Project Summary
Grantee	: İstanbul Esenyalı Women’s Solidarity Association
Purpose	: Improving the economic, psychological, social and physical life quality of the women living in Pendik and Maltepe districts through women’s rights trainings, art workshops and activities to empower their organizational capacity.
Location	: İstanbul
Grant Amount	: 224.867 TL
Project Partner	: Women’s Solidarity House Association of Gülsuyu Gülensu
Period	: 5 September 2020 - 31 December 2021
Status	: Completed
Project Year	: 2020

Background

It is seen that the vast majority of women living in Pendik and Maltepe, where violence against women and femicides are most common, do not have sufficient information about their legal rights, protection mechanisms and the application processes they should follow when they experience violence. Similarly, they meet many social and cultural obstacles in accessing education and health services. Increasing the awareness of gender equality, strengthening the women as individuals and improving their quality of life by being in solidarity environment is crucial for the women in the region.

Project Goals

• In the group of 15 people in Pendik and Maltepe, with 200 women, ’I am learning with my sister’ trainings that consists of 8 modules on topics such as gender, violence, city rights, body and health, will be held.
• The workshops of ’I am producing with my sister’ will be held in the fields of breathing, creative drama, rhythm, writing, and painting with 300 women.
• On 25 November and 8 March, activities that will support organizing skills will be held within the framework of ’Hand in hand with my sister’.
• A qualitative research on violence against women will be conducted in the region.
• An e-booklet in which the project model is transferred will be prepared and shared with civil society organizations.
• The results of the research will be presented to the City Council Women’s Assembly of Pendik Municipality.

Project Results

• ‘Learning with My Sister’ trainings were completed both by using face-to-face and online methods due to the pandemic with a total of 97 women. (8 groups were formed in Pendik with 75 women and 2 groups in Maltepe with 22 women) The training consisted of 8 modules on topics such as gender, violence, urban rights, body and health.
• With the participation of 133 women ‘Producing with My Sister’ art workshops were held (rhythm workshop with 8 women, breathing with 103 women, painting with 10 women and creative drama workshops with 12 women).
• The ‘Hand in Hand with My Sister’ open-air festival was held in Esenyalı, which was attended by 2,000 people. The women who participated in the art workshops performed on stage.
• The ‘Violence Report’ was published which includes a detailed analysis of 164 acts of violence that the Association provided counselling.
• Within the scope of the project, ‘a local community network model’ was created and shared with the relevant institutions/organizations.
• The results of the research were shared with municipal councillors, political party representatives and representatives of 80 civil society organisations.

Testimonials

“I knew about March 8th, but I did not know where it came from. It turns out we have had a lot of fights for our rights. We always had to fight for something.” ‘Learning with My Sister’ Training Participant

“I did not know that a vaccine for the cervix cancer existed. This is the first time I have heard. I would like to be vaccinated but the insurance does not cover it, the government should do. All girls need to be vaccinated at schools like other vaccines.” ‘Learning with My Sister’ Training Participant