The 9th Steering Committee Meeting, which we hold twice a year, where the stakeholders of our projects come together and discuss important issues on the agenda in order to improve the implementation processes, was held in Ankara on January 26, 2023.
The meeting was held as a hybrid in 2 sessions as Infrastructure and Energy Efficiency Measures Projects. In the morning session, Education Infrastructure For Resilience and Education for All in Times of Crisis I, II & III Projects, and in the afternoon, Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Measures Project meetings were held.
Umut GÜR, Director General of General Directorate of Construction and Real Estate of the Ministry of National Education, Angel Gutierrez Hidalgo, Head of Economic and Social Development of the EU Delegation to Türkiye, İlhan GULTEKİN, European Union Programme Manager, Kirk MILDNER KfW Ankara Office Director, Nils MADENBACH, Senior Project Manager, Heba Elgazzar, Program Leader for Human Development, The World Bank, representatives of KfW Development Bank, representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, representatives of electricity distribution institutions and the Project Implementation Unit of the General Directorate of Construction and Real Estate participated in the meetings. Both meetings started with the opening speeches of the representatives of the World Bank, KfW, and the European Union under the management of Mr. Umut GÜR, Director General of General Directorate of Construction and Real Estate of the Ministry of National Education.
“Seeing and visiting completed schools gave me hope for the future.”
In his opening speech, Angel Gutierrez HIDALGO, Head of the Economic and Social Development Unit of the European Union Delegation to Turkey, said, “I am very happy to be here today. As Mr. KIRK mentioned, we are part of a program with high aims. Our projects have a very special meaning to increase the educational opportunities of all our children. Although we had to revise the project goals, we are talking about a school goal of over 300. We consider this a very important achievement. We are grateful for our continued good cooperation. Thank you very much.”
“We are talking about a school goal of over 300.”
In his opening speech, Angel Gutierrez HIDALGO, Head of the Economic and Social Development Unit of the European Union Delegation to Turkey, said, “I am very happy to be here today. As Mr. KIRK mentioned, we are part of a program with high aims. Our projects have a very special meaning to increase the educational opportunities of all our children. Although we had to revise the project goals, we are talking about a school goal of over 300. We consider this a very important achievement. We are grateful for our continued good cooperation. Thank you very much.”
“57 Schools x 1150 Young Life”
World Bank Human Development Program Leader Heba ELGAZZAR said, “It is very pleasing to be at the Steering Committee meeting of such big and important projects. Before I begin my speech, I would like to mention two important numbers. One is 57 and the other is 1150. When you multiply these two numbers, you get a fairly large number of students. With these 57 new education buildings, we have seen that not only some humanitarian challenges have been overcome, but also post-Covid-19 learning challenges. The number 1150 comes from the total number of students in a school we visited in Adana in December 2022. 1150 pieces of young life. These children receive education in schools built within the scope of our projects. We are talking about an environment where both Syrian and Turkish children study together. In this way, we also prevent human problems experienced in learning environments, especially after Covid-19.” Director General of General Directorate of Construction and Real Estate, Mr. Umut GÜR took the floor after the opening speeches and said, “First of all, I would like to state that I hope that our participants who attended the meeting online today will also participate face-to-face when we come together next time. In this way, we celebrate our successes face to face together. We have touched the lives of many of our children since the beginning of the project. We will continue to touch the lives of more children in the coming period.
“We work with the belief that we will not leave any children behind”
While a comprehensive investment perspective is put forward in our projects within the framework of needs, on the other hand, our constructions continue non-stop in order to bring our children to their new schools on time. I would like to remind you that despite the negative conditions we are in, our experts in the project implementation unit did not take a break from their work even for a day during the entire pandemic process, and the work did not stop from field inspections to construction activities. Field inspection efforts, which were 1,277 man-days in 2021, almost doubled in 2022 and reached 2,385 man-days. The most important reason behind all these sacrifices of the Project Implementation Unit is the belief that we will not leave any of our children behind. So far, we have completed and delivered 160 schools.”
In the continuation of the meeting, Musa RAHMANLAR, Head of the Construction Works Department of the Ministry of National Education, General Directorate of Construction and Real Estate, made presentations on infrastructure and energy projects and gave detailed information to the participants about the current status of the projects.
The meeting ended with good wishes after mutual exchange of views.
