The “Zero Tolerance for Violence” training being delivered to KARSAN employees online through “ILO Academy”, the digital training platform of the ILO Office for Turkey, contributes to raising the awareness of KARSAN employees on violence and harassment both at work and in daily lives.

ILO’s “Zero Tolerance for Violence” training started for KARSAN employees in May 2021 at ILO Academy digital platform.

Having completed the training programme and expressing his views on the impact of training on himself, Mr. Ersel Duman, Group Leader of Welding Line, said: “Even though some try to picture it as an “uncontrollable and instantaneous” behaviour, violence is indeed an act wilfully chosen by the perpetrator.”

“Through training, I have better understood the cycle of violence”

“I have better understood that violence does not erupt suddenly, but starts at various dimensions (e.g. psychological violence), and if not countered at the very beginning, it spirals into a cycle, a maelstrom.”

As the first online programme of ILO Academy launched in May 2021 and delivered first to the employees of KARSAN, Turkey’s local producer of commercial vehicles, the “Zero Tolerance for Violence” training is provided in the context of ILO’s work to promote gender equality at enterprises and world of work and increase women’s employment.

Objective: To prevent violence and harassment at work and home

The training on prevention of violence and harassment is also a continuation of the gender equality training provided face-to-face to KARSAN employees in 2019-2020, and aims to increase their awareness on violence and harassment and prevent violence and harassment at work and home.

Training raises awareness

Having recently completed the training and received the online certificate, Mr. Duman expressed that the training raised his awareness on violence and harassment.

“I have once more realized in this training that we must respect the right of women, children and everyone around us to say ‘no’. We must respect others’ rights to disagree with us, have their own opinion. We must not blame the victims of violence, be aware that violence is not the fault of a victim, and we must teach everyone this precept.”

“Everyone should receive the training”

“I am the father of two girls, and perhaps for this reason, such concepts as ‘Gender Equality’ and ‘Zero Tolerance for Violence’ mean a lot to me. I will recommend all men and women around me to visit ILO Academy to have this and other training programmes. I am aware that individual awareness-raising is not alone sufficient, we must raise awareness in the society as a whole.”

“I’ve learned at training that date violence is psychological violence”

Another KARSAN employee, Müberra Tüfekçi, Spare Parts Procurement Engineer, underlined that the training created and raised awareness on matters which she had never thought about or been aware to date.

“I did not know or was not aware that date violence, which almost all women experienced but overlooked, was a serious matter in the category of psychological violence. I thought that something put aside as silly jealousy could indeed lead to different consequences in the future.”

“From now on, I will not allow particularly my female friends to overlook most things they experience in their relationships, and share with them what I have learned in the training.”

Training covers topics on violence against women and combating violence

The training programmes offered under the under the “More and Better Jobs for Women Programme” implemented by the ILO Office for Turkey with funding from Sweden include such topics as gender-based violence, types of gender-based violence, common misconceptions about violence against women, impact of violence against women, violence at work, types of violence at work, impact of violence at work, pandemic, enterprise-level good practices for preventing violence and harassment at work, combating violence and mechanisms for combating violence.

Training on violence is the continuation of training on gender equality

ILO and KARSAN signed a cooperation protocol in July 2019 by which the “ILO Gender Equality Model for Enterprises” was implemented at KARSAN in order to promote gender equality, increase women’s employment and ensure continuity of gender equality in KARSAN’s policies and practices.

Under the model implementation, training sessions were delivered on gender equality to management and production staff of KARSAN to increase awareness on gender equality.

It is planned to provide the “Zero Tolerance for Violence” to all KARSAN employees.

Trainees to receive certificates upon completion

Acting on the motto “Digital Learning for All, All for Social Justice”, ILO Academy has commenced service at https://iloakademi.org/ where prospective trainees may register for access to online training. Users will have the training free of charge, and receive certificates upon completion.