Issue: 6
- Welcome dear Minister. Thank you for sparing your time to support us in this project.
- Welcome yourself.
- Why did you choose to become a politician?
- Because politics is a means of being useful to people.
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of your profession?
- Both its advantage and disadvantage is to be a well-known person in the society.
- What would be your valuable suggestions to young people like myself who aim to make a career in your profession?
- Try to get along well with everybody, be nice to people, don't hurt anybody , and let love and caring for people be your basic philosophy. I wish you success.
People who attended the meeting at the Conference Hall of the GAP Regional Development Agency in Ankara on 16th May, held to introduce the new website which is designed to assist young people of Southeastern Turkey in choosing their future careers, witnessed this on-line chat between a young man from the GAP region and his “e-coach” Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister Abdülatif Sener. Other participants, including Ambassador of Switzerland Walter Gyger and UNDP Representative in Turkey Jakob Simonsen, also acted as “e-coach” to other youngsters who aspired to become diplomats and had similar on-line chats.
“E-Coaching” is one of the projects aimed at young people in Southeastern Turkey , within the framework of the “Reducing Socio-Economic Differences in the GAP Region” programme, which is jointly conducted by the UNDP and the GAP Regional Development Agency. The project enables young people of the GAP region to meet, over the electronic medium, with professionals and university students working or studying in different career areas, to share their knowledge and experiences, and receive guidence in making future career plans. According to the requests coming from the youngsters, the website focuses on giving information on a different professional subject and the related university departments, each week.
In his opening speech at the meeting, President of the GAP Regional Development Agency Muammer Yaşar Özgül said, “GAP is full of dynamic young people; it has a huge potential. Needless to say, the locomotive of the development of our region is this young population, open to innovations and progress. In order to attract the private sector to our part of the country, we must educate our youth, and create a new generation who knows what to do, when and how. With this goal in mind, our GAP Agency is working on many great projects.”
UNDP Turkey Representative Jakob Simonsen commented on the necessity of focusing on the education of young people, even in well-advanced countries, and pointed out that the youth living in disadvantaged regions, such as Southeastern Anatolia, deserves even more attention and caring. Simonsen said that this website project is limited to the GAP region for the time being, but they are aiming to reach 250 young people by the end of June, 2006. Simonsen invited everybody to volunteer in “e-coaching”.
Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister Abdüllatif Şener also gave a speech at the meeting, saying that members of the same professional groups share information on the internet, even if they come from different countries. Şener added that youth is the future of a country, the driving force and carrier of progress; and by sharing the experiences of successful professionals through e-coaching and learning about their views on life and work, young people can also orientate their lives in a positive direction.
Speaking on behalf of the Swiss Government, which provides financial aid to the project, Ambassador Walter Gyger said they enthusiastically support this project and admire the efforts of UNDP and GAP Regional Development Agency. Reminding that Switzerland's formal involvement in this project will soon be over, Mr. Gyger said their partnership has indeed been very satisfactory in achieving sustainable results in Southeastern Turkey and in reaching the least advantaged groups in the Region.
As of March 2006, 148 young persons from the GAP Region have received guidance from 58 “e-coaches” in career building. Currently, 369 more young people anticipate the support of the “e-coaching” project, while 223 volunteer professionals have registered themselves to give guidance over the internet.
Entrepreneur Support Centres (GİDEMs) in four major cities of the GAP Region, established within the framework of the project jointly conducted by the UNDP, the European Commission and the GAP Regional Development Agency, have opened up "windows of opportunity" in the truest sense for the potential entrepreneurs of the region. The Textile Training Centre in Adıyaman, the Centre for the Development of Agriculture-based Industries in Adıyaman and Şanlıurfa, the Centre for the Development of Women's Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneurship Centre of Dicle University, both in Diyarbakır, and Silver-Working and Home Wine-Making Centre in Mardin are a few of these "windows of opportunity". We visited and toured the Textile Training Centre in Adıyaman with GIDEM's Adıyaman Office Coordinator Mr. Sırrı Özen. Here is what he told the New Horizons about the activities of this important training centre:
Sırrı Özen (S.Ö.): Here, at Adıyaman Textile Training Centre, we educate young people to become qualified workers in the ready-to-wear sector. We have 52 machines, including sewing machines, as well as overlook, fitting, cutting, button and buttonhole and stiching machines and press irons.
UNDP Turkey: How did this project begin?
S.Ö.: When GİDEMs started their "Windows of Opportunity" projects, they asked us if we would want to develop a project for Adıyaman, too. I was already familiar with the state of the ready-to-wear textile business in our town; during a previous inventory study we carried out in this sector, companies mostly complained about lack of qualified personnel to employ.
UNDP Turkey: Which year was this?
S.Ö.: It was in 2003. Well, so we decided to ask for the support of the Textile Industrialists' Association -because they had all the necessary machinery park- and having gained it, we launched on a project of our own, and named it "Adıyaman Textile Training Centre". We created a detailed project, with the help of the Governer, the Mayor and the Deputy-Mayor of Adıyaman, and prepared the budget of the project. As a GIDEM office, we were only able to train the teaching staff and supply necessary training materials; but we could not afford to pay wages to the staff. We consulted the university administrators and agreed with them to hire their graduates, as well as professionals of the sector, following an examination to choose the right trainers for this purpose. The exam was prepared and given by the experts of KOSGEB from Istanbul, of the Ministry of National Education and the EU's Vocational Technical Education Project specialists. The exam had three sections: written, oral and general aptitude. After having passed the exam, the selected trainer candidates, there were 18 of them at the time, attended a special course here for two months, and received their certificates. So we gave our certificates, appointed our trainers, readied our machines and searched for a location to start our classes. The Town Council allocated this building to us and we began our training courses. KOSGEB paid our trainers' wages. The important thing was to connect all these different institutions. We were able to bring together 9 different establishments for this purpose. We trained 370 people, 200 of them are currently employed.
UNDP Turkey: Still, 200 of them are working.
S.Ö.: Yes, and the rest is not working because they don't want to. For example, at the end of the first training period, only 7 of the graduates acquired jobs in the industry, the rest simply disappeared! I guess, the attitude was "now that I have the certificate, sound and strong, why should I work?" We discussed this situation with the trainers, and decided that the certificates should be given, not by us, but by the factory or company, and only to those who actually work there. And this worked! Gradually the men began to take up jobs; now there are 200 of them, maybe even more.
UNDP Turkey: So, the industry needs workers, but there's little demand for jobs?
S.Ö.: Exactly, the sector desparately needs more employees! While we were conducting the courses here, I used to recieve letters from factories and workshops, saying they need 40-50 workers.
UNDP Turkey: But why don't they work?
S.Ö.: This is a social problem. Some consider it disgraceful to work for others. Some fathers offer to pay their sons the amount (say, 200-250 YTL) which they could earn from factory jobs. Some consider it more profitable to work in seasonal jobs, instead of a regular one. They work for several months each year, collect a lump sum and use it for the rest of the year. This shows that industrial culture hasn't been truly adopted in Adıyaman, yet. We are still in the initial stage.
UNDP Turkey: Do some people want to get these certificates for other purposes? For example, to show off a diploma?
S.Ö.: Certainly! It's a common situation... Some fathers require this certificate from the bridegroom as a condition to marry their daugther off. Some young men come to these courses just to get the diploma, so he can get married. Then he invites his teachers to the wedding! I remember a 40-year-old man coming here and literally crying and begging to be admitted to the training courses, saying that otherwise he had no chance of moving ahead in life. So our certificate is almost valued as a university diploma! Whether they get a job afterwards is not so important. This place is like a school. Not all students graduating from formal textile schools become employed in the textile sector; same is the case here, we have shrinkages, too. Our centre is really like a university, some 1,700 people have applied to be admitted to our courses, and the number increases every day.
UNDP Turkey: How many trainers do you have?
S.Ö.: Presently, we have 12 of them.
UNDP Turkey: Are similar activities carried out at the other two GİDEM centres?
S.Ö.: No, ours is the only one which conducts a vocational training project. The GİDEM in Mardin works on wine-making and filigree craftsmanship. There is the development of women's entrepreneurship project and marble-working project in Diyarbakır, and ecological agriculture project in Urfa.
Already practiced in many industrial sectors in various parts of Turkey, the clustering process in the textile sector was first developed in Adıyaman in December 2004. We asked Sırrı Özen about the meaning and purpose of "clustering".
Sırrı Özen (S.Ö.): In this context, clustering means to form a chain of values in a certain sector in a specific region, by combining all the links in that sector and thus contribute to its development. What supports the textile sector is not only production; financing and technical infrastructure are also very important.
UNDP Turkey: Do public institutions join the clustering, too?
S.Ö.: Yes, banks and financial institutions, educational institutions and transport companies --in short, all establishments and enterprises, including the media-- which play a role in the sector are involved in the clustering.
UNDP Turkey: Is this activity directly related to ATEM?
S.Ö.: No. ATEM and 'clustering' are separate projects, but currently they overlap. Clustering covers a very large area and ATEM is the textile education part of it. Training is a vital link for the ready-to-wear sector. If you want to develop this sector you definitely need human resource. You cannot just push the button and make textile production without human labour. That is why ATEM became an essential link in the clustering process. This city needed such an initiative.
UNDP Turkey: So you started the clustering activity at the same time with the opening of ATEM?
S.Ö.: Yes, we opened ATEM, and on the same day we held a meeting with the representatives from the GAP Development Agency and the UNDP. We discussed the problems of the sector and everybody listed their concerns. The issues were evaluated and classified under different topics, and we developed 32 projects in 10 areas. Every project addresses a different problem. But the project list was flexible; later on we added some new projects and eliminated some others.
UNDP Turkey: What is the specific purpose of this clustering? To develop the sector or to open up to the outside world?
S.Ö.: To develop the sector. And that includes every thing else. First comes the overall development of the textile sector. We want to manufacture in all areas of the textile industry in Adıyaman. One of the factors hindering development in the region is insufficient socialization. In fact, one of our projects aims to enhance social exchange and increase cultural activities here. Technical staff who come to town to work soon become unhappy because of the lack of social activity, and they don't stay here for long. There are no cinemas, no theatres... This was one of the issues the local committee focused on. The local committee is only a pressure group, they don't have a magic wand to produce cinemas and theatres. But they can create a social pressure to encoure the opening of such cultural venues. As a matter of fact, as the textile sector grows bigger, we are having more and more visitors from outside. As a result of the demand by the businessmen from Istanbul who do business here, we now have direct flights between Adıyaman and Istanbul.
UNDP Turkey: How many companies joined the organisation?
S.Ö.: Currently there are 9 companies in the Local Committee. Also there are non-governmental organizations, university and KOSGEB representatives.
UNDP Turkey: Were there any companies which wanted to join but were refused?
S.Ö.: No. Our door is open to everyone, because this is a voluntary work. We want to have as many companies as we can get. We have an e-mail group among the Local Committee members and we are communicating closely.
UNDP Turkey: So you will probably start a website soon?
S.Ö.: Yes, that has become a must.
UNDP Turkey: What kind of activities did you carry out within the framework of the clustering?
S.Ö. We set up a local committee to discuss our issues and the ways of addressing them. Gaining the cooperation of universities and the industry was important for us. So we decided to invite students from universities' textile departments. During our last two meetings, we brought together textile company managers with students and provided them the opportunity to work in factories as intern personnel. Some 70-80 students came to us. In fact, one of these students said to one of the industrialists, "Before I met you all, I didn't picture this sector, the textile business and its businessmen like I found here. Now, I like my profession more." Those meetings opened up new horizons for students who previously lived in a small, closed world.
UNDP Turkey: Are there any participation from the governor's office, the municipality and the public sector?
S.Ö.: They don't usually participate in our meetings, but whenever we need their help, they readily offer it.
UNDP Turkey: In what stage are the projects which have been developed by the cluster? Were you able to get any funding?
S.Ö.: There are 32 projects in all, but not all of them are suitable to attract funding. We will ask for funding for 10 projects. The EU Commission is ready to fund those, because they all aim to improve the sector, create employment, reduce poverty and contribute to development, although there are a few problems we need to overcome.
Companies' point of view on clustering
What do the participating companies think about the clustering activities? Why have they joined in this work? Why do they spare time to contribute to these efforts? We wanted to learn the industrialists' point of view from Rıza Ceyhan, owner of Estetik Dokuma Tekstil:
Rıza Ceyhan (R.C.): We got involved in the project through GAP-GIDEM office. We were already in touch with KOSGEB and GIDEM before the project started. When we heard that they were going to develop such a project we volunteered to join, because we had a textile business in Ankara for 20 years, before we came here. I've been in Adıyaman for 6 years now. The reason that brought me here was social responsibility, the thought that we should return to our home town. Maybe because I previously worked in the education sector, my sense of social responsibity is strong.
UNDP Turkey: So what do you do? What are your project activities?
R.C.: When they first told me about the textile project in Adıyaman, I didn't have a too optimistic idea about it. Then when I found out that a similar project had been realized in Sultanahmet, Istanbul in the tourism area and heard about its positive impact, I began to believe it could produce some good results in Adıyaman, too. In Adıyaman textile has a self-developing structure. It's not an organized sector. It has developed by itself, as a field of occupation of people who did not know the business but had economic power. Therefore, a serious organisation was definitely needed in order to bring those people together and help them become more professional and successful. I believed clustering would create such an organization. We have already benefited from it. Human resource shortage in the textile sector is now being dealt with. We've had energy resource problems and some troubles with the industrial zone. Shortage of qualified workers is a major problem. Our employees are mostly women from poor or low income groups; poorly educated or illiterate. We have to overcome this problem. We need to create projects and build continuous training facilities. All companies try to create these conditions more or less, but these are individual efforts. With this project, we can set things according to the rules and in an official way. I am also a committee member in the textile division of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CIC). The president of CIC supported us on this matter and with the initiation of GİDEM, the project is finally realized.
UNDP Turkey: Was it difficult in the beginning to cooperate with the other companies in the sector you normally compete with?
R.C.: My position is a bit different. My firm is the only one which produces under its own brand name and sells to the domestic market in Turkey. We have our own styling workshop, our own cutting, fitting and sewing workshops. I market to 60 cities. For that reason, my company does not have much competition. On the contrary, cooperating in this project created one big advantage; it provided the opportunity for all uf us, all companies, to put an end to "stealing" qualified personnel from one another. We have formed a common sense. We created new ideas together and realized our common interests.
UNDP Turkey: But sometimes you have lecturers and listeners from outside, don't you?
R.C.: Yes, certainly. Civil society organizations join us, too. We've had some problems with the Turkish Electricity Distribution Company (TEDAŞ). We invited its General Manager to our meeting. We had some problems with the Postal Service (PTT) company, so we invited the Director . That's how problems are solved, because it's a social organization that they have to deal with. We are a social organization and we have a social problem. They wouldn't turn a deaf ear.
UNDP Turkey: To what do you attribute the success of your project?
R.C.: The only factor behind the success of this project is the sense of ownership of its stakeholders. If you don't have this feeling of 'owning' it or belonging to it, success would not come. There is no other Turkey, and no other Adıyaman, either. So, we have to do something. Almost all our friends and fellow businessmen in this sector carry the same mentality. That's how the project works so smoothly.
We hear the story of garlic from Sırrı Özen, the Coordinator of Adıyaman GIDEM.
Sırrı Özen (S.Ö.): Here, in the township of Tut, they produce and consume huge amounts of garlic. So we decided to make better use of this produce. In order to improve and increase the production of garlic, we had to first tackle with the industrial side of the business. So we prepared a project. It's a long, 2-year project. It involves planting, harvesting and product analysis. Having done these, we turned the final corner. Our garlic's quality improvement has been registered.We have determined the right formula of a better quality garlic. We are now waiting for the final analysis. We have also found an investor businessman who will take care of the production. He is a native of Tut, now living in Istanbul.
UNDP Turkey: With whom did you make the improvement tests?
S.Ö.: With a professor from the Ankara University. We also worked with farmers in a pilot field. We carried out demonstrations. The thing is to find the right formula, the right fertilizer, etc. When the final report arrives, we will hold a meeting with the farmers to discuss the results of the experimental work, what we have done so far, and we'll try to convince the farmers to produce garlic with this new method. We are working in cooperation with the local Government of Tut. The project will be completed this year, we've been working for two years now. Then, we'll organize the farmers.
UNDP Turkey: By "organizing", do you mean encouraging them?
S.Ö.: Yes. In any case, after convincing a couple of farmers and showing them the product improvement, all farmers will adopt the new method. As I've already said, we found the businessman who will make the investment. He is one of the biggest industrialists of Adıyaman. We also found the production fields. In any case, the investment cost is not so big; what is important is the marketing aspect. And our businessman has good marketing channels. What we have done, as GIDEM, was to improve the product, and increase its quality and competitiveness.
And support to women entrepreneurs
Amongst all their activities, GIDEM Adıyaman Office pays extra attention to support potential women entrepreneurs in the region. Within the framework of the Development of Women's Entrepreneurship Project, GIDEM has organized and conducted seven different training courses for women. The first women's association in the area of entrepreneurship in Adıyaman, Anatolian Women's Association (AKAD) was established under the leadership of GIDEM. Local women who attended GIDEM's courses have become craftswomen now, creating all sorts of handicrafts from dolls and knick-knacks to marble sculptures. Nimet Peri is one of the graduates of the entrepreneurship training classes. Thanks to the finance and management skills she learned in class, the restaurant business she opened in downtown Adıyaman has become more professional and successful. Here is her story in her own words:
Nimet Peri: I was a housewife, living in a government-owned apartment. I had the balcony of my flat covered and turned into a little shop where I sold clothing which I imported from Istanbul. Right from my balcony!. But later I went into a search to find a more disciplined job. That was when I had heard about GIDEM's training cources. I thought they would be very beneficial for me and I started attending regularly. I took many courses: marketing, business management, leadership, motivation, business building, finance. All of these proved very rewarding for me. They showed me my weaknesses and strengths. Before that, I used to do things by trial-and-error. These courses were like a university education for me.
GIDEM offices' contact information:
Adıyaman GİDEM
Yahya Kemal Cad. No:1/C
Adıyaman 02100
Tel: 0 416 216 0265
Fax: 0 416 2169005
adiyaman@gidem.org
Diyarbakır GİDEM
Kültür Sarayı Kat: 5
Diyarbakır 21100
Tel: 0 412 228 6132
Fax: 0 412 228 3945
diyarbakir@gidem.org
Mardin GİDEM
Eski Emniyet Müdürlüğü Binası Meydanbaşı
Mardin 47100
Tel: 0 482 212 7914
Fax: 0 482 212 4422
mardin@gidem.org
Şanlıurfa GİDEM
Yusuf Paşa Mah. Sarayönü cad.
Bayaslan İş Merkezi No: 147 Kat:5
Şanlıurfa 63100
Tel: 0 414 215 0195
Fax: 0 414 215 0197
sanliurfa@gidem.org
Project Management and Coordination Unit
Koza Sok. 37/8 Gaziosmanpasa
Ankara 06700
Tel: 0 312 440 5025
Fax: 0 312 441 6395
info@gidem.org
During the forum “Fighting Poverty, and Employment in the GAP Region”, held in Adıyaman from 12-13 May, one of the participants began his speech with an anectode:
“A certain teacher in a certain school always asked exactly the same questions in the final exams at the end of each year. Having discovered this, his students stopped paying attention in the class, only studied the answers to the usual questions and passed the class. But one year, although the kids gave the standard answers to the standard questions, they all failed the exam. Replying to his surprised students asking how this could happen, the teacher said, “the questions were the same, but the answers have changed!”
Similarly, poverty is one of the perpetual problems of Southeastern Anatolia (GAP region), but solutions to the issue seem to be changing.
Minister of State and Deputy Prime Minister Abdüllatif Şener opened the forum where representatives of public and private sectors and of national and international organizations came together. Participants made framework statement presentations and group studies and evaluated the progress of the Development Programme, which is due for completion in August, 2006.
UNDP Representative in Turkey Jakob Simonsen stated in his opening speech that Turkey is a constantly developing middle-income country on her way to joining the EU, and with her young and dynamic entrepreneurs, has the largest economy in the entire region. However, Mr. Simonsen explained the presence of UNDP in Turkey despite this promising outlook, by the fact that the positive developments have not yet reached all corners of the country. Simonsen pointed out that gender discrimination and large income differences are also observed in other middle income countries, but thanks to the Government's increasing determination, these issues are now dealt with more depth.
Are cash transfers really a good solution?
Eduardo Zepeta, from UNDP's International Poverty Centre in Brasil elaborated on some global experiences in his speech and emphasized that growth and unemployment rates are not always directly proportional and in order to make them so, we need more pro-poor policies. Mr. Zepeta explained that a research conducted in 80 countries has revealed that in 70% of those countries, growth is not benefiting the poorer segments of the society. The ‘conditional cash transfer' system applied in some of the Latin American countries could enable a pro-poor growth to some extent, said Zepeta. In Mexico, for example, poor families are granted 40 dollars per month with the condition that they send their children to school. However, the studies conducted in that region reveal that cash transfers do not always provide family members with employment in short terms and children attending school do not necessarily improve their grades. Therefore, Zepeta argued, the conditions of cash transfers should be reviewed and bettered. He also said that public investments which would attract private investors, especially in infrastructure, are needed.
In the final session of the forum, participants were divided into working groups and prepared suggestions on fighting poverty and increasing employment in the region, to be submitted to the GAP Agency. GAP authorities announced that the suggestions will be collectively published in a report and would show the way to policies and projects to be applied in the GAP region in the near future.
Roving judges in the Maldives and a community justice system in post-genocide Rwanda are just two of the pioneering democratic governance initiatives captured in the first UN report on governance in the fifty most vulnerable countries in the world, which was launched in New York today.
‘Governance for the Future: Democracy and Development in Least Developed Countries' (LDCs), a joint report of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS), challenges skepticism around the ability of the poorest countries to progress towards stable democracies.
While LDCs continue to face enormous challenges, including effectively tackling corruption, the lack of access to justice, and ongoing human rights violations, a state's income level does not necessarily determine its democratic future, it says. The report goes further to say that LDCs can in fact be a global force behind practical democratic innovations.
Despite severe human resource constraints and structural weaknesses, many LDCs have made significant strides towards durable democratic governance over the past two decades. The report clearly highlights women's progress. Since 1990 the number of women in the Mozambican parliament has doubled. Rwanda now leads the world in terms of women's representation in parliament, at 48.8 percent. This figure is substantially ahead of the United States, at 14.8 percent, and the United Kingdom, at 17.9 percent.
Access to justice
According to the report, building democratic governance means ensuring that the poor have a real political voice, alongside access to justice and basic services, including health and education.
“Throughout the study there are commendable examples which illustrate how some of the most efficient and creative solutions in overcoming development problems can be found in LDCs themselves. Indeed, the findings in this report are testament to the determination of the world's poorest nations to break through the barrier of underdevelopment,” UN-OHRLLS Under-Secretary-General, Anwarul K. Chowdhury, said at the launch on Friday.
Among the innovations showcased in the report is the use of ‘mobile judges', particularly in many Pacific LDCs, including Vanuatu, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands. This initiative significantly expands access to justice to citizens despite human and institutional constraints.
In Rwanda, a unique community-based justice system provides an innovative alternative to the delays of the formal justice structures. The ‘gacaca court' system emphasizes public involvement in rendering justice to the accused. It provides a forum for witnesses, survivors and assumed perpetrators to debate about what happened during the 1994 genocide with the goal of establishing the truth and identifying the victims and the guilty.
Education and information
In the Solomon Islands, to increase access to information and to build knowledge, the ‘People First Network' was established. Starting off as an internet cafe and an e-mail station in 2001, the project now transmits e-mail messages over high frequency radio waves, allowing isolated communities access to affordable communication.
The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) allows for schools to run two hours a day, six days a week and educate children who otherwise have no chance of accessing a classroom. With total enrolments now at 1.2 million – and a majority of girls and female teachers – the programme is considered a success. BRAC is now being adapted for Ethiopia.
Challenges remain
“Much more now needs to be done at a national level to build on these successes,” said UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis. “Democratic governance is not only a good in itself, it is critical to furthering human development. We must spare no effort in supporting LDCs in building the governance institutions needed to bring peace, economic growth and human development to their citizens."
The authors recommend that capacity development efforts are now needed to create public administration that embodies the core values of democratic governance, including transparency, accountability, predictability, responsiveness and participation.
Such national progress will not occur in isolation, however. Global governance structures are often not favourable to LDCs' needs, which means that the most vulnerable countries are insufficiently integrated into global economic and political governance systems. According to the report, increased support from development partners and non-state actors is necessary and could produce significant gains.
"Development is a very broad topic and so is corporate social responsibility. Part of the overlap between the two concepts is covered by the term 'partnering for development'. With an increasing public interest in the topic, but so far with limited experience with the concept, this booklet has been written for those interested in this overlap", writes Jakob Simonsen * , Director of UNDP Nordic Office, in his Preface. "Millennium Development Goals (MDG) face us with a task on a scale that is truly unprecedented and they hold such potential that we owe it to the less privileged of this world to make every effort to achieve them."
Prepared as a follow up on the previous publication "UNDP and the Private Sector" , and including an Introduction by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the principles of MDG, this new 61-page booklet mainly focuses on answering the question on why different actors should engage in partnerships in the developing countries. The publication covers such topics as the Global Context, why the United Nations needs the Private Sector, Why the Private Sector Should Bother, UNDP and Partnership Opportunities, and Actual Partnerships that are currently underway worldwide.
Among them are many public development projects being carried out in a myriad of countries from India, China, Philippines to Venezuela, Lebanon and Burkina Faso, by local UNDP chapters and private sector establishments. These partnerships are engaged in a wide scope of issues from improving living and working conditions of the poor, enhancing infrastucture of business and logistics, making information and communication technology work for the poor, to justice and human rights, enhancing awareness of environmental issues and combining supply strategy with poverty reduction.
Partnership case studies in the booklet include the "Coca Cola and UNDP Turkey" partnership, which aims to improve the social mobilization and empowerment of young people in Turkey. The ultimate objective of this partnership programme being human development, the "Plus to Life" Project addresses the need for supporting youth platforms' motivation to achieve individual capacity building and mobilize youth for increased social responsibility and improvement of the quality of life, sustainability and participation in governance. To this end, Coca Cola Turkey and UNDP Turkey have established a fund of $1.5 million for five years to support local youth platforms to address development challenges including the promotion of key principles and values. The project provides grants to youth groups to implement innovative projects related to environment, education, sports, culture and arts. The fund is given through the Youth for Habitat and Agenda 21 Association, which has already established local youth platforms in 75 towns in Turkey.
* Before being assigned to the post of Director of the UNDP Nordic Office as of June 2006, Jakob Simonsen had served as the UNDP Representative in Turkey.
In a letter addressed to Secretary-General Kofi Annan in early May, President and CEO Dr. Erdal Karamercan expressed his intent, on behalf of the 37 companies and 8,000 employees of Eczacıbaşı Holding to support and advance the 10 principles of the Global Compact in respect to human rights, labour rights, protection of the environment and anti-corruption. Karamercan said, “We commit to making the Global Compact and its principles part of the strategy, culture and day-to-day operations of our company and undertake to make a clear statement of this committment both to our employees, partners, clients and to the public.”
Eczacıbaşı is a prominent Turkish industrial group with a combined net turnover close to $ 2.6 billion, 37 companies and more than 8,000 employees. Eczacıbaşı's core sectors are pharmaceuticals, building materials and consumer products. The Group is also active in finance, information technology and welding technology. In Turkey, Eczacıbaşı is the leader in eight of its 13 manufacturing industries, including pharmaceuticals, ceramic sanitary ware, tissue paper and personal care products. It also has the most extensive distribution coverage, reaching over 90 percent of the nation's sales points. Recently their tissue paper company Ipek Kagit-Solo was awarded with the World Business Award for their project on personal hygiene at schools.
Currently, more than 50 Turkish companies have pledged to adhere to the principles of the Global Compact.