The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) joined 15 cities from around the world as winners of the Global Mayors Challenge by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
The winning program in Turkey was inspired by the tradition of askıda ekmek, which dates to the Ottoman Empire and translates to "bread on the hook," Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu said. Some customers would pay for extra bread that bakers would put "on the hook" to let people know it was available to those who could not afford it.
Imamoğlu transformed the concept into a network of mutual aid that allows donors and recipients to remain anonymous. He said the pay-it-forward program created a "feeling of solidarity" among people in Istanbul, whether they were giving or receiving. The program started with utility bills, allowing those who wanted to help to check a city website to see the amounts of water and natural gas bills that needed to be paid.
About $14 million in utility bills have been paid through the program since it began last year, Imamoğlu said. Istanbul's program then expanded to include scholarships for university students and packages that support new mothers and their children. "I’m very happy to be able to introduce such a system because this project, it can go on forever, it’s very sustainable and renewable," Imamoğlu told The Associated Press (AP) through an interpreter, adding that if it would be adopted by other cities around the world, he would feel like "a very powerful angel."
James Anderson, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Government Innovation programs, said the organization has high hopes for Istanbul’s program because "it’s government acting as a platform to make it easy for people to be good neighbors."
Bloomberg Philanthropies is supporting the innovative solutions of 15 cities to try to get others to use them as blueprints to battle the world’s urban problems. The winners of this year's Global Mayors Challenge, announced Tuesday, span 13 nations and will make their solutions available to cities worldwide to replicate. They will each receive $1 million and technical support from the philanthropic organization of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to help develop and expand their programs. They range from using technology to support tree maintenance in Sierra Leone to creating new farm models in the Philippines and addressing the opioid crisis in New Jersey through a public-private partnership that quickly delivers medication to reverse opioid overdoses.
"As the world works to address the profound public health and economic effects of the ongoing pandemic, cities can implement innovative ideas at a pace that national governments simply can’t match," Bloomberg, the billionaire founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg L.P., said in a statement.
"Our 15 winners offer bold, achievable plans to improve health, reduce unemployment, empower women, and more." Anderson said it was difficult to pick from the 50 finalists, who developed programs last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. The winners "really represent the spirit of city innovation, the positive legacy that has come out of a very, very difficult period of time," Anderson said.
The full list of winners are: Amman, Jordan; Bogota, Colombia; Butuan, Philippines; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Hermosillo, Mexico; Istanbul, Turkey; Kigali, Rwanda; Kumasi, Ghana; Paterson, New Jersey; Phoenix; Rochester, Minnesota; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Rourkela, India; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Wellington, New Zealand.