The place of non-governmental organizations in the protection and promotion of children's rights: The Case of Cocuk Vakfi

Today, children constitute the group whose rights are not fully recognized and not perceived as individuals. Therefore, there is a need for well-qualified and multi-actor studies on children and children's rights. Therefore, this study examines the role of the Cocuk Vakfi, one of these actors, as a non-governmental organization, in the protection and promotion of children's rights. The purpose of this study, which operates in the field of children's rights in Turkey reveals that contribute to what extent the field of civil society organizations. For this purpose, the activities carried out by the Cocuk Vakfi, which is one of these organizations, within the scope of protection and promotion of children's rights, are evaluated and the effects and results of these activities on the field are determined. In this study, qualitative research methods, document screening and interview methods were used in order to benefit from the Cocuk Vakfi data. Data on the activities and publicity of the foundation were obtained through document scanning and as a result of the interviews, the views of one of the foundation managers Mustafa Ruhi Sirin were consulted. The data obtained were analyzed by content analysis method. The study consists of four main sections. In the first part, the aim, importance, limitations and definitions of the research are presented. In the second part, theoretical and conceptual framework is presented. In the third chapter, the method of the research is mentioned. In the last section, the Cocuk Vakfi was introduced and the structure and activities of the Foundation were presented and findings related to the field were presented. Changing Cocuk Vakfi in the creation of children's rights and awareness of children's perception of Turkey is determined to carry out their activities in accordance with the purpose. These activities include research, counseling and guidance, training, assistance, cooperation, policy-making and problem identification. It was seen that the collaborations of the Foundation in carrying out these activities were not realized at the desired level. In addition, it has been found that while performing its activities, it has problems in many areas which may hinder its operation. It is also reflected in the research that although there are important, effective and active activities for the protection and promotion of children's rights, a number of problems weaken the impact of the Cocuk Vakfi. These problems; It was observed that the activities and suggestions of the Cocuk Vakfi were ignored by the bureaucracy, the perception of the non-governmental organization of the society, the importance of the children's rights area was not fully established, and the relations with the Foundation and other structures were not strong enough. Therefore, it was concluded that the Cocuk Vakfi's relations with the bureaucracy were weak and affected the policy making process indirectly. Keywords: Children's Rights, Non-Governmental Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations for Children, Foundation, Cocuk Vakfi