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Good practice Imported

Marmara Municipalities Union — Local Government Academy & Mentor Programme

Türkiye · Istanbul · See the Türkiye profile · See the Istanbul profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 29% 76/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Turkey's oldest regional municipal union runs a standing Local Government Academy reaching over 16,000 people a year across 190+ member municipalities, plus topic-based peer platforms and a climate-neutral cities network launched in 2025.

more than 16,000 people/year
Annual reach of Academy and Mentor programme
190+
Member municipalities
11
Provinces covered
6
Metropolitan municipalities
11
Topic-based peer platforms
26 senior managers
Gender Equality Solutions Lab trainees (from 11 metropolitan municipalities)
55 municipalities
İNŞA Climate-Neutral Cities Network members (launched 2025)
15 streets (~10,000 m²)
Reclaiming Streets transformed area (expanding toward 26 municipalities by 2025)
Marmara Municipalities Union — Local Government Academy & Mentor Programme

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Marmara Municipalities Union (Marmara Belediyeler Birliği)
Period
1975–ongoing
Keywords
municipal capacity building, peer learning, local government training

Context

Founded in 1975, the Marmara Municipalities Union (MMU) is Turkey's first regional union of municipalities, now with more than 190 members across 11 provinces, including 6 metropolitan municipalities. Its Local Government Academy and Mentor exchange programme provide standing, institutionalised peer-learning infrastructure rather than a one-off project.

Activities

MMU coordinates 11 topic-based peer platforms (IT, environment, law, human resources, etc.), a Gender Equality Solutions Lab that has trained 26 senior managers from 11 metropolitan municipalities, and a 'Golden Ant Awards' scheme recognising transferable good-practice projects. In 2025 it launched the İNŞA Climate-Neutral Cities Network with 55 member municipalities, and its 'Reclaiming Streets' programme with the Global Designing Cities Initiative transformed 15 streets (around 10,000 m²), expanding toward 26 municipalities by 2025.

Results

The Academy and Mentor programme reach more than 16,000 people annually, a documented participation figure, though downstream policy or behavioural change from the training is not documented.

Conclusions

All substantive figures come from MMU's own reporting or partner press releases (UNDP, GDCI); no independent third-party evaluation was found, and MMU's description of İNŞA as 'the largest network of its kind in Europe' is a self-made claim that could not be independently verified.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Operating continuously since 1975; İNŞA network and expanded Reclaiming Streets programme launched in 2025.
Staffing & skills
Marmara Municipalities Union (MMU) secretariat, 190+ member municipalities, Global Designing Cities Initiative (Reclaiming Streets partner), UNDP (partner on environment programmes)

Conditions for success

  • standing institutional infrastructure rather than a one-off project
  • topic-based peer platforms for practice exchange
  • dedicated Gender Equality Solutions Lab
  • recognition/incentive scheme (Golden Ant Awards) to surface transferable practice

Common failure modes

  • reach is documented but downstream policy or behavioural change from training is not measured
  • self-reported claims (e.g. 'largest network in Europe') not independently verified

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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