Meet the new civil society members of “Equal City”!

Date: Monday, 13 February 2023

UN Women’s Strong Civic Space for Gender Equality project, which aims to advance gender equality and women’s rights in Türkiye through support to civil society organizations (CSOs), is expanding its area of impact by providing financial and technical support to new CSOs from 10 different cities. Project partners and grantees recently set out on their journey in the Equal City to develop and grow their organizations while contributing to a stronger civic space to advance gender equality and women’s rights in Türkiye.

Meet the new Equal City members

Using illustrations to depict its work, Equal City is led by young women and men, CSOs, local authorities, universities and media working together to advance women’s rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment. The city now has six additional project partners and 18 small grantees, for a total of 43 CSOs receiving support from UN Women for project implementation and capacity development. UN Women’s support includes technical assistance and grants for networking, knowledge and experience-sharing, capacity-development, data- and evidence-based advocacy, and building empowering partnerships with public institutions, local authorities and academic institutions.

Nine project partners implement programmes in various areas: eliminating violence against women and girls, advancing women’s economic empowerment, enhancing women’s leadership and meaningful participation in climate action, advancing youth’s transformative role in gender equality; and increasing women’s access to justice.

Let’s have a peek at two of the newly established partnerships in Equal City:

Members of Association of Women with Disabilities. Photo: Courtesy of Association of Women with Disabilities

Association of Women with Disabilities - Partner for research on the needs, priorities and status of women with disabilities, Ankara

“We are glad to be a project partner in this project, in which we will be collecting qualitative and quantitative data on disabled women. We hope that this data will be beneficial for service and policy planning processes in the future.”

Elif Emir Öksüz, Project Coordinator

Community Volunteers Foundation - Partner in advancing youth’s transformative role in gender equality, Istanbul

“We believe that women should play an active role in every aspect of their lives. To this end, we have been delivering training and supporting youth projects on gender equality since 2002. We feel happy to be a project partner in this project to create a bigger impact in this field and build an equal future for all.”

Ayşe Kırımlı, General Manager

In addition to establishing strategic partnerships with civil society, Equal City is supporting 33 small CSO grantees by building their capacity to advance women’s rights and gender equality. Let’s take a closer look at the new grantees:

Members of Antalya Women's Counselling Centre and Solidarity Association. Photo: Courtesy of Antalya Women's Counselling Centre and Solidarity Association

Antalya Women’s Counselling Centre and Solidarity Association, Antalya

“Our Association offers legal and psychological support for women in Antalya who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing violence. Since 2000, we have been working to eliminate any forms of violence and discrimination against women by organizing trainings on women’s human rights. With the small-grant support, we aim to develop our capacity to reach broader audiences in our region.”

Vildan Temelkuran, Association Psychologist

Members of Association for Supporting Contemporary Life Şile Branch. Photo: Courtesy of Association for Supporting Contemporary Life Şile Branch. — Members of Association for Supporting Contemporary Life Şile Branch. Photo: Courtesy of Association for Supporting Contemporary Life Şile Branch

Association for Supporting Contemporary Life, Şile Branch, İstanbul

“We believe that our association’s culture and objectives for this project should both align with our end goal to support women and girls by working for gender equality. We have no doubt that the capacity-development trainings we will organize with the small-grant support for our members and young volunteers will lay the groundwork to evaluate and improve our progress towards this goal.”

Serpil Gür, Association President

Members of Changing Steps Association. Photo: Courtesy of Changing Steps Association. — Members of Changing Steps Association. Photo: Courtesy of Changing Steps Association

Changing Steps Association, Istanbul

“With the small-grant support, we will develop the capacity of our volunteers, increase their know-how and become a more active civil society organization. The support will help us become stronger and continue implementing new projects that reach more of the community.”

Pınar Gökpınar, Bookkeeper

Members of Dem Association. Photo: Courtesy of Dem Association

Dem Association, Istanbul

“Since 2014, we have been delivering trainings on gender-based rights to deaf and hearing-impaired women, through the ‘Deaf Women’s Rights’ platform. We aim to support the empowerment of women while bridging the gap between the women’s movement and disability rights movement. To be able to achieve this, we will be developing our capacity through the small-grant support.”

Ayşe Damla İşeri, Founding Member and General Coordinator

Housewives Solidarity and Development Association, Adana

“Lately, we have been facing difficulties in using digital marketing tools due to the lack of technological infrastructure and insufficient knowledge. With the photo booth we will set up thanks to the small-grant support, our members’ products will be photographed more professionally and reach wider audiences with more efficient use of marketing tools.”

Ferzan Özyaşar, Project Coordinator

Members of Gola Culture, Art and Ecology Association. Photo: Courtesy of Gola Culture, Art and Ecology Association

Gola Culture, Art and Ecology Association, Rize

“Our association aims to modernize traditional production methods and empower women in rural development. Thanks to the small-grant support, we will prepare our gender equality policy document and conduct gender equality dialogues in the eastern Black Sea region.”

Özlem Şendeniz, Project Coordinator

Members of Hayat Sende Youth Academy Association. Photo: Courtesy of Hayat Sende Youth Academy Association

Hayat Sende Youth Academy Association, Ankara

“Hayat Sende Youth Academy Association was founded in 2007 by a group of idealist youth who grew up under state protection who carry out activities to support children and young people raised under state protection to better adapt to social life without discrimination. The small-grant support will allow us to hold capacity-development trainings for both our members and beneficiaries, the majority of whom are women.”

Rümeysa Bozdemir, Co-Founder

Women in Fisheries Society, Ankara

“We came together in 2019 as women from various occupations, for the sustainability of the marine economy and the empowerment of fisherwomen. Through the small-grant support, we aim to analyse the legislation on fisheries from a gender perspective, strengthen our organization’s monitoring and advocacy through trainings and work on advancing the rights of women in fisheries.”

Sevinç Konkuş, President

Members of KATRE Women's Counselling and Solidarity Association. Photo: Courtesy of KATRE Women's Counselling and Solidarity Association

KATRE Women’s Counselling and Solidarity Association, Erzincan

“Since 2019, we have been working to support the creation of an equal future for all. The small-grant support will help us strengthen the capacity of our association, through trainings for both our members and volunteers. The more we develop our capacity, the more we will have access to our target group, namely women, children and the LGBTIQ+ community.”

Cansu Polat, Project Coordinator

Members of Red Pepper Association. Photo: Courtesy of Red Pepper Association

Red Pepper Association, Istanbul

“With the small-grant, we have kicked-off our project ‘Development for an Equal Tomorrow’. With trainings and workshops to gather women and youth from civil society organizations around Türkiye, we are aiming to increase awareness on gender equality and become stronger together by expanding our network.”

Bahar Ari, Project Coordinator

Leader Women Association, Mardin

“Since its foundation in 2010, our Association has been working to ensure women and children’s access to protection services in Mardin, a city in the southeastern part of Türkiye. The small grant will support us with capacity-building trainings and allow us to reach more people in need.”

Leyla Onur Yarar, Board President

Members of Lotus Women's Solidarity and Life Association. Photo: Courtesy of Lotus Women's Solidarity and Life Association

Lotus Women’s Solidarity and Life Association, Kocaeli

“We started our journey in 2017 by dreaming of a world where women are empowered, violence against women is eliminated and gender equality is achieved. Since then, we have been working to turn this dream into a reality and thanks to the small grant, we will become stronger and have a greater impact in Kocaeli with more workshops and trainings to raise awareness on gender equality.”

Bilge Öztan Çoker, Project Coordinator

Members of Ovacık Village Women’s Seed Association. Photo: Courtesy of Ovacık Village Women’s Seed Association

Ovacık Village Women’s Seed Association, Istanbul

“Through the small-grant support, we aim to increase awareness and knowledge on seeds, biodiversity, the climate crisis and the role of women in combating climate change. As a result of capacity-building efforts, participating women will be able to deliver trainings and reach more people with their know-how about ancient local culture.”

Fatma Denizci, Founder and President

Members of Yüksekova Social Impact and Culture Association. Photo: Courtesy of Yüksekova Social Impact and Culture Association

Yüksekova Social Impact and Culture Association, Hakkari

“As the first local women’s association in Hakkari, a city in southeastern Türkiye, we work to achieve gender equality, eliminate violence against women, support women’s empowerment and their equal access to social, economic and political rights. We believe that we will become stronger through the capacity-building trainings thanks to this support.”

İpek Arslan, President

Implemented by UN Women, the “Strengthening Civil Society Capacities and Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships to Advance Women's Rights and Gender Equality in Turkey” project will continue until September 2024. The project is financed with approximately EUR 4.5 million in funding from the European Union under the “Civil Society Facility and Media Programme”.