Turkish Philanthropic Fund and Sabanci Foundation Working Towards Women Empowerment in Turkey

Vice Chair of Sabanci Foundation, Husnu Pacacioglu, "We are very happy that our Grant Program was found attractive by a Turkish foundation outside of Turkey initiating funding for a project ..."

TPF President & CEO Ozlenen Eser Kalav, "It is through these collaborations that we can empower women and be a part of change in Turkey..."

August 15, 2008 - Sabanci Foundation and Turkish Philanthropic Fund (TPF) are collaborating to support "United Nations Joint Program on Promoting and Protecting the Human Rights of Women and Girls," through Sabanci Foundation Grant Program, which has been supporting the Joint Program for the last 3 years. Through the Grant Program, TPF of New York will provide funding to support "Strengthening the Role of Women in the Workforce (Kasik Tutan Elden Para Tutan Ele)" project of Turkish Women Association of Trabzon (Turk Kadinlar Birligi Trabzon Subesi).

"Strengthening the Role of Women in the Workforce" project aims to translate women's competence in local home cooking to commercial opportunities through training. Initially, 20 women will be trained by the instructors of Technical Education Institute (Teknik Ogretim Olgunlasma Enstitusu)and Vocational High School for Girls (Kiz Meslek Lisesi). They will then go through practical training in the sector. There will also be seminars held on legal rights, people and communication skills, healthy eating habits, sanitation, team spirit, and entrepreneurship. Graduates will be assisted in finding jobs or starting their own businesses.

"Sabanci Foundation Grant Program of the "United Nations Joint Program on Promoting and Protecting the Human Rights of Women and Girls" has given funds to 22 projects in 6 pilot cities (İzmir, Kars, Nevşehir, Şanlıurfa, Trabzon, Van)" said Vice Chair of Sabanci Foundation, Husnu Pacacioglu. "We are very happy that our Grants Program was found attractive by a Turkish foundation outside of Turkey initiating funding for a project, and that we are collaborating with TPF by funding a project on one of the strategic programmatic areas of our foundation: women empowerment."

"As a grantmaker from the US, we understand that we need to partner with the local community to affect change," said TPF President & CEO Ozlenen Eser Kalav. "Sabancı Foundation's Grantmaking Program's approach to women issues gave us that chance by enabling us to fund 'professional development.' It is through these collaborations that we can empower women and be a part of change in Turkey where at times the resources are limited.