Swedish funds support new workplaces, modern equipment, skills training and psychosocial support for textile workers

3 October 2024, Kahramanmaraş - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a US$1.62 million Swedish-funded initiative to support the recovery of the textile industry in the earthquake-affected provinces of Kahramanmaraş and Hatay. The initiative aims to speed the revival of the apparel, leather and footwear sectors by providing new workplaces, modern equipment, skills training and psychosocial support for workers.

“The textile industry is a pillar of the region’s economy, and its recovery is vital to restoring livelihoods after the devastating earthquakes,” said Swedish Ambassador Malena Mård. “Sweden is committed to supporting sustainable recovery efforts in Türkiye, and we are proud to collaborate with UNDP and local partners to help restore competitiveness in this sector.”

“While reconstruction is making progress across the region, we still see evidence everywhere of the prolonged debilitating impact of the disaster,” said UNDP Resident Representative Louisa Vinton. “That is why we are so pleased, with sustained Swedish support, to meet some of the needs in the textile sector that are vital to bringing the local economy back to life.”

A highlight of the visit was the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the newly established Common-Use Automatic Fabric Cutting Facility in Kahramanmaraş. This state-of-the-art facility is established in cooperation with the Eastern Mediterranean Development Agency (DOĞAKA) and designed to serve local manufacturers, enabling them to improve production capacity and product quality. DOĞAKA has been instrumental elsewhere in setting up shared facilities for the region’s apparel and shoemaking industries and is also working with UNDP on a similar initiative in Hatay, including a shoe-upper facility scheduled to open later this month.

“The Common-Use Automatic Fabric Cutting Facility, established on a 1,000 m² area, will address the space issues of readymade garment manufacturers in Kahramanmaraş who were forced to produce in small and inadequate areas after the earthquakes. It will also increase the productivity through its error-free and waste-free cutting process”, said Secretary General of DOĞAKA Oğuz Alibekiroğlu. “This facility is the first of its kind in the region designed for common use and will be operated by the Kahramanmaraş Chamber of Tailors and Garment Manufacturers”. 

UNDP is also partnering with the Education Foundation of the Istanbul Readymade Garments Exporters Association (İHKİB), which will provide skills training, job matchmaking and business development support to small businesses in the apparel, footwear and leather sectors. A concerted effort will be made to bring disadvantaged groups into the textile labor force. 

“As part of the project, we provide vocational and technical training such as export development consultancy, market research, business development, and social compliance for textile and readymade garment sectors in Kahramanmaraş,” said Member of the Board of Auditors of İHKİB Education Foundation İlker Karataş. “Creating conditions where people can stand on their own feet and contributing to the healing of their traumas is invaluable. I believe these efforts will accelerate the recovery of textile and garment production facilities in the region and help them reach stronger capacities than they had before the earthquake."

A third UNDP partner is the Trauma and Disaster Mental Health Studies Association (TARDE), which will provide psychosocial support to textile workers and put into full operation an Occupational Mental Health Center that was built in Reyhanli in 2023. Given the depth of trauma in the region, business leaders have been adamant about the need to include mental health support as a core component of every vocational skills training program. 

The delegation’s agenda in the region included visits to other UNDP initiatives funded from a US$15 million Swedish contribution for earthquake recovery efforts. 

One stop was the Gündüzlü Care Center in Karacasu Container City in Kahramanmaraş, one of two centers (the other one is in Adiyaman) established by the Ministry of Family and Social Services (MoFSS) with UNDP and Swedish support in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. These care centers, each staffed with nine professionals, provide physiotherapy, mental health counselling and personal hygiene support to more than 2,200 elderly and disabled persons. With UNDP support, similar centers are currently being opened in Hatay and Malatya.

The delegation also met with eight Kahramanmaraş-based recipients of the “earthquake recovery grants” that UNDP awarded to 4,622 entrepreneurs across all 11 affected provinces in late 2023. With a total value of US$10 million, the grants gave thousands of family firms the lifeline they needed to get back into business after the earthquake destruction. Grant recipients underlined the importance of continued support to business in the earthquake region.

For further information: 

Deniz Şilliler Tapan, UNDP Türkiye Communications Specialist, deniz.tapan@undp.org