International Family Institute Project

The Union of NGOs of The Islamic World, Commission of Woman, Family and Youth ‘Family’ Studies

As a result of the studies carried out as well as the meetings held by the Commission of Woman, Family and Youth since its foundation with the representatives of the member NGOs;

The first International Family Conferencewith the theme of “Familial Problems in the Islamic World: General Overview” was carried out between 7-8 May 2011 in Bandung, Indonesia with the attendance of 150 NGO representatives, scientists, academician and bureaucrat from 15 countries.

On January 21st, 2012, the 1st Family Workshop with the theme of “an Outlook on Family” was carried out in Istanbul. The following topics were discussed during the workshop that was carried out with the attendance of nearly 100 people including psychologists, educators, theologists, lawyers, healthcare professionals, academicians and NGO representatives.

Coordination of family studies and carrying them to the international field
Man’s role in family
Domestic violence
Honour killings

On May 26th, 2012, the 2nd Family Workshop was carried out, during which the topics of “To Be Us without Losing Me”, “Rights and Responsibilities”, “Recognition of Limits” and “the Art of Familial Problem Solving” were discussed.

The following topics were discussed during the 3rd Family Workshop carried out on March 16th, 2013 with the main heading of “How Elementary Is an Elementary Family?”

In the period of modernization and globalization, “what is” and “what needs to be” in the privacy of elementary family
Woman and man specifically in elementary family: the balance of I and we, marriage, divorce
Other constituent subjects of elementary family: children, the young ones and the old ones
While workshops, which put forth quite important results and evaluations, continued on the one hand, preparations for the 2nd Family Conference were carried out on the other hand.
On May 17th, 2014, the two-day “International Family Workshop” was carried out in Istanbul with the attendance of 35 people from 10 countries for creating and developing the content of the 2nd Family Conference.

On January 24th-25th, 2015, with the attendance of 500 people from 30 countries including NGO representatives, academicians and bureaucrats, the 2nd International Family Conference was carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies of the Republic of Turkey with the heading of Family as a Web of Interaction among Individuals in the Changing World“Compassion, Respect, Decency, Sharing”.

On February 20th, 2015 (immediately after the conference), a meeting was held to evaluate the 2nd International Family Conference. 71 people including officials of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, academicians and NGO representatives attended the meeting. The most important decisions taken at the meeting are as follows:

An institute shall be founded under the roof of İDSB (The Union of NGOs of the Islamic World),
An NGO inventory study shall be conducted in order to join forces, take advantage of each other’s experiences, and prevent recurrences.
At the preparation of the international family institute meeting held on 20.05.2015, the following matters were addressed:
Defining the name of the entity to be founded as “International Family Institute”
Embodiment of the organizational structure in the light of the forms filled,
Initiation of the Institute as an “NGO with academic objectives”,
Establishment of cooperation with globally important associations such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the International Union for Muslim Scholars in the field of family,
Definition and establishment of the High Advisory Board, which will define the road map of the Family Institute, in a way that it will represent the entire Islamic World.
In the following period, studies to prepare a draft project text and budget as well as to conduct the Family Inventory of the NGO were started. Meanwhile;
on 01.08.2015, the Project Introduction and Consultation Meeting of Turkey was held.
on 13.10.2015, the draft of the project was submitted to the Ministry of Family and Social Policies of the Republic of Turkey in order to be carried out in cooperation with the Ministry.
on 17.10.2015, the International High Advisory Board Meeting of UAE was held.
50 participants including bureaucrats, academicians and NGO representatives from over 20 countries submitted their opinions and recommendations for drawing a road map of the Family Institute.
It is intended that the headquarter of the institute takes place in Istanbul/Turkey, and agencies are established in different regions and countries.

International Family Institute Project

Purpose of the Project:

The purpose of the Project is to ensure the spread of application methods useful for overcoming the problems occur within the family in Islamic World;

Determining common strategies for healthy family structure in different societies;

Establishing the International Family Institute as a common platform which will unite the non-governmental organizations, decision makers and academicians studying in this field in order to develop sustainable solutions against family-based social problems.

Basis of the Project:

One of the changing areas modern societies face as a universal fact is the transformation in the institution of family. The characteristics of the institution of family within the traditional structure of society being impossible to sustain, renovation of the institution of family against the new social order arising as a result of this change causes various social problems.

The Islamic World, experiencing significant social changes very often within the past century, is one of the main societies facing the change of the institution of family and problems came along with it.

For this reason, there is a significant need for a common reason platform, in which the Islamic societies will discuss the problems of the institution of family around common values.

Establishing International Family Institute in order to develop common solution strategies against problems occurring in the institution of family on social grounds by taking Islamic societies’ different characteristic into consideration, and enabling produced useful application examples to spread in the Islamic societies, should be a significant contribution for solution of family-based problems of Islamic societies in respect with the Islamic values.

Today, the mechanisms of governance have great importance for development of effective policies in various social, political and economic areas, and constitution of transparency in creation of public policies.

With this respect, sustainability and spreading of common strategies to be produced with the interactions of actors participating in organizational structure of International Family Institute, as well as playing decision-making roles for creation of public policies, scientists studying on family in academic level, and non-governmental organizations will be valuable for developing effective solutions against the family-based social problems Islamic societies experience.

With This Project:

A dynamic and efficient coordination and cooperation among non-governmental organizations working in field of family will be established.Thusly;

The loss of effort and time invested in repeating projects and researches will be prevented;
Added value of the operations will be increased on the experience-sharing axis;
Effective and purpose-oriented results will be succeeded;
Obtained data and project results will be shared in a wide area;
A result-oriented unity of forces will be enabled in international platforms.

The Islamic values on the family will be promoted, and positive aspects of the Muslim family structure will be presented to whole world.

It is a known fact that the family model tried to be imposed us by the western world inholds many negative aspects, and familial unrest and divorce rates are very high.

The studies originating from or in connection with the West always focus on problems within the Muslim societies. This way, an inaccurate perspective on Islam is produced while also damaging the self-esteem of the Muslims.

With this respect, we should influentially exhibit the positive characteristic of Muslim families and our standards of judgements, which in fact are needed by the western world as well.

Objectives of the Project

Short-term Objectives

Resuscitating the meaning and importance of the institution of family in direction of our values, conducting awareness studies in this field by taking sensitivities of different Islamic societies into consideration, clarifying family related notions,

Establishing the required communication grounds for sustainable cooperation, primarily among the non-governmental organizations united under UCSOIW, then among other respective organizations, planning and making decisions towards common family studies,

Enabling cooperation in the family field with important international organizations such as Organization of Islamic Cooperation and International union of Muslim Scholars,

Performing an inventory of organizations, institutes, specialists and academics studying and working on family all around the world, and establishing cooperation and coordination amongst them,

Conducting influencing studies by integrating the scientific infrastructure and non-governmental experiences, leading projects involving the family and its members,

Taking joint steps towards the solutions by sharing determined problems and solutions with the public and developing the studies to be conducted,

Producing strategies for straightening of family structures,

Leading study groups to provide awareness training on domestic communication through media study groups, family school study groups and the internet..

Long-term Objectives

Contributing to consolidation of the family and society with a human-oriented approach within the frame of basic human rights and freedoms,
Enabling public awareness and social responsibility conception on regional family problems to be created in international platforms,
Producing the Document of Islamic Concepts on the Family with all details and by drawing the attention to misapplications,
Producing the draft of Contract of Islamic Family Law and bringing it forward for discussion in the Islamic World.
Organizing international conferences, seminars and workshops on the institution of family,
Sharing the results obtained from the studies of the Institute with government agencies and respective authorities, influencing state policies and lobbying,
Developing acceptable policies and international agreements which will contribute family studies of international organizations such as United Nations and ensuring their practicability,
Conducting studies for actualization of social policies which enable family model based on Quran and Sunnah.
Ensuring the Non-Governmental Organizations and governments to have joint projects for education and development of families and their members,
Ensuring the Islamic countries to develop socio-economic policies for conservation and consolidation of family,
Ensuring the governmental and civil organizations conduct joint studies for designing the physical and social environment suitable for family life during urban planning processes,
Contributing to the solution of significant problems encountered in Islamic World, such as violation of basic rights and freedoms within the violence environment created as a result of dissolution of values in parallel with materialism, poverty, unemployment, low literacy levels, gender discrimination, domestic violence, wars and internal conflicts.

Target Group:

UNIW members and Non-Governmental Organizations providing family-oriented services,
Ministry of Family and Social Policies of Republic of Turkey and other respective ministries in the Islamic World,
Academics, writers and specialists providing services in respect with our field of study
Public opinion in Turkey and the world

Operation and Outcomes:

The project shall serve for the below given aspects:

Conducting conference, periodical publications, researches and educational activities,
Establishing a Family Library and documentation Centre
Establishing a multi-language website on which family concerning articles, biographical information, e-books, reports and visual material lists are gathered, and daily family news are published,
Performing an inventory of non-governmental organizations and institutes conducting family-based studies in Turkey and all around the world, introducing the contact information, corporate structures, fields of activities, reports and projects of these to other attendees and establishing a communication, cooperation, consultation and common study platform,
Producing projects and policies with scientific results, advising decision making mechanisms,
Making field researches of a quality to contribute policy development of government in geographical regions with different customs and beliefs on religious-customary, social and psychological factors affecting the family in positive or negative ways, and assuming an effective attitude for problem solving by setting the public opinion agenda
Providing researches with incentive scholarships,
Reaching the people through conferences and panels
Publishing an academic magazine once every four months
Organizing regional and national meetings among attendees
Establishing sub-study groups and commissions of International Family Institute by cooperating with official/private organizations, NGOs, specialists and academicians working on family at national and international level in respect with subjects primarily like education, poverty and violence, then health, law, human and moral values, culture, art, sports, environment, media, disasters, advocacy, etc.
Endeavoring to avoid activities and broadcasts/publications destructive for family by observing the media, supporting positive activities and rewarding them, advocating about family,
Organizing socio-cultural activities (educational programs, conferences, panels, exhibitions, travels, symposiums, etc.)

At national and international level:

Submitting the Institute’s “Consensus” documents through representatives and communication mediums,
Organizing family related international events and attending to those organized,
Creating an information and document archive, announcing the studies through bulletins, annual catalogues, internet, etc. to the concerned people,
Performing advocacy and lobbying activities within international umbrella organizations (UN, EU, etc.).