Photo: ©FAO

Van, Turkey –Today marks the start of a job fair marathon in Turkey, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) within the scope of the project: “Building Resilience of Syrians Under Temporary Protection and Host Communities in Turkey Through Supporting Socio-Economic Integration and Creating Livelihood Opportunities”. The USD 11-million-dollar project is funded by the European Union and implemented by FAO in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

With the support of FAO, more than a thousand local, skilled trainees and private sector representatives will meet during job fairs organized in ten provinces across Turkey during the months of November, December and January.

Ayşegül Selışık, FAO Assistant Representative for Turkey, emphasized the importance of such events to raise the visibility of skilled trainees to potential employers: “The purpose of these job fairs is to provide project beneficiaries with a positive start in their career search by meeting with potential employers that need skilled workers for agrifood businesses.”

Thanks to such employment-oriented project activities, over 38% of Syrians under Temporary Protection and Turkish trainees have already found jobs in the agrifood sector. The job fairs will help more skilled workers find jobs in the provinces of Van, Bursa, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, Kilis, Kahramanmaraş, Manisa, İzmir, Adana and Hatay.

Nine more job fairs will follow in the next three months under a generously funded project implemented in close collaboration with the Provincial Directorates of Agriculture and Forestry in ten different provinces under the Syrian Refugee Resilience Plan.