Country
Turkey

Local project partner
Turkish Grameen Microfinance Programm, Governmental partners Ministry of National Education,
Turkish Employment Agency ISKUR and regional Chambers, Halkbank

German project partner
-

Donor 
Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)

Duration
31.05.2019 - 31.12.2025

More people are currently living as refugees than at any time since the Second World War. Türkiye is the largest host country, with around 4 million refugees. The majority come from Syria. They have been accommodated in local communities, often in urban and peri-urban areas of large Turkish cities, and are primarily seeking access to healthcare, education, the labour market and income.
The situation poses major challenges for the Turkish authorities. Female refugees face additional obstacles and face greater administrative and discriminatory barriers than male refugees in accessing income-generating activities. Female refugees are consistently underemployed, usually working in unskilled and low-paid sectors or informally. This reinforces the marginalisation of female refugees and requires measures to strengthen access to income-generating activities.

The overall objective of the project is to improve the living conditions of refugees and the vulnerable in selected host communities and in particular to strengthen the social and economic participation of women and girls in Türkiye. The project objective is to strengthen the financial and economic inclusion of refugees and the economically disadvantaged local population and especially women and girls by promoting financial literacy, supporting entrepreneurial activities and introducing these target groups to the financial sector in Türkiye.
 

Project Tasks

Demand side:

• Quality financial education and basic entrepreneurship training for male and female students and young adults are sustainably integrated into Turkish vocational training institutions and introduced in selected youth centres.
• Quality financial education and entrepreneurship training for young adults, potential and existing small entrepreneurs with refugee background as well as vulnerables of host communities especially women and girls (70 %) have been handed over and are implemented by selected project partners (public education centres, TGMP).

Supply side:

• Continuous access to business finance and integration into the local economy for existing and potential MSMEs, especially women entrepreneurs (70 %), through the selected financial institutions (TGMP; Halkbank) is sustainably strengthened.