Since March 2011, the Syrians who took refugee in Turkey to escape the civil war in Syria mark their seventh year in our country. According to the figures of UNHCR, the number of Syrians registered in Turkey is around 3,5 million people as of August 2018. This number demonstrates that Turkey has the largest refugee population in the world. Although the term refugee recalls an image of masses living in the camps in need of help, the Syrian refugees portrays a different picture. Out of all the Syrians under Temporary Protection in Turkey only around two hundred thousands of them live in the refugee camps. The rest struggle for their lives in different cities of Turkey.
The projects carried out jointly by the local administrations and NGOs in establishing employment and social cohesion of Syrians who have a significant share in Küçükçekmece stand out. Among these projects, the “Cash for Work’’ currently stands out. The project is jointly carried out by the Küçükçekmece Municipality and the International Blue Crescent Relief and Development Foundation.
A total of 287 Syrian 359 Turkish beneficiaries were employed in the district from December 2017 until today. Thanks to the project, work permits were obtained for the Syrians employed in different units of the municipalities and they contributed to social adaptation processes as a result of their access to the legal labor market as well as with Turkish citizens. Our beneficiaries work actively in nearly 60 locations in Küçükçekmece. With this project, 21 neighborhoods in the district of Küçükçekmece are made by our beneficiaries of outdoor cleaning. Mosques, schools, places of worship, hospitals, public buildings are some of our work areas. According to the latest data, a total of 11,340,037 m² (11.34 km²) of area was cleared in the district. In addition, thanks to our beneficiaries working in the Geographical Information System, earthquake risk reports and street and building photos were updated in 2010 . In this way, 8,22 square meters of space was scanned and 76,221 photographs were entered into the municipality database. In addition, thanks to the beneficiaries of the Support Services Directorate, 31,200 square meters of space has been rehabilitated.
The 3.3 km road was completed and repaired by our Syrian beneficiaries.
1200 district citizens were given Social Assistance by our beneficiaries.
Our beneficiaries who work under the Culture Affairs Directorate provided services to 7820 district citizens.
Our health care affairs beneficiaries have provided health support to 1410 district citizens. Our Syrian beneficiary trained to English lesson to 36 students in 12 hours. Thanks to the beneficiaries who served in the district governorate, 2200 people were served in the district. International Blue Crescent Relief and Development Foundation (IBC) has been implementing Cash for Work – CfW project which is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to temporarily stabilize the economic living conditions of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Turkish
households. Main objective of the project is to rehabilitate local/municipal infrastructure and as well as livelihood development intervention to increase employability of impacted communities including Syrians and Turkish host community members specific in Istanbul, Sultanbeyli County and Küçükçekmece County. The beneficiaries working at the Center of Goodness have created a dedicated work area in the district in order to improve the living standards by identifying the needs of the people in need in the district. They provide one-on-one services to newborns, the elderly, the disabled and the homeless. According to the feedback we have received from our beneficiaries, the proliferation of such projects plays an important role for the Syrians to contribute to their economies and to take part in the labor market.
