Women Access to Income Program
- This program was developed to support women’s access to income. Women who were affected by the disaster and who are trying to create and improve their income sources are the mother of the program. 2-3 months after the February 6 earthquake, women who took action to turn their labor and products into income under very difficult conditions also mobilized us. In the first step, women who want to start or develop their business are provided with tools or materials. Secondly, women are provided with the technical information they need to develop their business and increase their income.
- This program works with women with different production and commercial identities. Women earning income by producing products such as tomato paste, phyllo dough, molasses or handicrafts and embroidery more than their needs and selling them to their close circle is a very old and continuing practice. On the other hand, there are also women who are registered as commercial enterprises or home-based producers. Our program aimed to embrace all these women.
- This program is an initiative of solidarity between women. Mavikalem is a women’s organization and aims to strengthen the ground for gender equality from a female perspective. Women are asked to represent only themselves in their applications. It is essential that they determine their own prioritized needs to increase their income. In the projects, each applicant is supported with a fixed budget and tools or materials (in kind). We meet with experts based on their self-identified information needs.
What women want to do, their expectations and enthusiasm have shaped our projects and what we will do.
- In August 2023, with the support of the Foundation de France, we started our first project called Women Access to Income. Our goal was to support 50 women. In the fall of 2023, 12 more women were supported with the support of Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development. In August 2024, 20 more women were supported in the project that started with the support of Turkish Philanthrophy fund.
In each project, the criteria were maintained to ensure equal opportunities for women beneficiaries. Implementation was based on the improvement steps taken from the previous project.