, and to seek tax exemptions for NGO membership to help increase the groups’ revenues so they have additional resources to use for advocacy.

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Pictured above: Four of the fellows visit Congress. Photo courtesy of Freedom House.

Published June 17, 2011.