A session of “The Orientation Training in the Project of Support for Social Service Centres (SSCs) as Part of Protective and Preventive Services’’ was held in Gaziantep between 19 and 22 June 2018, with the participation of both specialists from the United Nations and the managers and specialists of the project technical team from the Ministry of Family and Social Policies. The training was organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Ministry of Family and Social Policies in a cooperative initiative and financially supported by the unit of the European Civil Protection and   Humanitarian Aid Programme (ECHO) of the European Commission. During the four-day training, about 100 personnel who will start working in the SSCs were trained.

We are working together to bind up the wounds of the humanitarian crisis

In the speech she made at the event, Gül Erdost, Specialist on the Humanitarian Programme, Women Empowerment of the United Nations Population Fund, said: "We initiated this project in the aftermath of the Syrian crisis in cooperation with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies and the financial support of the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Programme (ECHO) of the European Commission with the aim to relieve the impacts of the humanitarian crisis suffered by the Syrians living outside the camps. In today’s training, we will talk about our aims in this project and how we can achieve them together, and the services we should deliver within the project. Like all other projects, we have so far executed together with the Ministry, we expect that this project will also yield successful outcomes.”  

Hamdi Sıcak, Head of the Department of Psychosocial Support in Migration, Disaster and Emergencies under the Directorate General of Family and Community Services in the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, who made the opening speech of the training, said: "Today, we are here for the project jointly executed by our Ministry and the United Nations Population Fund. During the training sessions regarding the services that would be delivered as part of the project of support for Social Service Centres, you will have the opportunity to get informed not only on the general and specific aims of the project, but you will also get to learn about how our Ministry operates’’.  

Mobile Service Centre is to be put into service to reach out the communities in need

Latife Uslu, Assistant Specialist in the Department of Psychosocial Support in Migration, Disaster and Emergencies under the Directorate General of Family and Community Services in the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, who made a presentation during the event, first informed the participants about the projects of the Directorate General of Family and Community Services. Stating that the Social Service Centres have already been established in 81 provinces, she said that the Ministry of Family and Social Policies aims to establish such centres also in districts. She further said that 20 Social Service Centres established in 19 provinces included in the Project have been improved and developed to deliver services to vulnerable foreign nationals, particularly to the Syrians who are under temporary protection in Turkey. In her presentation, Uslu said: “Another component of the project is to have 3 Mobile Service Centres operational. The mobile units will deliver services in locations where there is no SSC close by and in quarters where Syrians live. Thus, we will bring the services provided by the Social Service Centres to the doorstep of people in need, sparing them to the effort of coming to the centres. We also intend to set up training tents in the locations we reach out to so that more people have access to our training programmes’’.   

What do the trainees think about the project? 

Speaking about the importance of the work they would perform in the Social Service Centre, a teacher who will serve in the centre in Kahramanmaraş said: “Physicians work to save lives; we will work to offer a better future to fellow humans”.  

Asked about his opinion about working with Syrian refugees, another participant who will serve as a child educator in Mersin said: “In my opinion, the origin of the country is not important at all as far as humans in difficulty are concerned. It applies especially to someone like me, who works with children that no child can select the country or the family she or he would be born. In this sense, I am very happy that I will help children, treating them equally”.  

Speaking with the participants who would serve the Syrians under temporary protection in the Social Service Centre in Gaziantep, we got the impression that they were all enthusiastic, looking forward to beginning work in the centres. Asked about how they prepared themselves for the work awaiting them, they said: “Participating in fieldwork on a voluntary basis, we are observing the conditions Syrians live in. We are improving ourselves with the support we receive from the personnel already working in the Social Service Centre. As newly recruited personnel for this project, we have a great deal to learn in respect of the particulars of the work. We want to eliminate our deficiencies as soon as possible, reaching out to the Syrians under temporary protection and delivering the services to enable them to have better living conditions.”

In the training session, the participants received information about the following:  

• Information about the Project of Support for Social Service Centres (SSCs) as Part of Protective and Preventive Services;   
• Organisation, Functions and Organisational Structure of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies;   
• Projects of the United Nations Population Fund;
• Information about the General Framework of the National and International Legislations on Refugees;  
• The General Framework of the International Protection in Turkey and the Regulation on the Temporary Protection and the Registration Procedure;  
• Functioning of the Social Service Centres and Working Principles of its Units, Regulation on Social Service Centres;  
• Guidance and Referral Mechanisms (Cooperation with Stakeholders);  
• Development of Communication Skills and Effective Communication Techniques;  
• Duties and Responsibilities of the Personnel with the Title Case Consultants in SSCs within the project;  
• Duties and Responsibilities of the Personnel with the Title Psychologist in SSCs within the project.

About the project:

“The Project of Support for Social Service Centres (SSCs) as Part of Protective and Preventive Services’’, which is executed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in cooperation with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies and financially supported by the unit of the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Programme (ECHO) of the European Commission, intends to ensure and maintain a harmonious co-existence between local people and the Syrians, empower individuals and provide that vulnerable groups having difficulty to access to social services have easy access to these services to be delivered in 20 Social Service Centres (SSCs) and three mobile SSCs established in 19 provinces with predominantly Syrian population through psychologists, child instructors, teachers, social workers, translators/interpreters and service intermediaries, who will serve in the said centres. The project aims to reach out to a population of 150.000 people consisting of individuals, children as well as disabled and elderly people.