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COUNCIL OF INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP CIF TURKEY
PROFESSIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAM
28 April – 27 May 2005
“Turkey, more than a bridge between continents”1
Tomasa Bañez, Social Worker, Lecturer of Social Work Department,
University of Zaragoza, Spain |
I could say that I have always had my most interesting personal and some of
my most challenging professional experiences travelling. So, I did not
hesitate when Emilia and Gloria, two colleagues and friends from Barcelona,
encouraged me to apply for a cultural and professional exchange programme in
Turkey, run by the Council of International Fellowship. Knowing that this
organisation had programmes in other countries all over the world I decided
to choose Turkey because just the mention of this country evoked exotic
images, friendly people and a rich cultural and religious background.
My participation in the 2005 Turkish Programme of this organisation gave me
a great opportunity to combine my personal and professional interests:
travelling and meeting people from different cultural backgrounds and the
exchange of ideas and experiences related to social work. The programme aims
to promote a personal and professional exchange for social service workers -
mainly social workers - from different countries and includes both social
and working activities. This means living with Turkish host families, social
meetings and events and visits to social service agencies. There were five
of us, all social workers, taking part in the 2005 Turkish Programme: Helga
from Austria, Mary from New Zealand, Ann Christine from Sweden, Tracey form
Scotland and myself from Spain.
Talking about the programme itself; all of us agreed that while the visits
to social service agencies had been very interesting, it would have been
more useful to visit fewer institutions, which would allow us to observe
closely how social workers carry out their professional activities. Host
families were really kind and friendly with us, and a good example of
Turkish hospitality.
The professional part of the programme gave me an insight into Turkish
social policy, social services for different target groups of clients,
social work and social work training. Meeting the Social Policy Forum
members in the Bosphorus University in Istanbul gave us further knowledge of
social policy in Turkey. By visiting social service agencies, social work
educational establishments and the Association of Social Workers, we had the
opportunity to discover how social services are run and how social workers
carry out their professional activities. Although the aim of this paper is
not to analyse in depth the Turkish social policy and social service
situation, I would like to share with the readers some of my impressions.
As far as I could observe there is not a real social policy or a social
service system in Turkey, but not because the country cannot financially
support it, but because the majority of politicians – as in other many
countries - think that social policy or social services are not necessary in
their country. According to their 'neo-liberal' approach, economic
development will create job opportunities for everybody. For those who
cannot work (elderly and disabled people or children) the traditional
support network, mainly the extended family, but also the social provision
dictated by Islam (the soup kitchens during Ramazan, the distribution of
food to the poor during Kurban Bayram, etc.) will provide them with the
proper care. But unemployment is increasing because of the difficulties of
the Turkish economy and the massive arrival of immigrants from the south-east.
So only 45% of the workers are able to make provision for pensions and
health insurance, and the capacity for support from the extended family is
decreasing. To face this situation The Social Policy Forum has requested
that the Turkish government implement a real social policy to meet social
needs of people and to contribute to the social and political stability of
the country.
We were told that the Social Service Directory and the Child Protection
Agency depends on the national government and runs social aid and social
services. In addition, local authorities deliver social aid too. Social aid
aims to cover basic needs of people and to fight effectively against poverty.
This aid is delivered to elderly and disabled people who have not paid
National Insurance contributions and poor families with children. The amount
of money given is very low (about 90 Euros per month), because this social
aid was created as a means to support the care from the extended families
and politicians think that financial support could discourage people from
looking for work. Very often people use this help to cover their health
assistance needs or their children's school expenses because health and
educational systems do not meet the needs of everyone. According to the
expert opinion of the members of the Social Policy Forum a real social aid
system in addition to current social assistance measures should include a
minimum income for people who are not able to find a job or cannot work.
To try and improve this situation the Turkish Social Work Association
recommended that authorities create community centres in low-income areas.
Social workers are doing their best to empower women and children (by
organising courses on human rights and vocational training), but they spend
most of their time delivering social aid (mainly financial support) to
elderly and disabled people who have been unable to pay social security, and
to poor families with children. This situation is caused not only by the
increasing number of needy applicants but also because of bureaucracy and
lack of co-ordination between local and national authorities. We were also
told that the criteria to deliver this social aid should be improved in
order to make them more professional and objective (for example, muhtars
play a very important role delivering social aid in terms of locating
families who are in need and certifying the poverty of the applicants for
this aid). This improvement would require further training of the social
workers involved in the social aid system and for them to take more
professional responsibilities in running of this system. According to the
opinion of the Turkish Social Work Association social work is a relatively
new and undervalued profession in the country. After the earthquake of 1999
social workers were more recognised because of their important role in the
delivery of humanitarian help to the victims.
Generally speaking, I could say that there are several contradictions in the
social service system. We visited institutions whose professionals carry out
interesting and productive projects in family planning, women's rights,
rehabilitation of abused children, young drug addicts and torture victims
and social integration of disabled people. But also we visited oversized
residential care facilities unsuited to the needs of their clients. Most of
the children cared for in these facilities came from poor families who could
not afford to bring them up. With reference to disabled people, these
facilities did not have specialised services and due to the lack of trained
staff volunteers were used for meeting only basic needs. But maybe one of my
greatest surprises was the small number of Non Governmental Organisations. I
have visited countries (Nicaragua for example) in a more difficult situation
than Turkey, but where people have organised themselves into associations,
which deal with poverty and lack of public services. So this kind of
organisations could force the government to implement a real social policy
and improve the social service system. As well as a means of creating and
running some services or projects. We were told that people are afraid of
taking a more visible role in public life because after the last coup d'etat
in 1980 they have lost several political rights.
Talking about my personal discoveries, I exchanged my experiences and ideas
with the other participants, Council of the International Fellowship members
and the host families. In addition, I improved my previous knowledge of
Turkey and Turkish people. From my experience as a social worker I know how
difficult and slow social changes are. Together with many Turkish people, I
hope the process of negotiation for European Union Membership will help
Turkey to improve the situation of excluded people and not only improve
their laws in a formal way. Now I am aware of the cultural and social
diversity of the country and also of the contrasts and contradictions. I
hope, as Gloria Rubiol (2004) does, they will be able to deal with these
contradictions and Turkey will became not only a geographical bridge between
continents, as it is currently, but also a cultural and religious bridge
between Western and Eastern societies. Finally, I hope my positive
professional and personal experience will encourage social workers to take
part in this international exchange programme.
References
Bugra, Ayse and Keyder, Caglar, 2003, New poverty and the changing welfare
regime in Turkey, Ankara, United Nations Development Programme, available on
Internet: http://www.undp.org.tr/
Rubiol, Gloria, 2004, Turquía, entre Occidente y el Islam. Una historia
contemporánea. Barcelona, Ediciones Viena.
http://www.cifinternational.com/WN_aug2006.pdf
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