Search

The first international coordination meeting of the MIND2BELONG Project (2026-1-TR01-KA220-YOU-000461932), coordinated by Muş Alparslan University and funded by the European Union, was held online on 5 November 2026.

The meeting brought together representatives of six organisations from five countries: Türkiye, Georgia, Slovenia, Poland and the Czech Republic. The participants from Türkiye included Prof. Dr. Kasım Müminoğlu, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Muş Alparslan University Vice Deans Prof. Dr. Abdullah Aydın and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Alanoğlu and Prof. Dr. Rahmi Saylık, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Furkan Hergül, President of the COSMOS (Cosmos) Youth Association.

Muş Alparslan University (OID: E10107569) serves as the coordinating institution of the project and is represented by its Rector, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Alican. As the project coordinator, the University acts as the consortium's sole official point of contact with the Turkish National Agency. The international consortium comprises five partner organisations: COSMOS (Kozmos) Youth Association from Türkiye (İzmir), Georgian Youth Development Association from Georgia, Mladinska zadruga Panotrip from Slovenia, NEXT GEN SPORTS from Poland, and Czech Youth Association z.s. from the Czech Republic. Bringing together youth organisations, non-governmental organisations and a social enterprise, the consortium provides an international cooperation framework for promoting young people's social participation and strengthening their sense of belonging.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the project's overall objectives, key areas of activity, responsibilities of the partner organisations and the main aspects of the implementation process. Each partner introduced its organisation and shared information about its areas of expertise, expected contributions and assigned responsibilities within the project.

The MIND2BELONG project aims to support young people's psychological and social well-being, strengthen their sense of belonging and promote inclusive approaches in youth work. In particular, the project seeks to develop practical solutions to challenges faced by young people, including social isolation, exclusion, emotional pressure and barriers to participation. To this end, the project envisages the development of accessible, multilingual and practice-oriented training materials and digital learning resources for youth workers.

The project's work packages and the distribution of responsibilities among the partner organisations were discussed in detail. As the coordinating institution, Muş Alparslan University assumes a leading role in overall project management, communication and coordination among partners, monitoring implementation processes, quality assurance and risk management. The meeting also addressed the coordination of financial and administrative procedures, budget monitoring and the implementation of joint decision-making mechanisms.

Particular attention was devoted to the development of the project's digital toolkit, e-learning resources and educational materials. The responsibilities of the partner organisations in preparing digital learning materials, developing video-based educational content, adapting resources to local needs and making the materials available through a digital platform were also discussed.

Another key agenda item concerned the piloting, evaluation and dissemination of the educational resources to be developed within the project. In this context, the partners planned six pilot implementations, comprising a total of 24 pilot sessions, as well as six dissemination events to be organised in their respective countries. The participants also discussed the evaluation of feedback obtained from the pilot activities, the improvement of training materials and strategies for reaching relevant target groups with the project's outcomes.

The project is scheduled to commence on 1 December 2026 and will be implemented over a two-year period. Following the needs analysis and methodology development stages, the project will proceed with the development of educational tools, completion of digital resources, pilot implementations and dissemination activities. The project timeline also includes an international piloting and evaluation meeting scheduled to take place in İzmir in October 2028.

Coordinated by Muş Alparslan University, the MIND2BELONG project aims to contribute to the development of scientific and practice-oriented initiatives that promote young people's social participation, well-being and sense of belonging through international cooperation. The first international coordination meeting marked an important milestone in strengthening collaboration among the six partner organisations from five countries and establishing a shared understanding for the effective implementation of the planned project activities.

Dean’s Office Web Administrator: Res. Asst. Özcan Evrensel