Issue: 54
“The UN Global Compact is essentially unleashing a multi-stakeholder entrepreneurship to ensure that all people are integrated in collective action to reach the MDGs” said UNDP Resident Representative Shahid Najam at the Yale World Fellows Programme held at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul to commemorate the first decade of the Global Compact. Ten years into its initiation, the Global Compact in Turkey is gaining momentum. With 180 member institutions, the Global Compact Local Network in Turkey has pioneered a new sectoral approach to implement GC principles in specific industries. So far, the pharmaceutical and automotive industries have signed the Global Compact and this new approach is expected to attract other sectors in the country in the future. In an interview with New Horizons, Director of the Global Compact Local Network in Turkey Yılmaz Argüden said he hopes this new approach will set new benchmarks for Global Compact Networks around the world.
UNDP Turkey: When did the global compact start becoming important in Turkey and what is needed to become a member?
Yılmaz Argüden (Y.A.): The first signatories of the Global Compact in Turkey signed the Global Compact in 2002. These were ARGE Consulting and KALDER (The national quality association). Since then we have been able to attract more than 180 organizations to sign the Global Compact. And when Kofi Annan visited Turkey for the national quality conference in 2007, there was a big ceremony, a big impetus and we were able to increase the number of signatories. Right now, with the sectoral approach we are going to increase the attractiveness of the Global Compact even more.
UNDP Turkey: What are the implications of such high-level participation in Turkey?
Y.A.: Basically, this (high-level participation) demonstrates Turkey’s adherence to international standards and its motivation to improve and become a role model in terms of implementing the Global Compact principles.
UNDP Turkey: Is there a need to spread the Global Compact throughout Turkey and what is being done in this respect? Are there outreach events?
Y.A.: There are a number of outreach events and we are also producing documents for people to understand and apply the Global Compact principles. But the first sectoral provides impetus initiative because it enables better benchmarking and solutions to sectoral problems in a collaborative fashion. It also creates good competition between companies within an industry to increase the acceptance of the Global Compact. Obviously this is a voluntary initiative and the more companies and institutions sign the global compact, the better its implementation will become.
UNDP Turkey: What do you think are the advantages of becoming a Global Compact member for institutions in Turkey?
Y.A.: Basically, signing the Global Compact enables companies to benchmark their performance against others, learn from others and consolidate what they are doing in terms of sustainable development and social responsibility in a report which enables them inevitably to push further the envelope.
There is also a condition for the Global Compact, the Communication on Progress (CoP). It is a very simple condition but a very effective one at that because it asks institutions to voluntarily report what they are doing on labour issues, environmental issues, human rights and anti-corruption issues. Once you start reporting every year, you begin to think about “how can I improve this” and you think “how can I benchmark myself against the others” and you start measuring and consolidating what you are doing.
UNDP Turkey: Do you think Turkish companies are able to adapt to the reporting process?
Y.A.: Yes, our performance is better than average in terms of the global average. Lots of companies, and more importantly, larger companies are taking it seriously and becoming role models for their smaller counterparts.
UNDP Turkey: What kinds of challenges might institutions face when writing the report?
Y.A.: Sometimes, it’s difficult to spend the resources to write the report and consolidate all the company’s activities under the GC headings. But it is not an insurmountable difficulty so companies are willing to write the reports.
UNDP Turkey: How often are the Communication On Progress reports published? Are they open to the public and who evaluates them?
Y.A.: The reports are published annually. They are definitely open to the public and nobody evaluates them. Sometimes, companies may ask 3rd parties to evaluate and report on what they are doing as well but that too is voluntary, so there is no forced evaluation process, it is only on a voluntary basis.
UNDP Turkey: Can we also talk about the sectoral approach in Turkey? Has this been started by the GC Network in Turkey?
Y.A.: Yes, it has been started by the GC Network in Turkey and is making important progress and becoming a role model for other networks. It is indeed the first of its kind.
UNDP Turkey: What advantages does this new approach have?
Y.A.: It helps the number of participants grow faster, it helps benchmarking to become relevant because they are all in the same industry, it helps collaboration between the companies within the same industry so it is quite advantageous.
UNDP Turkey: What sectors is it being applied in?
Y.A.: This year, we picked 3 sectors: automative, textile and pharmaceuticals and the reason for choosing these sectors is their importance in the Turkish economy, their importance in the competitiveness of the economy, the number of people working in and benefiting from these sectors. We hope to spread the approach throughout other industries in the forthcoming years.
UNDP Turkey: What about the future of the GC in Turkey, do you think companies outside the industrialized cities will also join the network?
Y.A.: There are already companies throughout the country who have signed it and I am confident that it is going to be signed by many others and Turkey will become one of the top networks of the GC.
A New Sector Specific Approach
The Global Compact Local Network in Turkey has recently embarked on a new Sector Specific Approach to utilize the market segmentation idea for deployment of the Global Compact. Companies in a specific sector tend to face common issues distinct from other sectors. Also, it is easier to reach companies of a particular sector through their industry associations. Finally, collective action enables a comradeship approach within the industry and convincing leading players of the sector increases the attractiveness to join the GC to avoid being left behind.
To learn more about the sector specific approach in Turkey, please click here.
The MDG +10 Regional Conference Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will be co-organized by the State Planning Organization of the Prime Ministry (SPO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Drawing on the full strength of the UN system, the conference aims to enable participating countries in the region to share country-specific best practices and lessons learned. The conference will also provide an opportunity to explore the region-specific dynamics around the MDGs, including the situation of Middle Income Countries.
The two-day event will be attended by high level government officials from 22 countries, as well as representatives of relevant UN agencies, academia and the civil society. Panel discussions will be organized around each MDG and its relation with the interlinkages and main drivers of progress toward achieving MDGs such as governance, equality, human rights and fiscal policies.
Through a concrete articulation of what worked and what did not, the conference will make a contribution to evidence-based policy-oriented solutions and knowledge transfer by enabling a platform for the sharing of experiences, best practices and lessons learned. Furhtermore, by identifying the main challenges in achieving the MDGs, the conference hopes to facilitate an accelerated achievement of the MDGs by 2015 in the Europe and CIS region.
A draft Regional MDG Report prepared under the auspices of UNECE and in cooperation with relevant UN Agencies, will be presented at the conference. Another important report to be presented is Turkey's MDG Report, outlining the country’s progress since the last report published in 2005.
The result of the conference will feed into the Annual Ministerial Review of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2010 and the Global MDG + 10 Summit scheduled for 18-20 September 2010 in New York.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific development goals the world has ever agreed upon. World Leaders adopted MDGs in the Millennium Summit of September 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015. The MDGs are both global and local, tailored by each country to suit specific development needs. They provide a framework for the entire international community to work together towards a common end – making sure that human development reaches everyone, everywhere. If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be cut by half, tens of millions of lives will be saved, and billions more people will have the opportunity to benefit from the global economy. MDGs are agreed to be eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and development.
Like other countries across the globe, Turkey is also accelerating efforts to combat climate change. At the first workshop in the process of “Developing a National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Turkey” in the scope of the UN Joint Programme on Enhancing the Capacity of Turkey to Adapt to Climate Change held on 5 May 2010, international and scientific approaches, as well as Turkey’s current situation were discussed. A climate change adaptation strategy accounting for Turkey’s geographical characteristics is expected to be submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in October 2010.
More than 100 representatives and approximately 60 institutions from the public sector, private sector, universities and NGOs attended the workshop. Issues such as the importance of rural efforts in facilitating Turkey’s adaptation to climate change, training of farmers based on the issues raised in the Strategy, and establishing cooperation with the development agencies in the regions were placed on the agenda.
Cautioning against the risks of Turkey failing to adapt to climate change, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Sedat Kadıoğlu underlined the importance of Enhancing the Capacity of Turkey to Adapt to Climate Change in being the first programme in Turkey to accelerate adaptation efforts. Kadioglu further drew attention to the pilot community-based adaptation grants programme in the Seyhan River Basin which sets an example to the rest of Turkey’s basins. Climate change mitigation and adaptation go hand in hand said Kadioglu and stressed that the strategy will be supported by an action plan to be formulated within the context of Developing Turkey’s National Climate Change Action Plan project in partnership with UNDP Turkey.
In his opening speech UN Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Turkey Resident Representative Shahid Najam said Turkey is vulnerable to the negative impacts inflicted by climate change. Najam added that individuals, communities and local administrations to take part in finding solutions to this challenge alongside the central government.
In a session where international approaches on climate change adaptation were discussed, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) International Adaptation Consultant William Dougherty said that Turkey can particularly benefit from Spain, which, like Turkey, relies heavily on agriculture, needs to better manage its valuable water resources and has similar coastal areas, and from Finland, which is the first country to have implemented a national climate change adaptation strategy. Dougherty stressed that Turkey needs to prioritise her vulnerabilities using a bottom-up approach as they can vary from region to region and even within small areas.
Listing weaknesses in adaptation in natural disaster management, industry and the private sector and the lack focused policy instruments among Turkey’s bottlenecks in climate change adaptation, UNEP National Adaptation Expert and Coordinator, Nuran Talu, assessed the current situation through an in-depth analysis of climate change adaptation in Turkey in the framework of planning policies, institutional structuring and financial policies. During this session, Talu shared the results of an extensive one-year study touching upon the indispensable role of adaptation on the agricultural sector and the importance of local know-how on vulnerability analysis and saying that scientific knowledge cannot be reflect on being beneficial to society. In order to overcome these problems, Talu said that the costs of adaption should be calculated comprehensively and that budgets designated towards climate change should occupy a larger portion of institutions’ overall budgets.
Nüzhet Dalfes, from Istanbul Technical University Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences explained the scientific approaches to climate change adaptation and shared the scientifically indispensable aspects of the Strategy that will be prepared. Prof. Dalfes touched upon the different geographical characteristics of Turkey and stated that the Strategy needs to be comprehensive and shared with the participants to collect their inputs. Highlighting the importance of establishing an ecosystem monitoring mechanism, Dalfes, suggested that more importance should be placed on environmental issues in general and that environmental awareness should be sustained across generations.
In the afternoon session of the workshop, UN Joint Programme Manager Atila Uras shared the results of the Participatory Vulnerability Analyses which aim to collect local information on vulnerabilities and local coping strategies, as well as the immediate and structural recommendations of local stakeholders. Droughts, irregularities in rainfall, severe showers and flood risks, decrease in snowfall and shift in seasons were among the problems listed by all members in provinces where the analyses were conducted.
The extent to which political sections are involved in the Strategy formulation phase and whether the National Adaptation Strategy would assign tasks to public institutions were some of the questions asked by participants during the workshop. Their recommendations highlighted the importance of receiving support from policy-makers and the media in the formulation of a national strategy. Atila Uras explained that prioritizations and working groups will be prepared next workshop for which the Joint Programme will request assignments from relevant Ministries.
Following this first workshop on Turkey’s National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy another workshop will be organized on "Obstacles and Priorities". The Draft National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy that will be prepared based on the outcomes of this workshop will then be shared with relevant stakeholders at the Draft National Adaptation Strategy First Evaluation Workshop in July 2010. A final evaluation workshop will then be held after receiving the recommendations of interest groups. Turkey’s National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy is expected to be submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in October 2010.
The UN Joint Programme on Enhancing the Capacity of Turkey to Adapt to Climate Change, funded by Spain through the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, aims to establish necessary strategies to combat and manage the effects of climate change in Turkey and enhance capacity in order to manage climate change risks that threaten Turkey’s rural and coastal area development. The joint programme is implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in cooperation with FAO, UNDP, UNEP and UNIDO.
[BAGLANTILAR]
72 experts from relevant governmental organizations and universities along with local authorities, relevant national and local NGOs, private sector and international agencies came together to define marine areas in terms of core and buffer zones based on a set of criteria and standards, determine the impact of marine tourism and fisheries on sensitive areas, and set parameters to be used for marine gap analysis to identify possible Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPAs) along the Aegean and Mediterranean coastlines.
Results of the workshop will help to facilitate the expansion of Turkey's MCPAs system and increase contribution to marine biodiversity. Both current and new MCPAs - strengthened and re-established within the scope of the project - will help ensure environmental sustainability of Turkey’s marine ecosystems.T his includes sustainability of fisheries, through the extension of a system of “Fisheries Restricted Areas” described for the Mediterranean basin by General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Speaking at the workshop, Environmental Protection Agency for Special Areas (EPASA) president Ahmet Özyanık underlined the importance of the workshop as being a significant step to protect marine ecosystems in the country. Özyanık said that by adopting a systematic approach the project will establish MCPAs for Turkey based on international standards. He added national framework will ensure the effective management and sustainability of MCPAs.
Outputs of the workshop will help in facilitating the expansion of country’s MCPAs system which will be undertaken as a part of national MCPA strategy and action plan thereby contributing to marine biodiversity. The MCPAs being established and/or strengthened under the project will help to ensure environmental sustainability of Turkey’s marine ecosystems. This includes the sustainability of fisheries, which will be increased through the extension of a system of “Fisheries Restricted Areas” described for the Mediterranean basin by General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The workshop was concluded with a technical site visit to the one of the potential marine sensitive areas “Fisheries Restricted Areas” proposed in the Gökova Special Environmental Protected Area. During the visit, the selection methodology, including spawning grounds of economic fish species and involvement of the fishing cooperatives to this process, for these sites were briefed. The involvement of the fishing cooperatives on this development first time experienced and positively tested in Turkey; therefore, the same methodology can be replicated similar MCPAs elsewhere. The results of the group works will be published on the websites of UNDP and EPASA.
Strengthening the system of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas of Turkey aims at strengthening the national marine and coastal protected areas system and improve its effective management. The project is funded by the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and executed by the Environmental Protection Agency for Special Areas (EPASA) of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in partnership with the General Directorate for Nature Conservation and National Parks (GDNCNP) of the same ministry, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs’ General Directorate of Control and Protection. UNDP Turkey provides technical assistance to the project and its partners. By establishing a Marine Protected Areas System in the country, the project, which runs until 2013, will contribute to the conservation of marine biodiversity.
Minstrels of Anatolia have been telling stories and tales for centuries. Stories and tales that they experienced, observed or heard... Over the centuries Minstrels became the voice of their societies with their music and poems about culture, nature, and daily life. They have managed to keep this tradition alive to this day, despite the fast-paced modern times. The Festival was organised by Municipality of Kars and held with the contribution and support of Ministry of Culture and Tourism and United Nations Joint Programme Alliances for Culture Tourism in Eastern Anatolia.
As an important province sustaining the Minstrelsy Tradition, Kars hosted Minstrels not only at the city centre but also in the towns of Sarıkamış and Kağızman. During the festival, activities including contests, special performances and duets took place in Kars Public Training Centre and in the tea houses of Sarıkamış and Kağızman. The 5th International Minstrel Festival of Kars attracted an audience of around 4 thousand people.
Furthermore, within the scope of the UN Joint Programme an album titled Living Minstrelsy Tradition: Masters of Music and Lyrics Minstrels of Kars Region featuring the works of 10 Minstrels from Kars will also be released. This album will play an important role for conveying the viability and safeguarding of the Minstrelsy Tradition across generations.
The Minstrelsy Tradition which has been included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as of 2009, is a very important part of Turkey’s rich cultural heritage. The United Nations Joint Programme “Alliances for Culture Tourism in Eastern Anatolia” is being implemented in Kars by the Ministry of Culture of Turkey and four UN agencies, namely UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF and UNWTO.The Joint Programme aims at developing and enhancing cultural tourism in Kars Province by highlighting its cultural and natural assets and building local capacities to leverage these assets for social and economic development.
“All our efforts are directed to create decent work for all” explained Director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Gülay Aslantepe in an interview with the Turkish daily newspaper, Radikal speaking about the UN Joint Programme Growth with Decent Work for All: A Youth Employment Programme in Antalya funded through the Spanish Government's MDG Achievement fund and run jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with the national employment agency İŞKUR and local authorities as the national partner. Aslantepe said that the UN Joint Programme will try to cure Turkey’s chronic unemployment problem.
What is the situation in Turkey with regards to unemployment? What lies ahead for Turkey?
The recent economic crisis has heavily affected the country in terms of employment. Following the 2001 economic crisis, Turkey reached growth rates of approximately 6.5-7.0% on between 2002 and 2008; however, these growth rates did not have a remarkable impact on overcoming unemployment as employment rate rose by only 0.8% during this period. Indeed, the growth rates in recent years did not contribute to an outstanding increase in the country’s employment level. This also holds true for Europe. The unemployment rate, which has structural causes and has been around 10% for years, has suddenly increased to 14% in Turkey. Considering the 4% rise in unemployment rates and the entering of 750-800 thousands of young people into the labour market, it can be said that a challenging period awaits Turkey.
What are the underlying causes of the employment problem in Turkey?
The primary issue with regards to employment is unregistered employment, which amounts to 44%. In some ways, the growth goals do not match up with employment. There is no robust and sufficient connection between growth and employment, and between employment and education. Given that university graduates cannot find jobs upon graduation, we can say that Turkey is lacking in an educated and qualified labour force to satisfy the needs of the labour market and there is an asymmetry between supply and demand in this regard. To put it precisely, educational institutions fall short of providing Turkey’s industrial and services sectors with the expected quality and qualified personnel. These problems are increasingly rising to the surface. Now is the time to surmount this pressing issue. Since this is a chronic problem, the solution to unemployment cannot be worked out overnight. Rather, this will be a gradual and time-consuming process.
What do you aim to achieve with the UN Joint Programme?
Through this programme, our primary and nationwide aim is to prepare a National Youth Employment Programme and to support the National Employment Strategy. In this context, we are planning to prepare an “occupational outlook model” which can also be used by the National Employment Agency (İş-Kur). We will specify what is needed in various occupations. Locally, we will try to eliminate the disharmony between supply and demand in the labour market in Antalya, which is one of the cities incurring large internal migration and has a labour market characterized by seasonal fluctuations. Through this programme, vocational education will be provided to the youth who are our main target group. As a result, our end-goal is to achieve decent work for all. All our efforts are directed towards this goal.
Can you define decent work for all?
Decent work for all is where people can earn the wage they deserve, work in suitable and proper conditions, covered by the umbrella of social security. It is a concept encompassing all human rights issues ranging from job safety and health to unionism. When we look at four fundamental components to achieve decent work, namely, adherence to ILO standards, employment, social security and social dialog, Turkey’s severe problems become more evident.
Why does the programme focus on women and the young population?
Youth and women are the two most problematic groups here in Turkey. The unemployment rate among youth is almost twice that of the overall unemployment rate nationwide. The participation of women in the labour force is extraordinarily low. According to data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) as of 2009, the rate of women’s participation in labour force is around 26%. The European Union (EU) sets the rate of women’s participation in the labour force as 70% for 2015, in the framework of the Lisbon Strategies. It is known that most countries are close to this rate. Even in Greece, which currently faces a serious economic crisis, the rate of women’s participation in labour force is above 50%. In this regard, we should take necessary and steps to increase women’s participation in labour force.
What obstacles are preventing women from participating in labour force, the society, gender discrimination, the difficulty in finding appropriate jobs or does it have to do with education?
Actually, all of them can be defined as obstacles. Internal migration can also be added to the list in the Turkish context. While young people are migrating, the elderly stay in rural areas. It is very difficult for a young woman, who previously worked for the family without any salary, to find job when she comes to the city and tries to adapt to urban life. Some of them can find such unregistered jobs as home services in the services sector. When they start to work at these jobs, they are not provided with childcare services and it is still their responsibility to take care of the elderly in the family. In other words, when they decide to work, there is neither day-care center nor social services to take care of their children and the elderly in the family. Furthermore, the salary women receive from working in unqualified jobs means that they can’t afford such kinds of services. In certain familial structures for instance, the women can participate in labour force only through the permission of the men in the family.
As the pilot region of the UN Joint Programme, what will be done in Antalya?
Through this program, we aim at creating a stable labour market in sectors other than tourism and services sectors. We are carrying out a detailed labour market analysis to find where the sectoral vacuum exists towards people aged 15-24 making up the programme’s target group. The results of the analysis, to be published at the end of 2010, will help us to channel the youth to sectors that are more likely to form the labour force. The youth need to be registered with İş-Kur to benefit from the programme.
Ten of these 21 pilot municipalities will meet their European partners to set up cooperation in areas such as management of public services, citizens’ participation in social affairs, and local socio-economic development under the project’s fourth component aiming to improve municipal coordination and cooperation.
The municipalities of Düzce, Gölbaşı, Kahta, Karadeniz Ereğli, Kırşehir, Mustafakemalpaşa, Nevşehir, Patnos, Uşak and Zonguldak who have been selected based on their socio-economic, socio-cultural, organizational and financial criteria will now wait for the results of a call for applications sent to local authorities of 27 EU member states to find their most compatible partner.
At introductory meetings organized in Ankara, the newly-prepared Partnership Strategy of Union of Municipalities of Turkey to be used as a strategic tool was discussed. This new strategy will provide a unique platform for the Ministry of Interior and municipalities to further advance the local administration reform, and is an important element of the Turkish Local Administration system, uniting all municipalities in Turkey.
Within the framework of the project’s capacity development component, eleven local administrations were chosen. Their capacities in the areas of performance, quality and standardization of service delivery, gender mainstreaming, environmental protection, strategic planning, multi-year budgeting and investment planning, financial management and control and project identification, formulation and management for sustainable social and economic development of local communities will be strengthened. The local administrations of Bandırma, Kocaeli, Nilüfer, Balıkesir, Nazilli, Mersin, Şehitkamil, Malatya, Trabzon, Şanlıurfa and Polatlı were provided with a general overview about the project and component-based activities, during half day kick-off meetings aiming to increase the visibility of the project.
Project team members were introduced to local administrations where they will be carrying out training needs assessment studies. These studies entail conducting surveys, focus group meetings and face to face interviews to identify training needs of heads of municipal departments, members of city councils and members of municipal councils and to inform them about community participation to take effect in the pilots. Based on the information from the research, training strategies and tools will be developed to conduct training in these eleven pilot local administrations.
UNDP is continues to partner with and provide technical support to strengthen reform capacities within the Ministry of Interior. The Support to Further Implementation of Local Administration Reform in Turkey project aiming to develop and strengthen the administrative capacity and co-operation is a continuation of the Local Administration Reform Programme (LAR I). In both projects funded by the EU, UNDP is supporting the Ministry of Interior’s General Directorate of Local Authorities, governorates and district governorates to better adapt to the new local administration legislation in Turkey prepared and enacted in 2004-2005. The main activities of the second phase of the Local Administration Reform project are grouped under five components: capacity building at the level of local authorities and at the level of unions of local authorities, strengthening participatory mechanisms, improving municipal coordination and cooperation and capacity enhancement at the Ministry of Interior.
Editor: Ulrika Richardson-Golinski
Assistant: Ece Ergen
Intern: Müjde Sadıkoğlu
© 2010 UNDP Turkey
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