KİLİS (ILO News) - The ILO Office for Türkiye in cooperation with the Social Security Institution (SGK) held the “Kilis Provincial Consultation Meeting” as the first event of workshop series planned for many provinces to promote formal employment and assess the labour market status of and offer recommendations for Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTPs) and International Protection Applicants and Status Holders (IPASs). The workshop series is kicked off in Kilis by the participation of public agencies and civil society organizations.

The meeting was honoured by Mr. Semih Doğanoğlu, Lieutenant-Governor of Kilis, and attended by the representatives of DGILF, SGK, ISKUR, Presidency of Migration Management, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Chamber of Agriculture and labour market governance institutions in Kilis.

Delivering the opening remarks, Mr. Semih Doğanoğlu, Lieutenant-Governor of Kilis, said: “We believe we are holding an important meeting that will contribute to employment in Kilis. We hope it will be an enlightening event where technical and practical matters will be discussed for the operationalization of this project which we believe is important for our country, our province and particularly for Syrians under Temporary Protection as a result of the joint work undertaken by the International Labour Organization and our Ministry of Labour and Social Security.”
Following Mr. Doğanoğlu, Mr. Abdülkadir Akkaş, Kilis Provincial Director of SGK, emphasized the importance of the project.

After the opening remarks, an introductory presentation was made on the “Transition to Formality Programme (KIGEP)”, and information was provided to the participants on the schemes undertaken to promote formal employment, which concluded the morning session.
At the closed afternoon session, a governance meeting was held by the moderation of Prof. Dr. Oğuz Karadeniz to discuss informality and status of SuTPs and IPASs in the labour market. The findings and recommendations of institutions at Kilis on formal employment would serve as the basis of a report on identifying effective, appropriate policy making that would be publicised.

The ILO Office for Türkiye has since 2015 working on enhancing the access of SuTPs and IPASs in Turkey to livelihoods, increasing their resilience and social cohesion with host communities. It works with the government and workers’ and employers’ organizations to promote decent work for all without discrimination.

The workshop series are held under the Supporting Resilience and Social Cohesion with Decent Livelihood Opportunities Project funded by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).