The Best Practices in Lifelong Learning from Turkey

2nd June 2022

By Elif Yildiz from the Boğaziçi University (Turkey) – Comorelp project partner.

The COMORELP Project puts high emphasis on self-assessment of the regions especially in terms of Lifelong Learning policies and activities carried out by the different actors. Each region evaluates the LLL policies and practices according to several key factors and determinants such as innovation, collaboration, effectiveness, inclusiveness etc. Relying on these key factors, good practices are selected and summarised from each region. Below, the four good practices are presented from Turkey.

Literate Hands

The Literate Hands Project, funded by Garanti BBVA Pensionary Fund, aims to return children who work in various workplaces, especially on the streets, to their schools and keep them in school to pursue their further education in order to prevent child labor. The project directly targets at working children aged 11 to 14 at secondary schools (5th -8th grades) and indirectly teachers, school administrators, parents, the Ministry of National Education, and public in general. School pull factors were used as a major strategy to return working children to their schools through some activities based on the interests and skills. Those activities range from art, sports, academic, social and physical activities. Parents of those children were given seminars and trainings on importance of education, parenting and communication skills etc. Teachers and school counsellors were also trained about project related topics. Close follow up, monitoring, supervision, assessment and motivational and supportive activities were carried out by project academic consultants.


Little Things Renew Nature
The Little Things Renew Nature Project has been initiated in 2004 and it is still ongoing. The main objective is to create environmental awareness among children through recycling for sustainable future. Since 2004, 50 000 students each year and overall 850 000 students participated in the activities (6 trainings). The characters and aminations produced just for this campaign, are used in environmental trainings for the first time in schools. A recycling facility called “Recycling kit”, which includes certain phases in recycling, are used in the trainings to provide recycling experience to children. As a result, 85% of students started recycling at home with the “Recycling Kit” practice, more than 15 000 milk and fruit juice boxes are recycled every year in the schools. The most important success factors are good design, planning and implementation of the project through sound and strong private-public-university cooperation.

Managing My Business
The Managing My Business Project, which is initiated in 2012 by funding, provides women entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills that they need to enhance the management of their businesses. Small and Medium Scaled Women Entrepreneur Businesses and women founder of enterprises are the target beneficiaries of the project. More than 3500 women entrepreneurs have been equipped with knowledge and skills of culturally diverse business environment, cross-cultural issues, diversity and values to achieve high performance in the global business environment. The managerial knowledge and skills to underpin woman entrepreneurs’ competencies in the business roles were developed.

POWER
This lifelong learning best practice was initiated by AÇEV (Mother Child Education Foundation) and Equality Matter Initiative (NGO) in 2016. The other actors involved in the project are UN WOMEN FGE, UNICEF, 6 NGOs (in 5 Provinces), 3 Metropolitan Municipalities and 12 Sub-provinces in 5 provinces. The main objective of this practice is to increase literacy levels and empower women who are between the ages of 18 and 40 with no access to formal education and those with low or no literacy. AÇEV developed and implemented the project in line with the changing definition of literacy by taking a multi-dimensional approach to the empowerment of women and their increased active participation in the social sphere into account. Almost 9000 women has been empowered by becoming literate as well as by actively participating in the social sphere through life skills training.

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