Türkiye Annual Country Report 2022 – Country Strategic Plan 2020 – 2022 – Türkiye

Overview

Faced with a deteriorating economy compounded by the global slowdown and Ukraine conflict, 2022 was a challenging year for Türkiye. The record-breaking inflation rates and the local currency depreciation weakened the purchasing power of vulnerable people including refugees. It also exacerbated pressure on the job market battling the knock-on effects of COVID-19 and spurred concerns over social cohesion. Moreover, the arrival of Ukrainian refugees added to Türkiye’s refugee population of around four million – 15 percent of the global refugee population – and fueled the need to extend humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable ones.
In line with its commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 17 (partnerships for the goal), WFP forged new partnerships in 2022 which enabled to secure sufficient funding for its operations and helped to reach close to 65,000 girls and boys, women and men across all its activities.
Under its e-voucher programme, WFP and the Turkish Red Crescent (TRC) provided around 53,000 refugees in seven Government-run camps with monthly assistance. This helped to meet its target of households with acceptable food consumption. In response to the economic deteriorating situation and the record-level inflation rates, WFP increased the transfer value per household [2] from TRY 120 (USD 6) to TRY 150 (USD 8) in January 2022 and delivered three top-ups during the first and the last quarters of the year to help beneficiaries sustain their access to food and other essential needs. Thanks to the generous contributions from long-standing donors, WFP supported 2,400 Ukrainians hosted in a camp in Elazig starting from September 2022 and over 1,500 unregistered Syrian refugees relocated to camps – identified during the Government’s address verification exercise – with the same assistance entitlements.
To verify that the programme is efficiently designed and targeted, WFP and TRC also launched a comprehensive assessment exercise in six camps to assess needs and vulnerabilities.
WFP’s enriched partnerships portfolio, accompanied by multi-year contributions, gave impetus to its livelihoods activities provided under the Socioeconomic Empowerment and Sustainability (SES) programme. This programme targets refugees and Turkish nationals with vocational and applied training. To alleviate the impact of the economic situation on participants and minimize dropouts, WFP increased the monthly stipend delivered during the vocational training from TRY 1,400 (USD 75) to 2000 (USD 107) [5]. In recognition of the need for capacity strengthening in underserved sectors, prioritizing earning income and increasing purchasing power, WFP also expanded the programme to the manufacturing sector to secure more job opportunities for its participants. These adjustments enabled WFP and its partners to double the number of the livelihoods beneficiaries, compared to 2021 and ensured the long-term employment of 893 participants. WFP assistance helped beneficiaries to rely less on consumption coping strategies, especially among hospitality and IT tracks participants. Considering cultural norms and social barriers, such as limitations on women’s employment and engagement in decision-making, WFP adopted a gender-sensitive approach in its livelihoods programming to enrol more women. Hence, women constituted almost half (48 percent) of those employed. WFP also achieved a higher satisfaction level among women compared to men.
In July, WFP resumed support to Sisli Municipality in Istanbul for the implementation of the Network Fresh project. This project is an innovation accelerator investment connecting unsold surplus food from businesses to vulnerable households via municipalities with the aim to achieve zero waste and zero hunger. WFP’s support benefited 744 beneficiaries with 16,440 meals over three months.
As part of its capacity-strengthening activities, WFP facilitated a learning visit for the Ministries of National Education (MoNE) and Labour and Social Security to Germany to exchange knowledge on the country’s dual education system and programmes targeting refugees as well as introduce the SES programme. Furthermore, WFP carried out a cost-benefit analysis of the national school meals programme to support MoNE’s ambitions to enhance its quality and scope.
Under the new Country Strategic Plan (CSP 2023-2025) approved in November 2022, WFP will sustain its assistance to in-camp refugees, and expand sustainable livelihood programming to build the self-reliance of vulnerable Turks and refugees alike. It will also venture beyond refugee programming to support the Government to enhance the national school meals programme.