The Social and Economic Cohesion through Vocational and Technical Education Project, which is managed by the Ministry of National Education and financed by KfW within the scope of the EU’s Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT I), has been extended for fourteen months as of 1 June 2021.

The overall aim of the project, which started to be implemented on November 1, 2018, is to ensure economic and social integration by improving the employability and qualifications of Syrian refugees and Turkish host communities. The primary objectives of the project are to strengthen the social and economic cohesion between Syrian refugees and Turkish host communities by increasing their employability and qualifications, and to increase the access of Syrians under temporary protection (SuTP) and adolescent Turkish youth (14-17 years old) to comprehensive vocational education and training in highly demanded sectors in labor market.

Within the scope of the project, which is being implemented in eight pilot provinces, namely Istanbul, Bursa, Adana, Mersin, Hatay, Kilis, Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, educational equipment and infrastructure support was provided to improve the education and training environments in 55 vocational and technical education institutions, while ten thousand SuTPs and Turkish adolescents are offered support packages in transportation, food and educational materials. In that regard, a strategy is implemented for the promotion of vocational and technical education and raising awareness in order to improve the image of vocational and technical education in the eyes of the public and to increase enrolment rates in vocational and technical education institutions.