Rule is one of the many Syrian women who fled her home country due to the war and found refuge in Türkiye. “It was very difficult in the beginning,” she says—gazing into the distance, still carrying the memory of her hometown of Aleppo— “to be in a place where you don’t understand the language.”
As of World Refugee Day 2022, more than 3.7 million Syrians under temporary protection in Türkiye face similar challenges as Rule. The refugee influx has created massive socio-economic needs and demands over the last 12 years, particularly ensuring inclusion and integration of this new and vulnerable population into the labor market. These demands have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and stronger efforts are needed to protect those most at risk, including women.
Women social cooperatives are creating opportunities for refugees
But progress is being made. Rule’s Turkish teacher told her about a women’s social cooperative called BERİ that produces handcrafted baby and early parenting products in Ankara. Rule is now flourishing and has fully integrated herself into Turkish society—a far cry from her early days not knowing the language, having friends, or being able to work.
Between August 2020 and December 2021, four social cooperatives (AHENK, BERİ, EKİP, HALKA) were established in four Turkish cities—Ankara, İzmir, İstanbul and Mersin—for Syrian refugee women and marginalized women in these host communities: These cooperatives seek to create quality jobs and employment opportunities as well as contribute to skilled labor in Türkiye under the World Bank project Strengthening Economic Opportunities for Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTP) and Turkish Citizens in Selected Localities (the Project), which is funded by the European Union.
An integrated approach to ensure sustainability
The Project involves an integrated approach that seeks to address socio-economic barriers like childcare that keep women out of the workforce. This has been crucial for allowing Rasha, who fled from the war in Syria seven years ago, to pursue work. Rasha is a member of HALKA, a social cooperative based in İzmir that offers affordable and professional cleaning services to corporations. The biggest obstacle for Rasha to gain employment was finding a safe place to leave her child while she worked. The four pilot social cooperatives provide childcare services or dedicated spaces in their facilities under the supervision of either trained personnel or mothers who take turns caring for the children. Rasha and other women could now have peace of mind knowing that their sons and daughters would be taken care of while they work.
Social cohesion for inclusive growth
Beyond this support, the Project is focused on bringing communities together and strengthening social cohesion. “What we have learned before anything else, is how to work together,” stresses Sadife, a Turkish beneficiary of the BERİ cooperative. She loves chatting with her Syrian peers, helping them hone their Turkish.
Social cohesion is at the heart of Project activities as carried out through the daily work of the cooperatives. Members of the AHENK cooperative in Mersin emphasized how tightknit their team has become in a fast-paced environment of the kitchen. And they also work together on the cooperative’s promotional efforts, such as preparing New Year gift packages for potential clients to promote their products. “I have a chance to exchange ideas with people coming from different, diverse cultures,” says Nezha, a member of AHENK, “and stay in touch with my Turkish peers and treasure the friendships we cemented along the way which I am very happy about it.”
“We are women coming from two cultures working alongside one another,” says Rasha, highlighting the importance of working in equal and fair conditions in the cooperative. “We talk, we discuss, and we take decisions together.” And not only do the women involved in the Project feel a sense of community, but they are giving back. These women make inclusive preferences in their business decisions and care deeply about the social and environmental impact of their products and services.
Making a difference together in SECoP
The efforts of the Project must be expanded upon and eventually nurtured in other neighborhoods and cities. To share knowledge and best practices on social entrepreneurship, the Project has established the Social Entrepreneurship Community of Practice (SECoP). SECoP operates around the four social cooperatives by building on implementation outcomes, sharing knowledge, and raising awareness on social entrepreneurship.
Active for three years now, SECoP has grown to 560 members representing 160 organizations with expertise in refugee policy and social entrepreneurship. These organizations collaboratively share knowledge and experiences to contribute to the sustained growth of the social enterprise sector and contribute to the inclusion of refugees in the labor market. SECoP has become recognized as a key convening platform on social entrepreneurship in Türkiye with meetings held in a tri-language format (Turkish, Arabic and English) to ensure a commitment to inclusion.
These efforts and the work of the cooperatives supported by the Project are helping empower women refugees by providing jobs opportunities, reducing barriers to entering the labor force, and bringing communities together. And that is ensuring more inclusive and sustainable economic growth for Türkiye as well as a brighter future for women like Rule and Rasha.
