#onecupofcoffee Itır ERHART
A creative volunteering organization in Turkey, Adım Adım , continues to collect donations for NGOs with 6000 runners today. While doing this, it reminds all parties how important it is for NGOs to be accountable in financial matters. Açık Açık, a new platform for us to get to know the NGO side objectively, will be a source of information for each of us. We will gather detailed information about the NGO we want to donate to and support it with peace of mind.
We would like to thank Itır ERHART for both the interview and for creating the environment that would include us in volunteering.
Let #onecupofcoffee be our excuse, how is your relationship with coffee?
No matter how early I am going to run, I drink my coffee and have a bite or two before running. Coffee is also very good after running. It is also great. I drink it before and after running. I love Sumatra, I also drink Turkish coffee. I drink it plain. I drink espresso sometimes. I never go out without coffee, one way or another. When you get used to coffee, you have a hard time sobering up.
Adım Adım is a great intermediary force for NGO accountability. It is great that you are not interested in money. So how do you achieve a win-win balance?
It is absolutely so. Donations made through civil society in Turkey are very low. We have been very curious since the first day. We conducted field surveys before we started Adım Adım and realized that there were deficiencies in the relationship of trust. We received responses such as I am not sure where the money I will send will be used, the general manager can use it for his personal expenses. We have emphasized accountability a lot since the first day. We never touched any money. We wanted all supported NGOs to inform every penny about what they did with the amount they received as donations. This forced both donors and the NGO itself to bring itself to a certain standard. We said that your financials should definitely be published on your website. For example, he said he hadn’t thought about it at all. We told him that the public has the right to obtain this information, that if you are collecting money from individuals, they have the right to know where it is going and that it should be shown there. Our next step is on that front. There is a thing called Open Open
We will start a movement. This is a web platform, you will see the shared data of all NGOs. A movement to spread transparency. Based on the Step by Step experience, we want to move in this direction. I think it is very important.
How is it determined which NGOs will be supported?
We ask our runners: Where would you spend 100 TL? We collect data such as 10 L for health, 20 L for education. Then we ask them to suggest NGOs. Then we start negotiations with NGOs. NGOs apply; these applications are evaluated by an independent jury on criteria such as financial accountability, sustainability, etc. and a decision is made. We have decided not to do this at the moment. We have a web platform called Goodness Pursuit Run (İPK). We have started to accept NGOs that meet the criteria and have slowly started running. 5-6 more NGOs will be added to the Antalya Marathon in March. Up until now, we have supported 8 NGOs and were providing consultancy to more than 35. We want to bring together the NGOs that have been running very well for years and have everyone use this tool to create resources by making a difference for themselves.
You also have runners participating in marathons abroad… Is there a race coming up soon?
There are 2 big races that we participate in as a team; Istanbul and Antalya Marathon. Logistics are easy, organization is easy. Apart from that, there are runners who go to triathlons, there are those who run in New York or Chicago and collect donations. For example, we,Bilgi... team, collected donations in the Lycian Way Ultra Marathon. It was a long run, a 4-day race. After a while, we will try to make this flexible. You will enter the web platform, who will I run for; Koruncuk, in which race; we will be able to choose the race ourselves, such as the Lycian Way or London Marathon. In this way, our lives will be easier.
There is a very good purpose for companies to strengthen internal communication…
There are over 100 corporate teams. When they run together for a cause, the results are great. People who don't even know each other, from different departments, blue-collar and white-collar, train and run together for a cause. They also see the benefits. On the one hand, they support civil society, and on the other hand, achieving something is good for the runners.
It is done voluntarily, how is stability ensured?
In every company, there is a person who communicates with the runners and follows up on the subject, who is our contact. It is not possible without him. It is not possible for us to go to the company and say, 'Come on, run'. Most of the time, someone who has been a runner before or who loves running directs the company team. We see them as team captains. We mostly communicate with the captains. If there are 50 runners in a company, we do not reach out to the runners individually, but to the captains. We inform the captain by saying, 'The campaign is starting, you send a message to the runners'. We proceed through the captains. Someone in the company needs to take this subject.
Running is not easy…
Slowly. We have a rookie group. Usually, those who come with companies join this group first. They walk and run there, they progress slowly. There are those who have improved themselves a lot and run, or they can walk and run 10 km. I don't think everyone needs to be a very good runner.
You are an academic, a mother and someone who works for a social cause. How do they support each other?
In fact, the university and civil society are very intertwined. Many of my friends who work here have a foot in civil society in some way. It completely overlaps with what we do. We run, my roommate Aylin Hoca runs. Many people from school run, and you are an example for students. Students say that they can run after a while, they can raise awareness for a project. It is very nice to direct students to ask questions at this age, to progress together in touching civil society from somewhere. Bilgi University also has its own team, Bilgi Runners, here. We have both students and teachers who run.
It can be a bit of a problem in terms of time. Especially for my daughter, she can complain. You are either at work or doing something related to Adım Adım, talking somewhere. She is also curious, she would even react when she saw the running shoes. She would say, 'Again?'
Is your daughter a runner too?
He doesn't run much. Adım Adım has been the apple of my eye since day one. It's a project we grew with our friends. He's jealous of him. I said in a few places, "Adım Adım is also my child, he's my second child." At one point, he said, "Let Adım Adım die already, he lived a long time." For example, when we cut the cake for Adım Adım, he asks, "Why are we cutting it? Is Adım Adım even human?"
What do you do to maintain balance?
I actually try to include him in the work I do. Running, traveling... I try to tell him how much value he adds to his life. We go to Van, Mardin, he comes too. On the other hand, we work with TEGV and AÇEV. He participates in all the activities, comes to the runs. On the other hand, I think he feeds him a lot. Of course, there is that sense of competition. When we go to an event where soup is distributed to those living on the streets, he asks himself how they have to live on the streets, what can I develop for them?
As a pair of eyes looking at you from the outside, I interpret these works as providing a flexible perspective. Can we say that the boundaries in life have been stretched?
It is hard to say this to yourself. You, people who have one foot in civil society, can gain a slightly different perspective. You reflect this in the work you do and the classes you give. I have a Human Rights and Media class. Of course, theory is definitely taught in that class. On the other hand, I call my friends who are victims of media representations. In other words, your double-hatted side is reflected in the way you teach the class and how you manage the class.
Gozde Sekercioglu