Issue: 42
Local sponsors of the event are The Sabanci Group and Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Event sponsors also include The China Development Bank and The Spanish Embassy in Turkey.
Being the largest and most global corporate citizenship initiative in the world with over 6,500 signatories, the Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment, and anti-corruption within their sphere of influence. Signatories, consisting of both businesses and civil society and non-business groups from 130 countries join together locally to develop country-level Global Compact Networks, which are currently operating in approximately 90 countries.
The Annual Local Networks Forum (ALNF) presents important opportunites for Global Compact Local Networks to share experiences and identify best practices with respect to promoting and supporting the implementation of the UN Global Compact.
The ALNF will bring together over 200 representatives from Global Compact Local Networks from over 70 countries, as well as representatives from the government, businesses and civil society.
This year, Turkey will host the ALNF, held previously in other cities such as Bonn, Monterrey, Barcelona and London. The Global Compact Turkey Network with over 160 signatories, launched in 2002 in partnership with UNDP and the Turkish Confederation of Employers Association (TISK), will be represented by Dr. Yilmaz Arguden. The Turkey Local Network has also established the National Steering Committee which consists of Aksa Acrylic, ARGE Consulting, Koc Holding, Sabanci Holding, TISK, TUSIAD and Zed Organisation.
A local network side event will also be held on June 11th, in conjunction with the 7th ALNF. The event titled "Understanding COP Progress" will feature a presentation by Oliver Johner, a Communication on Progress analyst at the UN's Global Compact Office. To view the event programme, please click here.
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The training sessions, attended by 22 farmers from Sivas’s Cinarli village and 3 representatives from the Project Management unit, took place between 9-11 March, 2009.
Training sessions included highly educative classes on hygiene, health and sanitation, how to turn animal husbandry into a profitable business as well as mastering other organisational and marketing techniques. Among the 22 participants were 6 extraordinary women who joined the training sessions to learn ways to improve their animal husbandry business and contribute to their family’s income.
The sessions are among a series of others organized at the training facilities of Sutas Dairy Husbandry in Bursa to improve the technical capacity of livestock breeders in selected villages in the scope of the Sivas Erzincan Development Project (SEDP).
Run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), the SEDP is one of the largest internationally funded development projects aspiring to reach targets outlined in the National Development Strategy (NDRS) of Turkey. The project is funded by the Turkish Government, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).
The UNDP provides technical assistance for the project which aims to increase agricultural productivity and income levels of rural poor in less-developed parts of Sivas and Erzincan by expanding employment opportunities and fostering individual as well as collective entrepreneurship of small farmers. Such improvements in the living conditions of rural poor women and men are expected to decrease the pressures of migration in rural parts of Sivas and Erzincan and overcome rural poverty on a sustainable basis by ensuring the preservation of the provinces’ natural resources.
In the scope of the project, various training programmes for capacity building have been implemented. One such programme specifically targeted women educating them on mother-child health care, food safety and proper care and feeding of infants. Another training programme for students was organized to teach them about nutrition at school age and protection from infectious disease.
The SEDP was declared effective in January 2005 for a period of seven years. The loan closing date is 30 September 2012.
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At the festival in Ortaköy, students showcased their talents developed by the dance, rhythm and instrument workshops at the Academy. Seven hundred mentally disabled athletes from The Turkish Special Athletes Sports Federation were also present and received acclaim from a wide range of audiences.
In her statement Vodafone Turkey Foundation’s chairman Rengin Onay noted that although a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; Turkey has yet to find solutions to improve the participation of the disabled who account for 12.5% of its population. Onay continued as follows:
“This situation has laid the path for the cooperation between Turkey Vodafone Foundation, the UNDP and the Alternative Life Association (AYDER) in starting the Dreams Academy Project. With the project implemented under the partnership of UNDP and the Alternative Life Association, we support the contribution of disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals to social life, in order to facilitate their access to information and encourage them to take up a profession. Participants are trained by specialist educators in ten different workshops including rhythm, dance, drama, movie, photography, DJ music, instrument playing, painting, fashion design and dream design. 121 participants completed the workshops during the first training period. Currently, our workshops are continuing with 110 new participants. Most importantly, the Dreams Academy has taught us that dreams have no obstacles.”
Developed under the partnership of UNDP and Alternative Life Association (AYDER) to support the disabled youth’s contribution to social life and to encourage employment, the Dreams Academy is funded by the Vodafone Turkey Foundation. The trainings at the Academy are organised in places designated by the Beşiktaş Municipality.
Altogether 791 proposals were submitted for the competition. After a two round selection process, 80 proposals that fell under the theme of "Youth in Turkey: Shaping our Future" were selected to make it to the finals.
The projects which will receive grants are listed below:
1. (E-Hear) Preparation of Electronic Materials for Developing and Supporting the Higher Education (HE) Opportunities of The Hearing Impaired
Association of Center for Development of The
Hearing Impaired
Ankara
2. To Make a Living on Salt
Group SALT
Çankırı
3. From Campus To Work
Antalya Commodity Exchange
Antalya
4. Health Bridge
Anatolian Health Volunteers
İstanbul
5. Young Social Entrepreneur Leaders Academy (GSGLA)
MentorCoach
İstanbul
6. Hybrid Engine Technology Training
Union of Chambers of Tradesmen and Artisans Vocational Training Center Directorate and Anatolian Technical Secondary School
Manisa
7. From Switchboard To Call Center
Independent Life Group
Ankara
8. Web Pages Accessible by the Visually Impaired
Accessible Web Group
Ankara
9. Secondary School Guidance Unit Supporting the Career Vision of Youth!
Voley Group
İstanbul
10. You Can Do It!
Young Disabled Sports Club
Adana
11. Young Farmers Coming Up in Thrace
Tema Thrace Agricultural Cooperative
Tekirdağ
12. Young Women Entrepreneurs
Modern Women And Youth Foundation
Ankara
13. Photography Training for the Hearing Impaired
AFSAD - Association of Photograph Artists of Ankara
Ankara
14. Handicraft of Youth: Zeugma Miniature Carpet Production Workshop
Gaziantep Social Service Youth Project Team
Gaziantep
15. Face-Internship
Youth Agenda Association
Ankara
16. Think Purple!
TOG – Community Volunteers Foundation
İstanbul
17. Dance of Young Hearts
Hilal Kavafoğlu & Nermin Çalkaner Turgut Project Group
Kayseri
18. Protection and Sustainable Use of Resources: Future for Youth in Rural Areas
Sagala-Sun
Burdur
19. My School is at Authorized Service Provider
Birmot
İzmir
20. Money Coaches: Innovative Financial Literacy Program for Youth
Project Group: Özgür Alaz – Talip Taştemel
İstanbul
Development Marketplace (DM) is a competitive grant program administered by the World Bank and supported by various partners that identifies and funds innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact. DM competitions – held at the global, regional and country level – attract ideas from a range of innovators, including civil society groups, social entrepreneurs, academia and businesses. DM has awarded more than $54 million in grants, supporting projects through their proof of concept phase. Using DM funding as a launching pad, projects often go on to scale up or replicate elsewhere, winning prestigious awards within the sphere of social entrepreneurship.
This year, in the regional competition open to all Turkish Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and project groups, the World Bank and its partners Union of Chambers of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, JICA, Pearson, TEPAV, Renaissance Construction, The Royal Netherlands Embassy, Koç Holding, VISA, Akbank, Businessweek/Infomag, Microsoft, CNBCe, Bilgi University, UNDP and TOBB-Cisco Institute have awarded start-up funds to ideas that test new approaches to Youth in Turkey: Shaping Our Future following the momentum created in the area of youth by UNDP’s National Human Development Report (NHDR) “Youth in Turkey”. The objective of the Competition was to help mobilize the creativity and energy of young people in Turkey by raising awareness of the great opportunities and challenges facing them highlighted in the NHDR.
The previous regional competiton in Turkey titled Social Progress – Inclusion on the Road to Europe was held in 2005 and about $100 thousand was awarded to 23 winners.
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By preparing electronic materials, the E-HEAR project aims to develop solutions to ensure greater participation in higher education for hearing-impaired young individuals so that they can build stronger bridges with society enabling them to receive better education at the university level and open new doors for employment by coming up with concrete suggestions towards the problems of the hearing impaired students in higher education.
The seminar, organised by The United Nations Office in Turkey and The World Bank Turkey Country Office in the scope of Turkey Human Development Dialogue Speaker Series highlighted the importance of implementing active social policies to overcome child poverty, unemployment and income inequality which are all comparatively higher in Turkey than in the rest of the OECD countries.
The fourth seminar featuring a presentation by the Head of Social Policy Division at the OECD, Dr. Monika Queisser, explained that active social policies address the root causes of widening market income, reorient spending towards investment in children and youth and put a heavy emphasis on employment.
According to her research titled “Transforming Social Protection For The 21st Century”, child poverty rates are highest in Turkey, with 24.6%, almost doubling the OECD average rate of 12.5%. In contrast, Turkey’s poverty rates for lone parents are surprisingly low, which Queisser claimed could be attributed to the cultural and social implications that limit the number of lone parents in the country.
Seminar findings indicated poverty could only be overcome by improving employment conditions through implementing active social policies. However, Queisser called attention to the difficulties in the acceptance of active social policy which is expensive and expected to be fruitful only in the distant future. The seminar ended with a Q&A session with questions generally concerning social policies in Turkey.
The Human Development Dialogue is an initiative supported by the United Nations in Turkey and the World Bank Turkey Country Office. It aims to facilitate a dialogue on human development by inviting speakers from abroad to talk about new analytical findings and evidence as well as ongoing policy discussions and reforms. Previous speakers have included Dr. Francisco Ferreira of the World Bank, Prof. Nicholas Barr, professor of Public Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE), and Prof. Paul Gertler, Professor of Economics at University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkley).
The 5th Seminar on Climate Change
The 5th seminar in the series where Dr. Cecilia Ugaz provided valuable insights on The Social Impacts of Climate Change and Government Reactions was held on 29 May 2009 at the METU Conference Center. Dr. Ugaz who is the former Deputy Director of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office, is currently the deputy resident representative at the UNDP Argentina Office. Her presentation on "Climate Change: A Major Threat to Human Development" highlighted the inequalities of developed countries who were responsible for the majority of carbon emissions and developing countries who were most vulnerable to them.
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Among the participants were the Minister of Industry and Trade Nihat Ergün, the head of EC Delegation to Turkey Marc Pierini, UNDP Turkey Deputy Resident Representative Ulrika Richardson-Golinski, Head of the Central Finance and Contracts Unit Muhsin Altun, Governor of Şanlıurfa Yusuf Yavaşcan, and Sabri Ertekin, Chairman of Şanlıurfa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Industrial Restructuring of Şanlıurfa Project”, is being implemented within the scope of 2006 National Pre-Accession Financial Assistance Programme for Turkey. The final beneficiary of the Project is the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The Central Finance and the Contracts Unit is the contracting authority of the Project.
The Project is composed of two components; Construction Works Component covering the infrastructure and waste water treatment plant construction and consultancy and supervision services; and the Technical Assistance Component covering the identification of the strategic sectors for Şanliurfa OIZ and establishing an operating environment for the enterprises in the OIZ, in which such enterprises can operate competitively. The technical component of the Project is implemented by UNDP Turkey.
The overall objective of the Project is to reduce regional disparities in Turkey, by contributing to social stability and economic development in the Southeast Anatolia Region.
The Project aims at industrial restructuring of Şanlıurfa and improvement of the competitiveness of the province in national and international markets. Within the scope of the Project, infrastructure of the 2nd Organized Industrial Zone and the waste water treatment plant for the first and second OIZs will be constructed, and administrative, operational and entrepreneurial capacities of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises will be improved.