Empowering Women through Cooperatives (WOMENCOOP)

Action /Activity:

Action I: Employment

Activity I.II Promoting Employment and Employability

Title of the Operation:

Empowering Women through Cooperatives (WOMENCOOP)

Operation Number:

TREESP1.2.WOMENCOOP

Implementation Period:

15.09.2021- 14.12.2024

Operation Beneficiary:

Beneficiary: Directorate General on the Status of Women (DGSW) in the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Services

Co-beneficiary: Department of Training and Publication in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

Website / Social Media Accounts:

www.aile.gov.tr/ksgm

https://www.instagram.com/elbirligigucbirligi/

https://twitter.com/el_gucbirligi

https://www.facebook.com/ElBirligiGucBirligi

https://www.linkedin.com/company/el-birli%C4%9Fi-g%C3%BC%C3%A7-birli%C4%9Fi/

The purpose of the Operation is to increase women's employment and to empower women through promoting and supporting women's cooperatives.

The Operation consists of a service component with a duration of 39 months.

Activities to be carried out within the scope of the Operation are as follows:

• Trainings and services for women with a potential to establish cooperatives/become cooperative partners, women and men who are cooperative partners,

• Strengthening the institutional capacity of beneficiary and co-beneficiary institutions and relevant actors,

• Awareness raising activities,

• Scientific and technical studies on cooperatives,

• Activities to ensure cooperation and coordination.

Through these activities, 6.000 women and 3.000 men will benefit from trainings and services; institutional capacity building activities will be carried out for 585 people; 1.200 people will be reached through awareness activities; 5 scientific and technical study reports will be prepared; 5 events will be organized to ensure cooperation and coordination.

Current Situation:(End of July 2024 )

The service contract was signed on 02.08.2021 and the implementation period started on 15.09.2021.

The 4th Steering Committee Meeting was held on 31.01.2024, 30th Monthly Management Meeting was held on 30.07.2024.

For Activities 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4, an access strategy and training programmes covering trainings for women who have the potential to become/establish cooperative partners, women and men who are cooperative partners have been prepared. Trainings within the scope of the activities have been realized in Ankara, Erzurum, Kars, Diyarbakır, Artvin, Aksaray, Malatya, Mardin, İzmir, Adana, Gaziantep, Çorum, Kırklareli, Eskişehir, Çorum (II), Gaziantep (II), Isparta, Kocaeli, Bursa, Konya, Afyonkarahisar, Afyonkarahisar (II), Çanakkale, Sinop, Batman, Erzurum (II), Kars (II), İstanbul, Van, Van (II), Adana (II), İzmir (II), Diyarbakır (II), Bitlis, Karabük, Antalya, Muğla, Hatay, Konya, Konya (II),Mardin (II), Sivas, Bitlis, İstanbul (II), Ankara (II), Bursa (II), Kocaeli (II) and Isparta (II) ). The number of participants reached within the scope of the activities are as follows:

• Activity 1.2: 2.620 female participants

• Activity 1.3: 1.159 female participants

• Activity 1.4: 1.774 male participants

60 cooperatives to be supported by the Consultancy Services carried out within the scope of Activity 1.5 have been determined and they were provided with consultancy services. In this context, 1.189 women cooperative partners and 75 potential women partners (1.264 women in total) benefited from this intervention.

Within the scope of Activities 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3, the first and second Institutional Capacity Building Trainings were organised in Ankara-1, Ankara-2, Diyarbakır-1, Antalya-1, Bursa-1, Antalya-2, Bursa-2, Erzurum-1,Karabük-1, Erzurum-2, Karabük-2, Adana-1, Adana– 2 and, Diyarbakır – 2. The number of participants reached within the scope of the activities are as follows:

• Activity 2.1: 358 participants

• Activity 2.2: 46 participants

• Activity 2.3: 188 participants

Approval processes for 5 short films for Awareness Raising activities within the scope of Activity 3.2 have been completed.

First study visit was conducted in Italy in October 2022, second study visit was conducted in Spain in May 2023, third study visit was conducted in Portugal in August 2023 and fourth study visit was conducted in France in December 2023 for the mapping of women's cooperatives to be carried out within the scope of Activities 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 which are covering Scientific and Technical Studies, and for on-site examination of good practice examples.

Under the Activity 4.1 for mapping of women’s cooperatives and determining the potential development areas, meetings were held in Erzurum, Kars, Sivas, Van, Ankara, Antalya, Artvin, Çorum, Gaziantep, Karabük, Mardin, Sinop, Afyonkarahisar, Isparta, Batman, Diyarbakır, Isparta, Bitlis and Konya with the participation of total 184 people. Based on these studies, mapping on women's cooperatives continues both in the field and through desk studies.

Within the scope of Activity 5.1 Local Stakeholder Meetings have been held in Isparta, Çorum, Malatya, Ankara, Adana, Muğla, Bursa, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Konya, Eskişehir, Karabük, Sinop, Kocaeli, Çanakkale, Batman, Afyonkarahisar, Erzurum, Mardin, Kars, Sivas, Aksaray, Kırklareli, Artvin, Van, Bitlis, Hatay, Gaziantep with 1.685 participants.

Under Intervention 5.2 Developing Marketing Network Meetings have been organised in Ankara, Erzurum, Antalya, Bursa, İzmir, Gaziantep, Kocaeli, Adana, Diyarbakır and Çorum with the participation of women’s cooperatives, private sector, e-commerce platforms and local governments.

Under Intervention 5.4, while web-portal preparation was still ongoing, the website is actively used by cooperatives: https://www.kadinkoop.org/ . Improvement work on the web page continues.