The village of Sarit in southern Turkey lies just 100 kilometres from Aleppo – one of the hot spots of the Syrian conflict – and has received an influx of Syrian refugees seeking safety. Being so close to Syria, most of the residents speak Arabic as well as Turkish and have welcomed the new families.
But there has been an outflow too of Sarit’s young people who leave for the cities in search of further education and work.
Many of the remaining residents are small landowners growing olives and raising livestock who need trained agricultural and other workers to continue their livelihoods.
For the past year, FAO has worked with government and private sector partners to develop training programs for the refugees and Turkish citizens in the skill areas that are most needed by the farmers. Hundreds of Syrian refugees and host community members trained by FAO have attended job fairs, been introduced to private sector companies and found jobs through the networks they developed.
When the training courses were finished, FAO set up job fairs to introduce the newly skilled individuals to potential employers.
So far 900 people including over 400 women and 300 members of the Turkish host community across five provinces have been trained through the program, and many of the participants have gone on to find jobs. The second phase for an additional 650 people is planned for the remainder of 2018 and will expand into new provinces including Kilis where Syrian refugees now make up 95 percent of the population.
The project is funded by the UN refugee agency UNHCR and the Government of Japan, and is implemented in partnership with Turkey’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and in collaboration with the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Original source: FAO
Published on 29 June 2018
