Women Receiving Training in Human Rights in the Scope of Cooperation between ILO-Turkey and Local Governments were awarded their Certificates

Over 800 women in project provinces Ankara, Bursa and İstanbul who received training in human rights in cooperation with seven local municipalities under the project “More and Better Jobs for Women “implemented by ILO-Turkey were awarded their certificates

News | 13 February 2017
On a ceremony held in Ankara on 8 February 2017, women who successfully completed their training on women’s human rights and joined vocational courses delivered by Altındağ, Çankaya and Yenimahalle Municipalities in Ankara under the project “More and Better Jobs for Women: Women’s Empowerment through Decent Jobs in Turkey” implemented by ILO-Turkey were awarded their training certificates.

Speaking at the ceremony, Numan Özcan, Director of ILO Office for Turkey said, “For us, the most important activity of the project is the training of women in human rights. Just three words will be sufficient to explain the reason why we attach importance to this training: It gave us a chance to touch, change and empower women. I mean we could touch the lives of women.”



Training activities were organized in the period March-June 2016 in cooperation with Altındağ Municipality in Ankara, Metropolitan and Osmangazi Municipalities in Bursa, and Kadıköy and Maltepe Municipalities in İstanbul. In the first phase of these trainings, 500 women who received vocational courses of municipalities also participated to trainings on women’s human rights and got their certificates.

The second phase of trainings took place in the period September 2016-February 2017 during which in cooperation with Altındağ, Çankaya and Yenimahalle Municipalities in Ankara, Metropolitan and Osmangazi Municipalities in Bursa, and Kadıköy Municipality in İstanbul over 300 women from vocational courses of these municipalities attended trainings on human rights and were given their certificates.



Stressing the importance of strong entry of women into labour market and enrichment of vocational courses delivered by municipalities with information and skill building in other areas (i.e. human rights) ILO Turkey Director said, “We therefore believe that human rights training that these women received will further empower them in working life.”

“We regard gender equality and empowerment of women as a part of human rights”, said Lars Wahlund, the Swedish Ambassador in Ankara, and remarked that there is no country in the world climbing to upper income group without including women in their labour force.



At the ceremony, trainees Hülya Özer, Kısmet Işık, and Şule Güven, from Altındağ, Çankaya and Yenimahalle Municipalities, respectively, spoke and shared their experiences in training. Trainees stated that trainings contributed to their outlook to almost all spheres of life including themselves and stressed the need to have all receive such trainings.





Other speakers at the ceremony included Zelal Ayman from the Women’s Human Rights: New Solutions Association (KİH-YÇ); Yenimahalle Mayor Fethi Yaşar; Çankaya Deputy Mayor Gülsün Bor Güner, and Cengiz Keskin, Altındağ Municipality Director of Cultural and Social Affairs.


In these training activities, about 300 participants from Çankaya, Yenimahalle, and Altındağ Municipalities were given training in such themes as women’s human rights, civil rights, constitutional rights, gender equality, and strategies against violence by the KİH-YÇ Association (Women’s Human Rights: New Solutions Association). Lasting for 10 weeks, these trainings aimed to inform women about decent work and fair conditions in employment. After speeches, women were awarded their certificates.

The project is implemented with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).