Mardin, a city in southeastern Turkiye, has a potential workforce, especially amongst women and youth, and can grow considerably in multiple fields, including agricultural production, traditional food production, tourism, culture, and even marketing. What is missing is the value-added production (VAP) and services that can be achieved through branding, cooperatives management, marketing, after-sale…etc., in the region.
In Mardin, the employment participation rate of women is meager. They predominantly work in low-skilled, low-paid, or unpaid family businesses. It is essential to develop programs for women and young people to grow their professional skills and increase their employability while promoting an entrepreneurial culture and ensuring equality of opportunity.
The “A Kitchen Story” project developed by the “Leap Women’s Initiative, Production, and Business-Cooperative,” in partnership with LEAP Turkiye, follows the targets set by the Turkish Republic’s Eleventh Development Plan. The project aims:
- To improve the technical and vocational skills of disadvantaged people.
- To support underprivileged people to adapt to economic and social life.
- To increase the rate of employability.
- To increase the number of social inclusion areas.
- To raise awareness of the climate change
The project addresses these priorities through a holistic approach. It aims to empower the socio-economic status of women and youth in the region while developing human capital.
Within the framework of the project, two food production ateliers are now open in Mardin; one in Savur District and the second in Artuklu District. After the technical and vocational training, the targeted 60 women participants started to produce dried fruits and vegetables in the ateliers and earn a regular income.
The Kitchen Story project aims to increase the production of food with high added value and the consumers’ accessibility to healthy and natural foods through enhancing raw agricultural products into higher market-valued products with natural and hygienic processes.
The project activities aim to support local and natural agricultural production and raise awareness about climate change in partnership with NGOs and public and private sector institutions. First, the local farmers provide the vegetables and fruits used in the ateliers. In contrast, the project offers low-cost and organic fertilizers for the local farmers with the collaboration of the private sector to stop the use of harmful chemical fertilizers. Moreover, the project is set to promote Mardin and its culture. A gastronomy expert will support the women in preparing a cooking book full of delicious recipes from Mardin’s cuisine.
While the project provides technical and vocational training for women as the main objective, it also offers social cohesion amongst the refugees and host communities and GBV training to participants, targeting the TRC3 region (Mardin, Şırnak, Siirt, Batman.)
The “A Kitchen Story” project is funded by the “Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Industry and Technology” and the “Dicle Development Agency”, and it was developed by the “Leap Women’s Initiative, Production, and Business-Cooperative”. The project is implemented by the co-financing contributions of RET International, LEAP Turkiye, and Mardin Savur Municipality, and with the participation of Mardin Metropolitan Municipality, Yeşilli Municipality, Yeşil Hayat Organic Fertilizer A.Ş. It is implemented between October 2021 and March 2023.
