BURSA (ILO News) – Bursa was the first stop in 2023 of the provincial consultation meetings initiated by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Office for Türkiye in cooperation with the Social Security Institution (SGK) to promote formal employment, assess the status of Syrians under temporary protection (SuTPs) and international protection (IP) applicants and holders in the labour market, and generate recommendations for the way forward.

The meeting drew intensive participation from the governance bodies from public sector and civil society, Directorate-General for International Labour Force (DGILF), SGK, Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR), Presidency of Migration Management (PMM), chambers of commerce and industry, municipalities, and governance institutions in the labour market of Bursa.

Participants offered their experiences and findings for discussion, and exchanged views on solution proposal.

Here are the highlights from participants’ contributions:

“Migration is challenging both for migrants and hosts… Employers may act on a motive of (reducing) costs, but we need to inform these people on why they should be employed formally.”

The provincial consultation meetings were launched at Kilis and Gaziantep, continued at Bursa and the next stop will be Eskişehir.

The ILO Office for Türkiye has since 2015 been working, through a multitude of activities, to increase the access of SuTPs and IP applicants and holders to livelihoods, enhance their resilience, improve social cohesion with host communities. It works with the government and workers’ and employers’ organizations to achieve decent job opportunities for all without discrimination.

The series of provincial consultation meetings are held under the Supporting Resilience and Social Cohesion with Decent Livelihood Opportunities Project funded by the US Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).