Under the European Union Erasmus+ Adult Education Program, Melikgazi Municipality collaborated with Druskininkai Municipality of Lithuania in a project funded by the EU. The aim of the project was to increase digital municipal services and enable citizens to benefit more from digital municipal services, thus reducing human mobility and consequently vehicle usage. To achieve the project's goals, extensive workshops were organized in both Melikgazi Municipality and Druskininkai Municipality of Lithuania. These workshops, attended by 15 technical personnel from each municipality, generated original ideas for expanding the digital service offerings of municipalities and devising methods and projects to increase the number of users of these services.

In order to achieve the objectives of the project, comprehensive workshops were organized in both Melikgazi Municipality and Druskininkai Municipality of Lithuania. In the early months of 2024, workshops were conducted in both Lithuania and Türkiye, with 15 technical personnel from each municipality participating. During these workshops, original ideas were generated to expand the digital service offerings of municipalities and increase the number of users of these services. The workshops also addressed the concept of 'Digital Citizenship,' and 'Training Modules' were developed to enable adults to utilize digital municipal services more effectively. Melikgazi Mayor Assoc. Dr. Mustafa Palancıoğlu, who traveled to Lithuania to conduct activities under the 'Project Dissemination and Experience Sharing Program' in Druskininkai, Lithuania, emphasized the following points:

One of Türkiye's most significant agenda items lately is smart cities, particularly focusing on alternative energy sources, recycling, and digitalization. As Melikgazi Municipality, especially during the European Union accession process and with the onset of green production, we are striving to both receive support from the European Union and prepare our city and district. In this context, we have received support from two different European Union projects. One project, specifically targeting solar energy, alternative energy sources, and recycling, secured a grant of over 5 million, enabling our municipality to purchase electric recycling vehicles, establish electric charging stations, and even have the opportunity to set up a solar energy plant, particularly for irrigation water. Our second project, "Digital Education and Municipal Services," which ranked among the top 6 out of 98 projects, was conducted in collaboration with Lithuania through our national agency. With its successful completion, our municipality will not only achieve savings but also emerge as a role model for zero waste initiatives and other areas.

In this regard, we welcomed Lithuanian delegations in Kayseri, hosting them in our municipality. Now, we are visiting two different municipalities in Lithuania to hold the closing meeting and finalize our project. Importantly, there are no expenses incurred from our municipality's budget, as the European Union, covering all expenses from travel costs to other expenditures, funds the entire project. Therefore, our municipality is profiting from this initiative and conducting exemplary work for other municipalities. Hopefully, Melikgazi Municipality will provide the greatest support to the zero waste project initiated by the First Lady, Emine Erdoğan. Currently, we are intensively working on recycling and savings, and we aim to further advance these efforts in the future. Congratulations to all involved.