Turkey

‘Turkey 3RP Regional Refugee & Resilience Plan 2017-2018’ indicates that although the Temporary Protection Regime in Turkey has provided Syrians with access to basic rights and services, poverty remains prevalent among the Syrian population due to  lack of access to a regular income, to education, as well as the high cost of living in urban settings. Thus, many families have resorted to negative coping mechanisms such as child labour, reduced quality and quantity of food consumption, substandard housing and street begging.

Qudra in Turkey

Qudra’s activities in Turkey take place at local and national level and are designed to strengthen resilience by improving service delivery, supporting livelihoods and increasing employment opportunities for vulnerable men and women and in particular youth.

Working in compliance with national laws, the programme aims to assist all stakeholders in Turkey in following areas:

Improving school infrastructure and access to extracurricular activities (GIZ)

Qudra seeks to increase access to good quality education services for members of the host communities and Syrian refugees in Turkey. The action responds to the immense needs in the education sector, and is in line with the 3RP and the “No Lost Generation” (NLG) initiative in order to promote non-discriminatory access to quality education for both refugee and host community children. It aims to address necessary rehabilitation and repair work at state schools, including sports and other facilities, offering Turkish language classes for Syrian teachers, providing teaching and learning materials, offering extra-curricular activities and providing transport support.

Enhancing skills training for host communities and Syrian refugees (GIZ)

This component aims to work with Public Education Centres or other training providers to offer tailor-made vocational trainings, mostly in the form of short-term training courses for targeted Syrian refugees and vulnerable Turkish people, particularly the women and youth. Activities include supporting the training providers with train-the-trainers programmes and provision of equipment.

Strengthening social cohesion through community-based services (GIZ, EF)

To foster social cohesion between refugees and local populations in Turkish host communities, Qudra’s activities focus on improving and extending social services. Through multi-service centres, connected satellite centres (or subsidised transport to the multi- service centres) and a mobile unit, outreach will increasingly cover all the different groups living in the host communities. Needs-based services on offer range from non-formal education, health, livelihoods, sports and culture to specialised services such as psycho- social counselling, legal advice, skills training and certified language classes. The main aim is for all groups to have access to information and awareness raising on social services and cohesion, while intercultural activities addressing Syrian and Turkish youth, children and women in particular.

Promoting regional and national dialogue (GIZ)

Qudra brings refugees, IDPs, host communities and local, national, regional stakeholders together in different platforms in order to encourage all parties to enter constructive dialogue and exchange experiences. Through such a participatory strategy, Qudra events and activities aim to develop new, innovative strategies for an appropriate response to the region’s refugee crisis. Most importantly, this module advocates for and provides the mechanisms of giving a voice to refugees, members of host communities and IDPs.

Qudra in Lebanon, through various event formats and types of activities, play an essential role in building bridges and creating synergies among all relevant actors. EU Madad Labs provide a unique forum for these encounters, where all parties come together to discuss and identify key issues pertaining to the refugee crisis and develop context-based innovative solutions.