All posts by : İNGEV

In Turkiye, women’s employment and their access to the labor market and livelihoods are becoming increasingly important every day. While women make up 49.9% and men 50.1% of Turkiye’s population, the Household Labor Force Survey results show that in 2021, the labor force participation rate for individuals aged 15 and older was 32.8% for women and 70.3% for men.

Studies in this field not only have the potential to offer new employment opportunities to women from different segments of society but also play a critical role in removing barriers to women’s employment and in the transformation of the labor market.

The ActHuman Social Inclusion Initiative, conducted in collaboration with İNGEV and Sabancı University’s Istanbul Policy Center (IPC), focused on developing strategies to increase women’s employment and participation in the workforce in its sixth year.

A highly participatory workshop with significant representative capability took place in April. At the meeting, attended by 33 representatives from the private sector, public sector, international organizations, civil society, and United Nations agencies, the focus was on barriers and opportunities in women’s employment and what could be done to increase it, with practical solutions being derived.

Some key topics from the workshop include:

• Developing an approach to make work more compatible with women’s lives (making layoffs harder, improving working conditions).
• Reviewing prohibited occupations for women and taking action to promote employment in these areas.
• Amending legislation related to daycare and increasing sanctions for employers who do not provide daycare facilities.
• Revising legislation from “working mother” to “parenting” and increasing the postnatal responsibilities of fathers. Working on a system where time cannot be transferred between parents.
• Localizing the issue specifically for provinces and internalizing that the needs of women in one city differ from those in another.
• Increasing the share of the service sector in production, prioritizing regulations that will boost women’s employment in industrial zones where manufacturing is intense.
• Developing policies targeting women in the upcycling economy, an important issue in sustainable consumption.

The study, under the academic rapporteurship of Esra Durceylan Kaygusuz, will finalize as a practical social policy document in mid-May and will then be disseminated.

In municipal governance, social inclusion plays a crucial role in ensuring the active participation of all sections of society in urban life. Through inclusive practices, communities can benefit more from city planning and local government services.

INGEV launched the “Local Impact” project at the end of 2023 to better represent sensitive groups in metropolitan and district municipalities.

As part of the project, a social inclusion map website featuring 670 organizations that provide social inclusion services was created. Social inclusion training videos will also be available on this website from mid-May.

https://yereletki.org (only in Turkish)

During March and April, Idea Development Workshops were conducted in collaboration with the Eyüpsultan, Sultanbeyli, Fatih, and Sultangazi municipalities. These workshops identified disadvantaged groups in the districts and determined their basic needs, discussing the most effective and innovative support the municipalities could offer these groups. Another focus was on increasing the role of civil society organizations in these services. The workshops will continue in May and June in collaboration with different district municipalities.

Another outcome of this project will be the Social Inclusion Guide, to be published in September. The guide will be disseminated in both print and e-book formats to local governments. Supported by the Dutch Royal Embassy’s Matra Fund, the “Local Impact” project serves a critical function in understanding the conditions of sensitive groups living in different local government areas and developing action steps accordingly.

The views expressed here are those of İNGEV and should not be considered as the official views of the Dutch Royal Embassy.

The Bridges project, supporting the development of Şanlıurfa, continues to play an active role in its fifth year. The project undertakes an important mission to ensure the sustainability of new businesses and to guide entrepreneurs.

By the end of April, under the Bridges project, 103 people completed basic, and 30 people completed advanced entrepreneurship trainings, thus becoming ready to step into the business world. Nineteen people who successfully completed the advanced entrepreneurship training qualified to receive grant support to bring their business ideas to life.

The project will continue until April 2025 to contribute to the economic and social development of Şanlıurfa. With the goal of supporting local entrepreneurs and expanding their businesses, the Bridges Project will maintain its intensive activities in the upcoming period.

As İNGEV continues to strengthen its governance and move towards a more institutional direction, it has included an important figure from the private sector in its executive board. Rana Birden, Head of Corporate Communications and Impact Investments at Kale Group, has become a member of the INGEV advisory board.

Born in 1975, Rana Birden graduated from the Department of International Relations at Galatasaray University in 1998 and completed the European Union Master’s Program at the same university in 2005.

Between 1999 and 2012, Birden served sequentially as a Senior Research Specialist at the Economic Development Foundation, Assistant Project Coordinator for the European Union Civil Society Development Program, EU Research and Documentation Coordinator at Bahçeşehir University, and Director at the Foundation for Social Participation and Development. Birden has also consulted for numerous foundations and associations, including the Sabancı Foundation, Third Sector Foundation of Turkiye, and Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. She continued her work as the General Manager of the Global Relations Forum Association from 2012 to 2014 and as a member of the Executive Board of the Turkiye Europe Foundation and C20 from 2014 to 2016, before joining Kale Group in 2016. We welcome her once again!

Hande, who completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University, went on to earn a master’s degree in Human Rights at the University of Manchester.

Following her education, she worked in Project Management in both international and national civil society organizations. Her work, which began with refugee programs, has been focused on Livelihood Resources since 2017. She had previously served as the coordinator for Women’s Empowerment programs at INGEV in 2023.

In the new term, Hande will continue as the coordinator of both Resource Development and Women’s Empowerment programs. Vural Çakır, the President of INGEV’s Executive Board, commented on this appointment, saying, “Hande combines her personality, which has internalized the concepts of human development and civil society, with her professional experience in Livelihood Resources, making critical contributions to INGEV. With the expansion of her authority, we aim to further strengthen INGEV’s benefit to society in the coming period.”

Hande Soğancılar said, “With this new role, we aim to realize INGEV’s vision, diversify its resources, and increase its impact on society. Being a part of the INGEV management team is both a pride and excitement.

We shared the findings of our “Hand in Hand” project, which has been ongoing since November 2022 for young women aged 18-29 who are not in education nor employment (NEET) living in Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa and Mardin, at the Minerva Han, hosted by the Istanbul Policy Center (IPC) on February 12th.

We listened to young women participants from the three provinces and other experts who have conducted successful projects in the NEET area.

In the program implementation, we discussed the importance of localization, the necessity of correct NEET segmentation for a proper beneficiary definition, thinking outside of traditional job patterns for women’s employment, the importance of the private sector’s involvement at the local level in all stages from needs assessment to implementation, and establishing a correct balance between home care economy and wage.

In the “Hand in Hand” project, various economic empowerment activities were offered to 110 NEET women in Mardin, Şanlıurfa, and Gaziantep to access the labor force, employment, and livelihoods.

The project included activities such as career webinars, employment counseling, and vocational training certificates approved by e-Devlet (e-Government), and the employment conversion rate was promising.

As of February 2024, within the scope of the project:

• It was revealed that 372 women living in Gaziantep, Mardin, and Şanlıurfa need support for access to the labor force, employment, and livelihoods.
• 62 partnership meetings were organized with representatives from relevant public institutions, municipalities, the private sector, and NGOs.
• 971 women applied for the project to benefit from the offered services; 349 women were selected to participate, and 260 women joined the project’s online platform.
• 77 NEET women gained knowledge about job searching and applications by participating in various career webinars.
• 110 NEET women received certificates by completing vocational training courses in Basic Accounting and Digital Marketing, Social Media in October and November 2023.
• 103 women accessed mentor support through 201 career planning sessions.
• 97 women aged 18-29 increased their employment participation capacity with career roadmaps prepared together with their mentors.
• 14 NEET women accessed permanent employment opportunities using the knowledge and skills they acquired.

The “Hand in Hand” project is implemented within the framework of the “Strong Civil Space for Gender Equality” project by UN Women with the financial support of the European Union.

We continue to work to spread “Hand in Hand” throughout Turkiye and to create collaborations in this field with our stakeholders.

“Hand in Hand” Project’s Press Reflections:

• Oksijen: https://gazeteoksijen.com/turkiye/el-ele-deprem-bolgesindeki-kadinlara-destek-veriyorlar-198980

• Milliyet: https://www.milliyet.com.tr/ekonomi/depremzede-kadinlara-el-ele-istihdam-7063987

• Duvar: https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/eleleyiz-projesi-depremden-etkilenen-kadinlari-is-hayatina-kazandiriyor-haber-1658579