“Adana is Shaping Its Future: More Qualified Jobs and A More Livable Adana” The second of the three workshop series in cooperation with GIZ, TEPAV, and Adana Metropolitan Municipality was held online on 21-22 June 2021.

Within the scope of the PEP-Promotion of Economic Prospects Program financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the second of the three workshop series, carried out in cooperation with the German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH (GIZ), TEPAV, and Adana Metropolitan Municipality, was held online on 21-22 June 2021, under the title “Adana is Shaping Its Future: More Qualified Jobs and a More Livable Adana.”

Adana’s current problems were identified in a participatory and inclusive way in the first workshop held on 13-14 March. In the second workshop, under the Sustainable Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Tourism and Social Life sessions, project ideas developed by TEPAV with experts from Adana and outside Adana were presented to the participants. Priority projects that will shape the future of Adana were determined by voting after the contributions of the participants who took the floor during these presentations and expressed their opinions in writing.

The first day of the workshop commenced with the opening speeches. Güven Sak, TEPAV Program Director, underlined in his opening speech that all of the project ideas to be presented aim to increase the quality of life in Adana and that these project ideas, which will add value to Adana with public-private cooperation, should all be embraced. GIZ PEP Program Director Alberto Vega-Exposito, who took the floor afterwards, stated that the workshop is an important step for Adana to have a diversified economy in urban and rural areas, increase its sustainability and competitiveness, and modernize its production as well as service systems to become a smart city. Mr. Vega-Exposito further expressed his hope that all efforts will enable Adana to take practical steps towards becoming a livable city. Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar pointed out their eagerness to evaluate the potential of Adana, which has not been tapped on to benefit from until now. Adana Governor Süleyman Elban expressed his hope that the workshop will offer new perspectives for the development of Adana and the employment of the people living in the city, and that it will not trapped in reports that stay on the shelves but rather lead to practical results.

Following the opening speeches, the workshop continued with a presentation by Sibel Güven from TEPAV on the purpose and program flow of the second workshop. In her presentation, Ms. Güven explained the outputs of the first workshop and the preparation process of the second workshop, and how the project ideas will be discussed and prioritized.

After the presentation, the participants were directed to breakout rooms to discuss project ideas under the sessions of Sustainable Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Tourism and Social Life. Discussions were held in three simultaneous sub-sessions via TEPAV moderation, and in an interactive manner. In the sub-sessions, the moderators shared the project ideas with the participants with presentations including problem identification, purpose of the project ideas, how to undertake them, who are the target groups and citation of relevant best practice examples. After the explanation of each project idea, the participants expressed their views verbally or in written form via Padlet. After all the project ideas were discussed, the prioritized project ideas to be presented to all the participants of the plenary session, on the second day of the workshop, were determined by voting via Mentimeter. The selected project ideas are as follows:

1-Sustainable Agriculture:

• Pilot Smart Agricultural Practices for Producers in Adana: Dissemination of smart agriculture practices, joint technology use by small producers
• Extended Contract Farming in Adana (Win-Win Model): A contract farming model that is sustainable and embraces all stages of the value chain

2- Manufacturing:

• Implementation of Macro Investment Projects in the Ceyhan Region: Ceyhan Petrochemical Industry Zone, Ceyhan OIZ, and Chemistry OIZ
• Industry Adapting to Green Deal, and  Digitalization: Determining the digitalization levels of SMEs, determining the needs of SMEs at different digitalization levels, mentoring services for digital transformation, compliance with the Green Deal, green OIZ

3- Tourism and Social Life:

• Smart Transportation Planning: Mobile and Accessible Adana: Smart city/transport, coordination between, and linking urban public transport, Carbon Neutral Transport (Integration of bike lanes/systems with other public transport, rental bike and electric scooter stations)
• Adana-Antakya-Antep Gastronomy Stops – Collaboration in Gastronomy: Adana-Antakya-Antep Regional Cooperation, Adana becoming a center of attraction with the regional gastronomy culture, women’s entrepreneurship

The second day of the workshop started with the presentations of Sibel Güven, Yakup Peker, and Şenay Akyıldız from TEPAV to share with the participant the 6 project ideas that were prioritized in the sub-sessions on the previous day. Following the presentations, an interactive discussion, which allowed the participants to convey their opinions and suggestions regarding the project ideas, was initiated. After the discussions, three of the 6 project ideas selected at the end of the first day by voting via Mentimeter were prioritized for further study, so that a road-map can be prepared for the implementation of the selected project ideas until the third workshop. Within this framework, for Sustainable Agriculture “Pilot Smart Agricultural Practices for Producers in Adana,” for Manufacturing “Industry Adapting to Green Deal and  Digitalization ,” and for Tourism and Social Life “Smart Transportation Planning: Mobile and Accessible Adana” project ideas were selected.  The working groups of the related project ideas were determined after new candidates, in addition to the participants who were decided in the sub-sessions, expressed their willingness to take part in the development of the selected project ideas.

The workshop was concluded with the evaluation speeches delivered by Güven Sak and Zeydan Karalar.

In the following stage of the study, it is planned to prepare concrete road maps of the prioritized project ideas, with the working groups, to determine how and by whom the monitoring and evaluation will be carried out, and eventually to present the project road map in the third workshop, to the relevant institutions, organizations, and funders.

About the Project: Facilitating Public-Private Dialogue Mechanisms in Adana and Gaziantep

The general aim of the project, financed by the German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH (GIZ) and carried out by TEPAV, is to create an inclusive, multi-stakeholder, and multi-sectoral public-private consultation, coordination, and decision-making mechanisms in these cities, under the leadership of Adana and Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipalities, during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.  This mechanism will contribute to the development of a common vision for public and private sector actors, meeting the needs and expectations of stakeholders, increasing employment, improving the business ecosystem and the investment climates for locals and foreigners, and enhancing job opportunities for Syrians under temporary protection and host communities. Thus, it is aimed to benefit from the potential of the region.