United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Turkey supports women’s cooperatives in Kilis and Şanlıurfa contributing to recycling of waste materials, participation of Syrian and local women in the labour force, and accessing sustainable livelihoods.

UNDP Turkey supports two women’s cooperatives in Kilis and Şanlıurfa under the project “Effective Urban Waste Management for Host Communities Phase II” funded by the United States Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (USBPRM) in the Syria Crisis Response and Resilience Portfolio. The primary objective of the project is to contribute to enhancing the social cohesion of Syrians under temporary protection and host communities, and strengthening the waste management capacities of municipalities. The project is being implemented in cooperation with municipalities of Kilis and Haliliye district of Şanlıurfa where Syrian populations are sizeable. 

Under the project that aims to relieve the pressure on municipalities in waste collection and management due to the sudden surge of population, UNDP Turkey supports local governments through installing zero waste system; developing plans, strategies and policies on effective, efficient and sustainable waste management and disposal; raising awareness of and encouraging local people and Syrians in the project provinces on zero waste practices. The project also aims to provide technical equipment, grant of vehicles, building of waste collection centres and forge community support on zero waste and recycling at the local level through such activities as recycling workshops, occupational training etc. 

The project also engages in cooperation with two women’s cooperatives to contribute to ensuring sustainable livelihoods and social cohesion of Turkish and Syrian women through manufacturing of secondary products from recyclable materials in Kilis and Haliliye.

In the context of support to the “Agricultural Development Cooperative of Limited Liability of Kocabeyli, Karaçavuş, Süngütepe and Saatli Villages”, it is aimed to make olive oil from olive pomace waste which will then be processed to make local soap for generating sustainable income. This olive oil is manufactured of 30% olive, 30% pomace waste and 40% water on average, and the project aims to process olive pomace waste, which is produced in the facility and harmful to environment, into olive oil and then into soap. With support under the project, a soap manufacturing plant has already been built in the region, and training on manufacturing soap from olive oil has been completed. Thereby, pomace waste which is harmful to environment and causes odour pollution has been recycled to protect environment while Syrian and host community women have been empowered socio-economically and provided access to sustainable livelihoods through participation in the labour force.

On the other hand, the support provided to “Women's Cooperative for Enterprise, Production and Operation” in Haliliye district of Şanlıurfa involves such action that the compost material which is a natural fertilizer used in growing plants and flowers to enrich and adjust soil balance, will be obtained from the bio-decomposable waste to be collected from 7,500 homes and 500 restaurants as well as the plant pruning waste from parks and gardens collected in September-October and February-March periods.

The special skills training was completed on manual production to reduce waste quantity and increase awareness on the matter in the context of training on recycling practices provided to Syrians and host community members. The training sessions offers means of livelihoods to Syrian women who have lower chances of employment than host community members, while facilitating their socialization and improving overall social cohesion in the region.

Meetings were held with both cooperatives to have a deeper understanding of their needs in the context of the support to cooperatives, and enable them to better manage the processes of developing livelihoods. They were introduced to “Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work (KEDV)” and included in the network of women’s cooperatives to ensure that they would be in interaction and solidarity, participate in training by various institutions and regional meetings, and ensure that their activities would be sustainable.