All posts by : İNGEV

INGEV’s women’s empowerment program “Eleleyiz” continues to support women entrepreneurs in the provinces of Hatay and Kahramanmaraş. This project, which aids the reconstruction process after the earthquake, takes a significant step towards helping affected women entrepreneurs grow and develop their businesses.

Women entrepreneurs interested in joining the project can apply via an open call method and will be meticulously evaluated by a committee of experts. Within the project, 30 selected women entrepreneurs will be assigned business mentors, and regular meetings will be held to support the creation of business plans. In total, 90 business development mentoring sessions will be conducted under this support.

Additionally, women entrepreneurs who qualify for the project will be offered a training package tailored to their capacities and needs in areas such as market access, financial management, e-commerce, digital marketing, and social media management, to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to grow their businesses. Various events will be organized in the project provinces for women entrepreneurs who will receive grant support, thus strengthening their participation in the supply chain.

Supported financially by Fondation de France, this project aims to uncover the potential of women entrepreneurs and contribute to society. The project, which will last until the end of the year, seeks to support the economic and social empowerment of women.

The INGEV Social Research Center (TAM) is conducting research on behalf of UNICEF Turkiye on ‘Early Childhood Development and Responsive Parenting’. The UNICEF Turkiye 2021-2025 country program aims to identify factors that could negatively affect early childhood development and to reduce these factors. This program targets individual and societal behavior changes to improve children’s health and abilities and to provide a positive development environment.

Despite significant improvements in the status of Early Childhood Development in Turkiye in recent years, there are areas that still need further development. This research aims to support UNICEF’s Social Behavior Change program by conducting an in-depth analysis of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the Turkish population, Syrian refugees, and service providers in this field.

Some key findings from the TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute) research include:

• Between 2017 and 2020, there was an increase in the participation of children aged 3 to 5 in early childhood education. However, between 2020 and 2022, this rate dropped from approximately 40% to 20%.
• 40% of parents stated that their children did not want to go to school, and 24% cited economic factors as a barrier.
• It has been observed that many parents in Turkiye do not pay sufficient attention to health issues. Only 22% of children with health problems were reported to have received treatment in the last two weeks.
• As of 2022, the rate of children aged 0-17 years exposed to any form of violent discipline, including psychological assault or physical punishment, was 54.1%. This rate was even higher for children aged 3-4 and 5-9 years (approximately 59%).

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.