As part of our press trip to Gaziantep, a sprawling industrial city on Turkey's southern border with Syria, we, the Daily Sabah, got a glimpse into a promising project that focuses on meeting the needs of refugees and their host communities and were able to speak with Syrian and Turkish entrepreneurs and businesspeople about the impact of such initiatives. A two-day workshop and conference as part of the Turkey Resilience Project – initiated in response to the Syria Crisis (TRP) project implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Technology was held last week on July 30-31 in Gaziantep, to draw up road maps for various sectors and discuss new approaches in the manufacturing industry.

In her opening speech for the "Workshops on Sectoral Roadmaps," Seher Alacacı, assistant resident representative of UNDP Turkey, said they had two target groups: Firstly Syrians, who have fled a major humanitarian crisis and taken refuge in Turkey, and secondly,local communities and municipalities that have been strained by the rapid population growth.

"We aim to contribute to the economic, social, cultural, institutional and individual resilience of both groups with this project," Alacacı said.

The project's goals and scope can be categorized into three main areas:

1. Occupational and technical training

2. Turkish language courses (for 52,000 Syrians)

3. Improved municipal services (for over 307,000 people)

With the TRP project, which was launched on Feb. 1, 2018 with a 50-million-euro budget financed by the EU Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (EUTF), Alacacı said, "Our target is to create more job opportunities in 11 provinces, and provide employment to 2,000 people – 50% of whom will be Syrians and the rest host communities – at the end of two years."

Alacacı underscored that within the scope of the project, Syrians and host communities would be given training on entrepreneurship, and activities aiming to raise awareness on issues such as proving employment services and supporting women's participation in the labor market would be held year-round.

Language training is another crucial component of the project, Alacacı said, as it eliminates one of the biggest barriers facing Syrians in the business world, thereby helping them access formal employment.

She also announced that Competence and Digital Transformation Centers envisaged for the provinces of İzmir, Mersin and Gaziantep – where a large number of Syrians reside – would start operating this year, helping raise awareness about lean manufacturing and inform the public about the transition to Industry 4.0 (dubbed "the Fourth Industrial Revolution") and digital transformation. These centers, as subsidiary projects, will provide an estimated 75,000 job opportunities, she added.

Alacacı said these centers will provide both theoretical and practical training for small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as offer consultancy services for companies to realize lean manufacturing. The Ministry of National Education, İlbank and the Gaziantep Chamber of Industry (GSO) are also collaborating with the UNDP on this project.

"These centers will be established to increase the productivity of companies, provide the necessary technical support to produce high-value-added products and support their potential to create new jobs," she added.

These consultancy and mentoring services will be offered free of charge to five companies or business owners each from four sectors, which are machinery and metals, chemicals and plastics, food and textiles. At the end, the selected businesses will learn: