Photo:©FAO

Ankara - The opening meeting and implementation workshop was held in Ankara on Thursday, January 23 for the Project for ''Building Resilience of Syrians under Temporary Protection and Host Communities in Turkey through Supporting Socio-Economic Integration and Creating Livelihood Opportunities''. The project is conducted by FAO in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services, and the Union of Turkish Chambers of Agriculture; and financed by the European Union.

The attendees of the ceremony held for the project were: Assistant FAO Representative for Turkey Dr. Ayşegül Selışık; Programme Manager of the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT) Feyhan Canbay; Head of Department for Technical Services of Turkish Chambers of Agriculture M. Fethi Güven; Deputy Director-General for EU & Foreign Relations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Volkan Güngören; Director-General for International Labor Force of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services Sadettin Akyıl; Chief Advisor to the Vice President and FRIT Office Chief Coordinator Halil Afşarata; representatives from 10 Provincial Directorates of Agriculture and Forestry; and project stakeholders.
Dr. Ayşegül Selışık, Assistant FAO Representative for Turkey, made opening remarks for the Opening Meeting. Selışık spoke about the general goals of the project: “The 10 million Euro project, which is conducted as part of the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT), increases the chance of both refugees and members of host communities to join workforce and start business in agriculture with equal support. Around 6.200 people will benefit from our project. It is planned that half of the beneficiaries will be Syrians Under Temporary Protection and the other half will be locals. They will receive trainings to improve their vocational skills in plant production, stockbreeding, and food sector. Successful trainees will receive vocational certificates at the end of the trainings. Graduates will be brought together with employers who are in search for skilled workers in Employment Fairs to help with their employment chances.”
She also emphasized that trainings on Climate-Friendly and Productive New Agriculture Technologies will be given to 1500 farmers/producers. These trainings are aimed at building the capacity of farmers and are provided in Farmer Field Schools, which is a very important work that FAO will introduce as part of its Syria Programme.
Selışık added, “Based on the community benefit activity model, beneficiaries will be employed for 1-3 months. As one of the most important outputs of our project, ''Agricultural Employment Desks'' will be established in each province. This way, skilled agricultural workers who seek jobs will come in contact with agricultural and food producers who need skilled workforce. In addition, our project has a grant system to support small-scale farmers and family farming. Beneficiaries who attend Farmer Field Schools and who wish to start their own enterprise will be given different amounts of grant support.”
Feyhan Canbay, Programme Manager of the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey, Delegation of European Union to Turkey spoke next. Canbay stated that the European Union has been supporting both Syrians under temporary protection and members of host communities within the scope of the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey since 2015. He indicated that different sectors and different projects were supported regarding education, health, infrastructure, humanitarian aid, and development. He added that they plan to support projects for socioeconomic development in the second term of FRIT. He stated that it is very important that Syrians Under Temporary Protection become self-supporting and socially resilient individuals with regular income.
Canbay said, “To this end, the projects planned for the second term of FRIT aim at creating skilled workforce as well as employment opportunities for the skilled workforce in the labor market. Within this framework, this is the first agricultural project funded within the scope of FRIT. The project also identified the beneficiaries of ESSN, which is distributed under the name 'Humanitarian Aid'. Therefore, we think that this project will help beneficiaries turn into skilled individuals wanted in labor market, instead of people who just receive aid.”
Halil Afşarata, Chief Advisor to the Vice President and FRIT Office Chief Coordinator, spoke after him. Afşarata underlined that the project is an agriculture project under FRIT. He emphasized the importance of supporting communities of other nationalities in addition to Syrians, particularly in agricultural sector. He also said that Turkey is a leading country in Global Refugee Forum and fulfills its obligations. However, he added that more should be done.