Two submissions from IOM Turkey has been selected as good practices by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) among 11 in total from Turkey.

The Division of Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) under UNDESA selected, “Pre-Employment Support Programme for Syrians Under Temporary Protection and Host Communities in Turkey” and “Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SME) Strengthening and Support Programme (Let’s Grow This Business)” among good practices. 

In the five years since the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were adopted in 2015, many governments, UN entities, international and regional organisations and stakeholders have gained in-depth knowledge and expertise and taken innovative steps towards implementing this ambitious global framework.  

Many inspiring breakthroughs and success stories are showing results and impacts all over the world, and several good practices can be replicated and scaled up to address existing gaps and constraints.

The UNDESA Sustainable Development Goals Unit (DSDG) identified 464 practices and programmes that have been successful around the world between January 2020 and March 2021. Among 464, 10 IOM actions acknowledged as SDG good practice this year.

The programme which is run by IOM Turkey’s Labour and Human Development Unit (LHD) “Let’s Grow this Business” is funded by the European Union (EU) and jointly carried by IOM, Turkey’s Directorate General of International Labour Force (DGILF) and International Labour Organization (ILO) continues to support the Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SME) in Turkey. 

So far, 88 businesses that have applied to the first two phases of the programme have been provided with consultancy support and 50 thousand Turkish Liras. 

By participating in the programme, SME owners had the opportunity to work with business development consultants and increased their trade volumes. SMEs also had the opportunity to open up to the international market and had a significant increase in their employment capacities.

As a result of the programme’s third phase interviews, financial and consultancy support will be given to 50 SMEs.

The other selected programme of which is run by IOM Turkey in 2018-2020 is, “Pre-Employment Support Program for Syrians Under Temporary Protection and Host Communities in Turkey”. 

IOM approached some institutions to facilitate the issuance of work permits to foreigners, provide professional certification to beneficiaries and find a suitable company to place beneficiaries in employment. Beneficiaries had 3 months on the job training programme.