Photo: ©FAO

Ordu, Turkey – Starting today, a two-day training workshop on local products, gastronomy and women’s cooperatives, jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Bahçeşehir University (BAU), is taking place in Ordu, with the aim of promoting equal opportunities in education and sustainable development across Turkey. The training workshop is the result of cooperation with the Trustees and President of the International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL) Istanbul and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The event builds on a pilot training course offered in Giresun Piraziz and will form part of an ongoing series of workshops. Over 300 participants are expected to benefit from the training including 80 women currently working in cooperatives in Ordu.

The training is designed to strengthen the role of youth and women in agriculture, maximize benefits from the integration of local agricultural products into national development, contribute to sustainable development, and incorporate innovation into smallholder agriculture, with a view to ensuring a stronger local food system. In addition, the training teaches women and young people about how cooperatives function and introduces technologies related to smart agriculture practices, in particular digital agriculture and sustainable food systems.

Empowering women and youth for a more egalitarian society

In his speech, Viorel Gutu, FAO Central Asia Subregional Coordinator and Turkey Representative, affirmed his strong support for increasing women’s employment and stated that empowering women and youth through women’s cooperatives will help society become more egalitarian. He continued:

“FAO’s new strategic framework places particular importance on technology and innovation in the agricultural sector – and the training programme has been designed with this in mind. Participants who complete the training will become familiar with concepts such as smart agriculture, digital agriculture and sustainable food system technologies. In addition, they will have opportunities to increase their knowledge on various topics such as agricultural innovation, storage of agricultural products, community building and decision-making, creative communication techniques and marketing.”

Enver Yücel, BAU Global Chair and University Chairman of the Board of Trustees and President of CIFAL Istanbul, UNITAR, further underlined the importance of women’s cooperatives to smart and sustainable agriculture: “Our valuable lands are crucial to the future of agriculture. For a sustainable world, it is vital to keep our soils fertile and to develop new and productive ideas through the effective use of technology. In this context, and with the cooperation of the UN, we are working to improve the employment of women through targeted training aimed at women’s cooperatives. We are also working to develop our country by highlighting local agricultural products. Above all, we are working to raise awareness. By incorporating all of these approaches into smart agriculture we will create innovation – and new global brands.”

Supporting women for stronger livelihoods, healthier lives and improved food awareness

Ayşegül Selışık, FAO Assistant Representative for Turkey, pointed out that FAO has a mandate to achieve food security for all and to ensure that people have regular access to sufficient high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.

She explained: “This is why we need to support local producers and small family businesses to the fullest. Small producers are very important to FAO: they produce about 56 percent of global agricultural production and represent a significant part of rural livelihoods. When supported by policies aimed at social protection and rural welfare, they contribute to the development of local economies. Supporting these producers and businesses helps to build resilience in agricultural and combat threats that undermine food security. For this reason, these training workshops for women’s cooperatives in Ordu will contribute to creating a new generation that is healthier and more conscious about food safety.”

Şirin Karadeniz, Rector of Bahçeşehir University, elaborated on the importance of training workshops for women in agriculture and of women’s cooperatives: “We organized this event with FAO to increase the quality of agricultural education across our country, to highlight the importance of women’s entrepreneurship and to promote economic development. This expert-taught training course has been specifically designed to reach women cooperatives, to support them in bringing their locally produced agricultural products to the global market, and to help them create global brands. The aim is to enable our women and youth to take a more active role in this important field and to help advance sustainable agriculture.”

DAHA FAZLA BİLGİ İÇİN:

ŞAFAK AKSÖYEK TOROS

İLETİŞİM SORUMLUSU

[email protected]

+90 312 307 95 23

Gazeteciler ve editörler için:

Fotoğraf, ses dosyası, video görüntü ve b-roll için buradan iletişime geçebilirsiniz: (+39) 06 570 53625 ya da [email protected].

Çevrimiçi araçlar:

Fotoğraflar için FAO’nun Flickr hesabı

FAO’nun çevrimiçi haber odası

FAO basın bültenleri için RSS bildirimi

Twitter’da @FAOnews ve @faoturkiye

FAO Avrupa ve Orta Asya Bölge Ofisi | 34 Benczur utca, Budapest, Hungary | (+36) 1 461 2000 | www.fao.org/europe