Ankara/Konya (ILO News) - The infrastructure built through the “Opportunities for Lives Project”, jointly implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Directorate-General for International Labour Force (DGILF) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS), and financed by the European Union (EU), brought both ISO certification and a new brand for Konya Chamber of Furniture Manufacturers.

The “Opportunities for Lives Project” is noted for its work for its stakeholders and beneficiaries.

Konya Chamber of Furniture Manufacturers, one of the local partners of the Project in Konya, both earned ISO Certification for Occupational Safety and Health Management System and established a brand name for wooden toys based on the infrastructure built by the Project.

Mr. Fatih Esen, the Secretary-General of Konya Chamber of Furniture Manufacturers, said: “Through the Opportunities for Lives Project, we had earlier established our workshop, built our machinery infrastructure and organized training courses. Such cooperation enhanced our awareness on our monitoring such aids, we obtained some more assistance from other sources, and completed our machinery setup. Then we received a new aid from ILO and started to manufacture wooden toys in our workshop. We registered our brand name “Avuncuk” and started mass production of wooden toys series. Most of our trainees now work formally under this brand. Trainees employed are not limited to the Vocational Training Centre of our Chamber, there are others employed in enterprise members of our Chamber. ILO offered us wonderful opportunities, we are thankful.”

Project Coordinator Ms. Fatma Gelir Ünal: “It is highly important for the sustainability of the Project to see that the Chamber of Furniture Manufacturers both received occupational safety certification and offered job opportunities for refugees and Turkish citizens by building a brand name relying on the infrastructure built through the project.”

Ms. Fatma Gelir Ünal, Project Coordinator, said: “Under our project, we had a highly productive collaboration with Konya Chamber of Furniture Manufacturers as a local partner. Our cooperation continued through more action. We were happy to learn that almost all of the trainees who received vocational training under our Opportunities for Lives Project were placed in jobs in this workshop. Our trainees acquired vocational qualifications in this workshop, received certification, then were employed formally here. Continuity and sustainability are important for us. We are happy to see that in various dimensions here. We will keep in contact for supportive processes such as domestic and foreign marketing, e-commerce, recruitment, entrepreneurship, marketing and branding etc.”

President of Konya Chamber of Furniture Manufacturers Mehmet Günbaş: “The certification will enable us to progress more effectively and safely for the continuity of our project which we have been successfully implementing for four years in cooperation with ILO and with EU funding.”

Mr. Mehmet Günbaş, President of Konya Chamber of Furniture Manufacturers stated that they were proud to receive ISO 45001 Occupational Safety and Health Management System certification, as the first among chambers of the same area in Turkey. Mr. Günbaş said: "By ISO 45001 Occupational Safety and Health Management System which comply with the occupational safety legislation and international standards, it has been certified that members of our chamber, visiting guests of our chamber and our employees receive services in a safe environment. This certification will enable us to progress more effectively and safely for the continuity of our project which we have been successfully implementing for four years in cooperation with the International Labour Organization and with EU funding. We thank ILO for their support in assisting us obtaining such certification”.

Mr. Günbaş continued his statement: “As would be remembered, we achieved our goal of raising sub-professionals for our industry through our employment-oriented training courses that we have had successfully completed jointly with ILO. Under the project, we organized six vocational courses namely computer-aided furniture design, furniture upholstery and cutting, wood painting and varnishing, sales skills and diction, and wood assembly. Following the decree of return-to-normal, our chamber continued to observe mask, distance and hand hygiene rules, and started a course of 200 hours on decorative woodwork in partnership with ISKUR, Konya Union of Chambers of Tradesmen and Craftsmen, and Selçuklu Public Education Centre. Our education centre will host new project courses in the future. The vision of our education centre is to become a centre where wood transforms into art. Through our project, we offer the possibility of certifying vocational qualifications to our trainees. Such certificates are awarded by accredited certification organizations and provide advantage in finding jobs. To date, 155 persons have been certified. We expect this figure to go up when the ongoing examination programme is completed. We aim that certified beneficiaries will match their vocational qualifications with good quality jobs, and practise their vocation in full awareness of occupational safety and health.”

About Opportunities for Lives Project

The "Opportunities for Lives Project" is financed by the European Union (EU) and jointly implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Office for Turkey and Directorate-General for International Labour Force (DGILF) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS) in the Provinces of Ankara, Istanbul, Bursa, Konya, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Adana, Mersin and Hatay to economically and socially empower, and enhance the resilience of Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTPs) and host communities in Turkey.