UNDP Turkey’s Syria Crisis Response and Resilience Portfolio Gender Working Group addressed the concepts of migration and refugee from the perspective of women on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8) events. With an online event held for this purpose, the representatives of different institutions came together and held a conversation on refugee women studies. Also, the film “Farewell Amor” directed by Ekwa Msangi was watched online in cooperation with MUBI and a detailed film review was made by Ceylan Akgün, a psychologist, author and film critic.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Turkey Syria Crisis Response and Resilience Portfolio Gender Working Group held two events on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8) in order to understand the issues of migrant and refugee women.

In the Workshop on Working with Women’s Civil Society Organizations and Refugee Women held on the occasion of International Women’s Day, participants from 11 cities and 16 different organizations shared their experience and ideas on the subjects such as rights-based works, communication with refugee women, foundations of works with Syrian and Turkish women. In the discussion on “Farewell Amor” directed by Ekwa Msangi in cooperation with MUBI, participants had a chance to share their own experience related to migration after a detailed film review by Ceylan Akgün, a psychologist, author and film critic. 

Members of Antalya Women’s Counselling Centre and Solidarity Foundation, Bilkent, ÇEKEV Izmir, CYDD Çukurova Branch, Günebakan Women’s Association, Izmir Women’s Solidarity Association, Kader Ankara, KAMER, Meryem Women’s Cooperative, Mimoza Women’s Association, Mor Salkım Women’s Solidarity Association, MUDEM, Silbaştan Association, TJA, TWRE, Yaşamevi Women’s Solidarity Association participated in the Workshop on Working with Women’s Civil Society Organizations and Refugee Women which was held online on Thursday, March 11 and facilitated by Ceyda Özdemir. İdil Safiye Soyseçkin Ceylan, Gender Advisor, UNDP Turkey Syria Crisis Response and Resilience Portfolio, mentioned the issues of refugees, especially Syrian women in Turkey in the keynote speech of the workshop. She said: “Syrian women suffer from discrimination regarding being both a refugee and a woman. Because of the language barrier and a closed social structure where they live, they do not know their rights. There is a disconnect here. We hope that solidarity between women can address or reduce this disconnect, which is also one of the workshop’s goals.” Also, she emphasized that staying longer at home during COVID-19 measures increased the violence to which women were exposed and their access to protection mechanisms became difficult especially during this period.

In the workshop which proceeded with a question & answer period that was held in groups who discussed the questions “How can we undertake rights-based works?”, “How can we integrate a right-based approach into our existing works?” and “What kind of ways can we formulate to reach Syrian women” among themselves at first. Then, they shared their ideas by discussing together. With these questions, experience and suggestions on the subjects such as challenges of reaching refugee women, the importance of visibility of works, language and cultural differences, direct communication and decision-making mechanisms were shared by the members from Antalya, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Mersin, Diyarbakır, Bursa, Balıkesir, Istanbul and Şanlıurfa. Through the experience of participants from different cities, the similarities and dissimilarities of the issues that Syrian and Turkish women faced in different geographical regions were discussed. In the second part of the workshop, all the participants defended the statement that “At first, we should work with Syrian women” and “At first, we should work with Turkish women” separately with the method of deep democracy. The discussion that dwelled on the concepts such as women solidarity, empathy, inclusion revealed the challenges and aspects that needed improvement.

On Thursday, March 18 when the event of film analysis was held online once again, the film “Farewell Amor”, whose writer and director was Ekwa Msangi, was discussed with Ceylan Akgün who was a psychologist, author and film critic. A migration story which was elaborated from the viewpoint of the director who grew up as a migrant between USA and Kenya was told through 3 main characters’ eyes separately in the film. In the close reading of the film, the different impacts of migration on family members were discussed. Stating that the film captured the spirit of the March 8 by describing themes such as alienation, search, getting lost which are often used in the migration cinema with a hopeful approach, Ceylan Akgün concentrated on especially the mother and girl characters in her review. Noting that the character called Esther who strengthened her bond with the church in the absence of her husband sought a sense of belonging to a community not to a religion, and women’s solidarity, Akgün stated that it was a common experience for people who migrated and individuals achieved a sense of belonging which reminded them of their homes in congregations and communities. In the event where participants actively engaged in the discussion in the second part, the challenges of being a migrant and communicating with migrants were also addressed. Participants stated that they left the event with a new point of view and new ideas on immigration.

Focusing on the subjects such as combating discrimination that Syrian women under temporary protection suffer, their social cohesion and access to decent livelihoods under empowerment of women in economic, political and social life and the elimination of all forms of gender-based discrimination under the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, Gender Working Group is operating together with the projects in the Syria portfolio of UNDP Turkey.