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Enhanced Resilience for Syrian Refugees and Host Communities in South-Eastern Turkey

One consequence of the seven-year Syrian crisis is over 4.8 million refugees have fled to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt posing a significant burden on host communities.

In this context, in 2017 FAO implemented the ‘Enhanced Resilience through Increased Economic Opportunities for Syrian Refugees and Host Communities’ project in five provinces of southern Turkey.

Country Türkiye

Duration 4m50s

Edit Version International

Video Type Video News Release (VNR)

Date 04/05/2018

File size 360.72 MB

Unique ID UF2T4Z

All editorial uses permitted

Production details and shotlist

UNFAO Source FAO Video

Shotlist LOCATIONS: Şanlıurfa Province: Akçakale; City of Gaziantep; City of Mersin; City of Isparta, TURKEY

DATES: September-December 2017

TRT: 4’50”

AUDIO: Natural, Arabic, Turkish, English

1. Drone shot of olive lands in Gaziantep

2. Mahmud Abdullah (Project beneficiary, Gaziantep), Arabic:

In the past I was working in shoe sector in Syria. Our financial situation was very good, my children were in comfort and they were going to school. Here, I have worked in different sectors just to secure money for my family.

3. Farmers working in olive field, Gaziantep

4. Women working on the land, selecting pistachio, Gaziantep

5. Trainees packaging citrus, Mersin

6. Farmer drying red pepper, Islahiye, Gaziantep

7. Trainees harvesting apples, Gaziantep

8. Drone shot of olive lands in Gaziantep

9. Yuriko Shoji, FAO Deputy Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia, (English):

Now we are in 7th year of hosting Syrian refuges in Turkey. We see the need for absorption of the refugees into labour market. So the FAO project is designed in such a way that opportunities are given both to the host communities and to the refugees to land the skills required to meet the needs of labour in the agriculture sector.

10. Refugee camp, Şanlıurfa Turkey

11. Various of trainees packaging citrus, Mersin

12. Cagatay Cebi, FAO livestock expert in a cattle breeding class with trainees in Şanlıurfa

13. Trainees harvesting grapes, Gaziantep

14. Volkan Güngören, Acting Deputy Director General for European Union and Foreign Relations Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey, (Turkish):

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock supported this FAO project because we think it is important that our Syrian brothers and sisters can access vocational training in agriculture courses on agriculture and improve their skills.

15. Trainees in a theoretical class in Şanlıurfa

16. Trainees harvesting apples in Isparta

17. Jean-Marie Garelli UNHCR Deputy Representative in Turkey, (English):

It fits perfectly within the approach that we are taking which is now more global approach. Refugees are not just waiting to receive humanitarian aid but should be considered as economic actors with their skills, with their economic potential.

18. Theoretical training class in Şanlıurfa

19. Women trainees in practical class on cotton harvest in Şanlıurfa

20. Women working on red pepper post-harvest process, Gaziantep

21. Trainees packaging dried nuts in a private company

22. Semira Hidir, Project beneficiary, Şanlıurfa, (Arabic):

I benefited much from this programme. I learned a lot about agriculture such as when to plant, when to harvest, when to use fertilizers and this kind of information. I had no knowledge and experience on this subject before.

23. Trainees harvesting olives in Akcakale, Şanlıurfa

24. Fedan Hisen, Project beneficiary, Şanlıurfa, (Arabic):

We learned different skills on livestock such as milking, cattle maintenance, farm preparation methods and protection of cattle’s health.

25. Trainees in a private farm

26. Ayşegül Selışık FAO Assistant Representative in Turkey, (English):

Through this project, FAO is not only enhancing the skills of beneficiaries but most importantly we are putting them in contact with farms and companies in order to allow refugees and host communities to find employment.

27. Various of job fair conducted for Syrian refugees and Turkish citizens in Gaziantep to meet employers with project beneficiaries

28. Jean-Marie Garelli, UNHCR Deputy Representative of Turkey, (English):

When you work together you get to know each other much better, you get familiar with each other. And that is something that will definitely contribute to social cohesion.

29. A group of trainees in a hands-on milking class in Şanlıurfa

30. Muhammed Elcedir, Project beneficiary, Gaziantep (Arabic):

Of course, we will apply what we have learned, we will teach the farmers the work, we will correct their mistakes, we will teach what we have correctly learned here. I hope if we return to Syria, we will teach all this to the people and farmers there, and apply it in our own fields.

31. Trainees harvesting olives in Akcakale, Şanlıurfa

32. Kefe Ismail, Project beneficiary, Gaziantep, (Arabic):

We have got out of the routine of continuously sitting at home. We came here and I improved my social life. I got to know people. I learned Turkish. Now I can speak enough to express myself.

33. Ahmet Keles, Project beneficiary, Şanlıurfa, (Arabic):

If there is a possibility to return back to Syria, I am planning to do something like this. If I stay here in Turkey and get resources, I could get land and build a greenhouse similar to do this.

34. WS of a greenhouse in Şanlıurfa

35. A Syrian beneficiary checking tomatoes in a greenhouse in Şanlıurfa

36. Theoretical class in Gaziantep

37. Practical trainings on pistachio harvest in Gaziantep

38. Drone shot of olive lands in Gaziantep

39. Farmer drying red pepper in Gaziantep

40. A Syrian trainee harvesting apples in Isparta

41. A Turkish trainee is working in a cattle farm in Şanlıurfa

42. A Syrian trainee taking notes in a theoretical class in Gaziantep

43. A Syrian trainees working in a greenhouse in Şanlıurfa

ENDS

Script Refugee populations have little or no access to formal job opportunities, which can lead to instability and social tension between host and refugee communities.

One consequence of the seven-year Syrian crisis is over 4.8 million refugees have fled to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt posing a significant burden on host communities.

In this context, in 2017 FAO implemented the ‘Enhanced Resilience through Increased Economic Opportunities for Syrian Refugees and Host Communities’ project in five provinces of southern Turkey. The FAO project targeted and successfully trained some 900 people selected from among Syrians and local host community members.

Given that the agriculture sector engages more women than any other, the project promoted the involvement of women—45 percent of total project beneficiaries.

FAO worked with implementing partners to enhance capacities in the delivery of technical trainings as well as in matching labor demand and supply. The project sought to build partnerships with potential employers in the private agricultural sector.

Keeping in mind employment possibilities, selected training topics have been greenhouse, olive, pistachio, irrigation and cotton production. Half of all cotton production takes place in the Şanlıurfa province and it is in this sector where most workers are needed.

Initially, some farms and companies were reluctant to take Syrian refugees on-board as workers and there was some tension between refugees and host community members.

But the project has been changing approaches and attitudes. During FAO’s monitoring missions, several farm owners or representatives of food processing companies reported their satisfaction with the project trainees, and said they would be willing to hire the refugee workers in the future. Given the protracted Syrian Crisis, it is foreseen that Syrians refugees in Turkey will remain in the country for at least the next few years, requiring a stronger emphasis on the transition from humanitarian response to a sustainable livelihood-oriented approach.

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