Many corporations are celebrating Corporate Philanthropy Day today. Started by the Committee for Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy it is “intended to build awareness of corporate-community partnerships.” We at TPF believe that’s definitely worth celebrating – and the perfect way to close out our Empowering Turkish Girls campaign. Corporate-community partnerships have been critical to TPF’s work, especially…
By Servet Harunoğlu Hisar Anadolu Destek Derneği I was in Van for 3 days last week and returned back on Saturday. The situation in Van is worse than I expected. I did not realize that the problem was so large. Most of the buildings in the city are damaged and they are waiting for demolition.…
By Elmira Bayrasli Engaging men, focusing on childcare options and educating women were some of the suggestions made during our Twitter chat on empowering Turkish girls and closing Turkey’s gender gap. The chat kicked off Turkish Philanthropy Funds’s month-long campaign on empowering teen girls. Istanbul-based journalist Claire Berlinski participated and, subsequently, had questions about the…
By Elmira Bayrasli Turkey may be a rising economic star and emerging leader in the Middle East, but it still has long to go to close the gap on gender equality. Released this week as the World Economic Forum convenes, the global network reports in its annual Gender Gap report that Turkey, the 16th largest…
By Matthias Scheffelmeier The last decade has seen the rise of Turkey as a regional and global leader with a dynamic and strong economy.At the same time, Turkey has also been facing critical development and democratization goals with poor track records in human rights, women’s empowerment, its treatment of its minorities and journalists. Can social…
Happy 2012! Like most people, we at TPF, have been thinking a lot about not only the year ahead, but the year past. For those in Van, Turkey, it was a hard one. The devastating earthquake that struck the Southeastern Turkish city left several hundred dead and thousands homeless. With temperatures below freezing that has…
By Kayhan Karli Turkey has a long-standing tradition of educating teachers. However, it is not possible to say the same thing about their professional development, which has not been a priority in Turkey. Teacher training is defined in two major areas: pre-service training and in-service professional development for teachers. Regarded as a professional occupation, teaching…
By Dicle Kortantamer “Why didn’t you go to work for Google?” someone asked after I graduated from computer engineering. I had gone into banking. When I graduated in 1998, Google was just being incorporated as a private company and technology talent primarily existed in the West. In 2011 that’s different, and that’s a good thing.…
By Ayca Ariyoruk(Editor’s Note: This post has been cross-posted at onphilanthropy.com ) In our previous issue, we carried the first part of an article based on an interview with Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and now head of UN Women. In Part 2, Bachelet talks to Turkish Philanthropy Funds about women, leadership, the “mommy…
This morning a 2-week old baby was pulled from the rubble in Van, Turkey. It was remarkable news amid a grim situation. Sunday’s 7.2 earthquake in Van, Turkey has been devastating. Southeastern Turkey was already an economically deprived area. With few jobs and educational opportunities, its citizens have struggled for a long time. It has…