Target Location
Target Group
Abdullah Sultan – TURKEY
SYCAC
CON VALORES Network. October 19th. MatchUp©
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About SYCAC
SYCAC, established in Turkey in 2012, functions as a non-profit, non-governmental civil society organization. Its primary mission is to foster resilient communities through early recovery initiatives, supporting civic spaces, and empowering communities with capacity-building programs. Moreover, SYCAC is committed to advancing the leadership of women and marginalized groups in peace processes, striving to create democratic societies that uphold and honor human rights.
SYCAC mainly targets and supports conflict-affected communities, including refugees, displaced people, and vulnerable host communities, aimed at addressing the complex challenges faced by those affected by conflict and displacement. Such support involves a range of interventions and assistance to alleviate suffering, promote resilience, and restore dignity to those impacted by conflicts.
SYCAC currently implements an EU grant which was designed and implemented as a response to some of the major challenges and shortcomings faced by the Syrian communities across the country. The project rests on the idea that Syrian civil society actors within the country, including community leaders, grassroots activists, and members of civil society organizations can act as catalysts for positive social change and building a more peaceful and democratic future for Syria. Based on this idea, the project involved the following activities:
• Conducting capacity needs assessments for CSOs representatives, civil society actors (grassroot activists and community leaders to identify the level of knowledge of individuals and identify the knowledge gaps that they have.
• Training and coaching sessions for CSOs representatives, civil society actors, grassroot activists, and community leaders to enable them to have the required skills and tools to participate in the subsequent activities of the project.
• Engaging the participants with peer-to-peer learning sessions to raise their knowledge and exchange of administrative, legal, and operational experiences aligned with advancing networking between the participants
• Coordination meetings among the participants of the peacebuilding club to contribute to building the structure and developing plan of implementation
• Carrying out advocacy campaigns to make their voices heard
SYCAC regularly applies for EU grants for calls related to Turkey, Syria, or the wider region to support conflict-affected communities in their struggle to achieve peace and social cohesion. SYCAC welcomes opportunities to join in consortiums either as project lead or co-applicant.
Projects by: SYCAC
Project 1
- Project Name: Fighting Discrimination to Build our Common Future Project Summary: Increasing the capacity of community leaders and civil society organizations to identify and respond to risks of social exclusion and discrimination through building capacity, supporting community-led initiatives, and promoting networking and knowledge sharing among participating organizations. Main objectives: - Identify and raise awareness on social exclusion and discrimination, and its impact on vulnerable communities, particularly children, women and girls, and refugees - Build capacity and expand space for community leaders and grassroots organizations to promote social inclusion and fight discrimination in their communities - Strengthen coordination and knowledge-sharing among grassroots organizations in fight against discrimination and promote social inclusion Main Activities: The first activity is a context analysis exercise to better understand how different vulnerable groups face different types of social exclusion and what is the impact of this exclusion on their lives. Secondly, 32 selected community leaders will receive trainings in four different spheres: i) Dynamics and types of discrimination, how to identify and remedy them, and safeguarding and protection principles; ii) soft skills trainings that include team building, mediation, public speaking, facilitation; iii) advocacy skills; iv) project management skills. All the trainings will be interactive, and be informed by the context analysis. Third, the skills and knowledge acquired in the training will be put into practice during the social initiatives phase of the project where the community activators will split into 4 group, receive small grants, and implement small scale community initiatives that respond to a form of social exclusion problem, identified in the context analysis. Four, 6 selected grassroots organizations will receive capacity building support to better respond to social exclusion problems identified in the context analysis and increase the impact of their work. And finally, these 6 grassroots organizations will establish a network among themselves to be initially supported by the project to sustain the achievements of the project, to gain a unified voice, and to advocate for the greater inclusion of vulnerable groups and to mitigate the exclusion risks identified in the context analysis through participation in other networks, in policy-making, and other types of advocacy efforts.
Project 2
- Project Name: Economic empowerment of women and youth in earthquake affected regions of Turkey Project Summary: Supporting vulnerable women and NEET (not in education employment and training) youth in smaller towns hardest hit by the February 6 earthquake through increasing their employability in line with job market needs. Project Objectives: - Supporting income generation for vulnerable women and youth - Revitalizing economic activity in hardest hit towns by the earthquake Description of activities: 1- Market and labor market research: As a result of the survey to be conducted, the supply and demand situation of the labor market in the districts will be analyzed by considering the effects of the disaster. As a result of the analysis to be made, professions where supply and demand intersect will be determined. 2- In cooperation with Public Education Centers in selected locations, a vocational training program will be organized based on the relevant curriculum of the Ministry of National Education. 3- Work placement support will be provided for trainees who have completed the vocational training program. Financial support will be provided for business to cover the salaries of trainees for 3 months. Other trainees will be included in the on-the-job training program through relevant public authority. 4- Various psycho-social support activities will be carried out in order to monitor the well-being of the trainees and project personnel.
Project 3
- Title: Promoting gender and conflict sensitive earthquake recovery process in Gaziantep through encouraging and supporting participation of Syrian refugee women in decision-making and coordination platforms Overall Objective: Syrian refugee women’s knowledge and awareness levels with regard human rights-based approaches to earthquake response and recovery process will be increased. Expected Result1: Syrian refugee women’s knowledge and awareness levels with regard human rights-based approaches to earthquake response and recovery process will be increased. Activities - Organizing 15 information sessions with the participation of 10 women in each session to raise the awareness of Syrian refugee women in Gaziantep to cover the following topics: non-discrimination, right to information, rights of displaced people, children’s rights, violence against women and girls, rights of people with disabilities, access to basic rights and necessities including health, education, housing, and social assistance. Expected Result 2: Leadership and advocacy skills of 20 Syrian refugee women will be increased to influence and shape earthquake recovery agenda Activities: - Selecting 20 women from the awareness raising sessions with leadership skills and motivation - Delivering a 12-week training to cover core leadership and advocacy skills of refugee women including: gender equality, leadership and self-esteem, national and local decision-making and coordination platforms, dialogue and conflict management, advocacy, lobbying, and negotiation; media and communications. Expected Result 3: Syrian refugee women’s participation in decision-making and coordination platforms and access to power structures will be enhanced. Activities: - Establishing a refugee women committee to collectively advocate for refugee women’s participation in decision-making in earthquake recovery process - Providing coaching and mentorship support for the committee to draft a perspective paper to reflect their specific needs and demands - Engaging with key decision-making and coordination platforms and bodies, both at local and national level to advocate for the points raised in the perspective paper. - With a view to enhancing outreach and community engagement, organizing community activities to commemorate the following ocassions: International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25); Human Rights Day (December 10), International Day of Education (January 24), among others.