According to the most recent data published in the 2013 Population and Housing Survey, 7.9% of the female population in Turkey is composed of women with disabilities accordingly. Disabled women are often exposed to discrimination and many violations of their rights due to being both women and disabled, yet these problems often remain invisible to the rest of society. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities works to make disabled women and their problems visible by making special reference to women with disabilities, and encourages policymakers to take confident measures to empower these women and girls.

At INGEV, ensuring the full and effective participation in social life of disabled women and girls, increasing their participation in decision-making processes, guaranteeing that they can fully benefit from the rights and freedoms in international and national legislation are of great importance and focus in human development programs.

One of the main rights that disabled women face discrimination is the right to work. Since March 2020, disabled women have become INGEV’s priority target group in the “Improving Access to Livelihoods for People with Disabilities Project,” which has been carried out in partnership with Relief International and with BPRM funding support. INGEV is working to provide employment and entrepreneurship support to participants within the scope of the livelihoods project in order for disabled women to confidently benefit from their right to work.

Selen Göknar is one of these women able to benefit from INGEV’s entrepreneurship support. In spite of her hearing impairment, Göknar, who has experience in cooking and pastry in important kitchens, was able to establish her own pastry shop after applying to INGEV’s program. The success of her shop, ‘Silent Bakery’ attracted the attention of Anadolu Agency, who published a report about her and gained more public support for her business.

https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/yasam/isitme-engelli-kadin-girisimci-sessiz-firin-projesiyle-kendi-isini-kurdu/2163016

 

As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its second year, the digitalization of businesses and the ability to work remotely became more crucial than ever before. Funded by the Japanese government and run by UNDP, INGEV launched the emergency support to Syrian SMEs project.

During Project implementation, 48 female-led refugee companies received a mini recovery grant to finance their urgent business needs. Out of those 48 female-led refugee companies, 31% received digital marketing support as well to increase their brand awareness and enable them to reach wider and new client base. In addition, 44% of them received digital infrastructure grants support in the form of providing them with unlimited internet access and/or cloud-based business management tool. The digital infrastructure grants aims to lay the foundation for a digitalized business that can operate in the current business environment. Finally, trainings organized by INGEV which aimed to equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to overcome the current challenges imposed by the covide-19 outbreak, such as: digital communication tools, digital marketing practices, digital sales channels, managing social media tools for businesses and Turkish government response & support to SMEs during the pandemic.

The results of the 2020 Human Development Index-Metropolitan (HDM-M) report have been announced by INGEV. The conference commemorating the occasion was held online on February 24th, with many Metropolitan Mayors receiving awards for their success in human development.

At the start of the meeting, INGEV President Vural Çakır and Istanbul Policy Center Director Prof. Fuat Keyman held a discussion on the topic of “Localized Human Development”.

Following this, Prof. Murat Seker spoke on the structure of the HDI-M research, and INGEV experts Cenk Ozan and Berna Yaman shared the results of the index.

The Human Development Index, previously evaluated only at the district level for the past three years in Turkey in support of human development at the local level, was for the first time this year expanded by INGEV to the Metropolitan level. The project was carried out by a team of experts, led by Istanbul University City Policy Center Director Prof. Murat Şeker with contributions in statistical analysis by INGEV.

Published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) at the country level since 1990, the Human Development Index aims to measure and compare human development through income, health and education in different countries. The report is calculated by taking into account income per capita, life expectancy at birth, literacy and schooling rates.

The HDI-M 2020 Study consists of 228 variables grouped into 9 sub-indexes

In the process of determining the HDI-B model variables in accordance with Sustainable Development goals, the UN Sustainable Development Indicators were consulted and adapted alongside the TURKSTAT Sustainable Development Indicators 2010-2019 studies conducted by the Ministry of Development and the Socio-Economic Development Rankings of Provinces and Regions from previous years.

The nine sub-indexes determined are: Governance and Transparency, Combating Inequalities, Quality Education, Healthy Life, Sustainable Economy, Social Life, Sustainable Environment and Energy, Gender Equality and Transportation and Accessibility. Alongside a detailed examination of local government activity reports and strategic planning, the collection of central statistics, an analysis of the municipality websites and social media accounts, and consultations with “secret citizens” on a total of 21 subjects were included in the index.

Qualified Education and Healthy Living areas have been found to be the areas with the highest average value in metropolitan cities. Sub-indices with the lowest performance average are Governance and Transparency, Social Life, Gender Equality and Struggle with Inequalities. The report concluded that metropolitan cities need to carry out more studies in terms of human development in these areas.

Istanbul ranked first place among provinces in the Human Development Index 2020

Istanbul ranked first place in the HDI-M 2020 Human Development Index, followed by Ankara, Izmir, Muğla and Antalya. Other provinces that stand out in the ranking are Eskişehir, Bursa, Denizli, Sakarya and Kocaeli.

Among the metropolitan cities, the average score on the main index scale is 45.3, with the highest being 65.7 and the lowest, 24.7. Of the 30 provinces, 16 metropolitan cities lie above the average, and 14 below. The cities which fall below average are Trabzon, Malatya, Kayseri, Adana, Manisa, Ordu, Gaziantep, Erzurum, Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Diyarbakir, Van, Mardin, and Sanliurfa.

Of the top ten regions in the index ranking, the Black Sea, Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia are not represented.

INGEV is expanding its efforts to support human development at the local level

As localization gradually increases, local policy tools that influence human development are also becoming more diversified. Effective use of data-based management tools by local governments on a micro-scale with support by other stakeholders, especially central governments, can increase the quality of life of constituents.

INGEV places great importance on understanding the manageable variables which can affect daily life, and as such has been conducting the Human Development Index-Districts (HDI-I) study since 2016. In addition to the HDI-I study, this year has seen steps taken by INGEV to develop and monitor human development at the local scale with the Human Develop Index-Metropolitan (HDI-B), which analyzes data collected from metropolitan municipalities in around 30 provinces.

Please click on the link to watch the HDI-M event