UNDP Turkey brings Turkish and Syrian youth together through the Project implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports. With the Project financed by the Government of Japan, employability and social cohesion of youth are supported in five provinces. One thousand young people will benefit from education, consultancy and entrepreneurship support, 30 computer laboratories will be established in youth centres located in 9 provinces. Targeted youth will also participate in volunteering activities. 

20 May 2021, Ankara – United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Turkey Office aims to mobilize the dynamism and potential of the youth with the project that brings Turkish and Syrian youth together. Within the scope of the project, the youth in five provinces of Turkey gain strength in socio-economic aspects through various trainings, volunteering activities, consultancy, and in-kind grants, while building bridges between cultures with social benefit-oriented works.

The Project aims to increase the access of Syrian and Turkish youth aged 15-34 to labour market and formal employment opportunities including self-employment through the youth centres in Ankara, Bursa, Kocaeli, Şanlıurfa and İstanbul. Within this scope, it is planned to increase the employability of youth by providing technology trainings and entrepreneurship support. Alongside the activities which will be organized in five provinces, computer laboratories are being established in 30 youth centres identified in nine provinces.

New business plans will be promoted by providing the youth who come along with feasible business ideas, with entrepreneurship support (mentoring, providing in-kind grants and entrepreneurship trainings which will improve their abilities to establish, develop and scale up a business plan). Thus, it is aimed to enable young Syrians under temporary protection and host community members to break through the vicious cycle of poverty, to improve their active participation in social life by enhancing their self-reliance without depending on support.

On the other hand, it is expected that a total of 50 youth leaders will have social cohesion and conflict prevention trainings together with 50 youth centre staff in five provinces, to improve social cohesion between Turkish and Syrian youth through the Project activities. It is aimed that 500 young people will directly and 2000 individuals will indirectly benefit from these activities. Furthermore, composing at least 40% of the beneficiaries by women and enabling young women to have occupations and to access sustainable livelihoods are among the Project goals.

Volunteering workshops for increasing awareness and improvement of youth on social responsibility and volunteering, tree planting, and improving educational conditions of disadvantaged young people by upgrading a village school and donating books to their library are some of the activities which Turkish and Syrian youth will perform together. 

Volunteering activities that are planned according to the needs of the provinces also include cooperating with animal shelters to feed street animals, social cohesion activities that will be undertaken with young people with disabilities, zero waste activities, environmental cleaning on the coast and in the forests. By these activities, it is aimed to enable young people to engage in public benefit works together and to enhance their social cohesion. 

Turkey continues to host the largest refugee population in the world. The Syrian youth hosted by Turkey, which constitutes half of the 3.6 million population under temporary protection, come across certain challenges such as being unable to have access to labour market, to continue formal education, to have decent, prestigious, and regular livelihoods. Finding sustainable solutions to these challenges is critical for the adaptation of individuals, who fled from war and conflict to their new lives, to overcome stress and trauma and to enhance their socio-economic integration and social cohesion.   

Under Syria Crisis Response and Resilience Portfolio, UNDP Turkey provides long-term and structural proposals for solutions against the negative impacts of the Syria Crisis with projects that have been implemented since 2014 by UNDP Turkey on the basis of sustainable development principles for individuals, communities and institutions. 

The Project “Employability, Entrepreneurship and Social Cohesion for Syrian and Turkish Youth in response to the Syria Crisis” which is implemented by UNDP with the financial support of the Government of Japan and in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports started at the end of 2020. 

For more information: Dr. Faik Uyanık, Head of Communications, UNDP Turkey, faik.uyanik@undp.org

Ruşen İnceoğlu, Communications Officer, Syria Crisis Response and Resilience Programme, UNDP Turkey, rusen.inceoglu@undp.org