Friday, July 17, 2020
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Turkey Time
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EDT

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Welcoming Remarks:
Frederick Kempe 
President and CEO
Atlantic Council

Opening Remarks:
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger
Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States
United Nations Development Programme

Yavuz Selim Kıran
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Turkey

Panel:
Claudio Tomasi
Resident Representative
UNDP Turkey

Daniela Cicchella
Deputy Representative (Protection)
UNHCR Turkey

Ebru Özdemir
Chairperson
Limak Holding

Moderator:
Maria Ramos
News Anchor
TRT World

Click here to read the Atlantic Council IN TURKEY and UNDP Turkey's report on Turkey’s Refugee Resilience: Expanding and Improving Solutions for the Economic Inclusion of Syrians in Turkey

Please join the Atlantic Council IN TURKEY and UNDP Turkey on Friday, July 17, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. Turkey time, 11:00 a.m. EDT for the virtual launch of a joint report on Turkey’s Refugee Resilience: Expanding and Improving Solutions for the Economic Inclusion of Syrians in Turkey.

Atlantic Council IN TURKEY and UNDP Turkey are delighted to invite you to a timely webinar to present their joint report Turkey’s Refugee Resilience: Expanding and Improving Solutions for the Economic Inclusion of Syrians in Turkey to highlight the contribution of the report to ongoing policy discussion on durable solutions for Syrian refugees and to help showcase the best practices and lessons learnt from the experience of Turkey in leading regionally on the socio-economic inclusion of refugees.

Register here to receive the details to join the event through the Zoom platform which is accessible through your web browser, Zoom desktop or mobile app, and by phone.

Since 2014, Turkey has hosted the world’s largest refugee population, which currently stands at around four million registered refugees. Given the scale of the refugee presence, Turkey largely constitutes a best practice for the global refugee policy discussion. The experience from Turkey on the key focus area of jobs and employment would thus be directly useful to both refugee hosting countries and donor countries alike on how to best foster burden sharing arrangements on socio-economic integration in host countries.

Turkey provides Syrians under Temporary Protection with access to national systems such as health, education, employment and social services. While the temporary protection framework opens the labour market as well as entrepreneurship opportunities, a limited number of Syrians have managed to access work permits.The internationally supported cash response to directly assist the most vulnerable over the past couple of years has been key for refugees to meet their basic needs. However, given both the overall cost of such programs and the uncertainties over their long-term sustainability, the priority of the Government and its partners increasingly focuses on supporting Syrian refugees to access income/employment opportunities and become self-reliant which is deeply entwined with the socio-cultural integration of Syrians in Turkey.

Access to employment opportunities is assessed to be an overarching challenge for refugees in Turkey, alike in many other countries that experience displacement. Turkey not only hosts the largest refugee population in the world but has also put in place a strong and open policy framework to facilitate refugees’ access to the labour market. Yet, access to formal employment remains limited to a minority of Syrians. This has been further exacerbated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many Syrians living in Turkey experiencing partial or complete loss of income while incurring higher expenses, which is compounded for most households by a lack of savings. Addressing these challenges requires to draw lessons learnt at both policy and operational level to effectively support access to livelihoods opportunities. This notably involves fostering greater engagement and partnership with the private sector, on the one hand, and exploring innovative solutions such as e-work and online livelihoods opportunities on the other.