Emergency Relief Fund
The Emergency Relief Fund provides grants and capacity-building support to civil society organisations (CSOs) working on the ground, aiming to offer immediate relief, recovery, and assistance to affected populations. Whether it’s distributing essential supplies, providing shelter, offering much-needed psychosocial support, establishing safe spaces for women and children, or securing access to critical needs, we aim to ensure that affected communities receive prompt and comprehensive support.
We have supported various initiatives to address challenges faced by communities during times of distress. We initiated emergency relief campaigns for several crises, including the Elazığ and Izmir Earthquakes, the wildfires of summer 2021, the refugee crisis at the start of 2020, and COVID-19.
Please find more information about the fund’s grantees below:
Support to Life Association (Hayata Destek Derneği)
Support to Life Association (Hayata Destek Derneği) is an independent humanitarian organisation founded with the principle aim of helping disaster-affected communities meet their basic needs and rights. Since 2005, Support to Life conducts its activities with principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence and accountability. STL received a grant from our Turkey Wildfire Relief and Mitigation Fund in 2021 and provided 38 families affected by the wildfires in Adana and Antalya with total cash support of TRY 152,000 (TRY 4,000 for each household) to help them with their needs in terms of furniture, rent support, house renovation, and improvement of livelihoods.
Natura Nature and Culture Conservation Society Association (Natura Doğa ve Kültür Koruma Derneği)
Established in Ankara, Natura carries out activities to protect sweetgum forests by way of creating a corridor between the sweetgum forests, assembling the fragmented forests and reversing the destruction process of these forests. The sweetgum forests are found only in Southwest Anatolia and are on the verge of extinction due to fragmentation. With this grant, Natura will carry out an inventory scan in the areas affected by the wildfires and will scan these areas with 10 camera traps to reveal the current situation of the wildcat population. Natura will carry out monitoring activities for 12 months in an area of 100 km2, and will attach satellite transmitters to two wild cats to reveal the habitat use of wildcats in the burned and unburned areas.
The Labour Is Mine Women’s Association (Emek Benim Kadın Derneği)
The Labour Is Mine Women’s Association, established in Muğla in 2013, aims to contribute to the economic, social, cultural, legal, political, and individual empowerment of women, and provides legal and psychological support to women who are subjected to violence. With this grant, the association will support women who had to leave their villages in Turgutbayır – Marmaris regions due to the wildfires, by guiding them in accessing the financial and in-kind support provided by the public institutions and civil society organisations in helping them resettle. At the same time, the association will cover the urgent needs of 30 women and their families who lived in two rural areas of Turgutbayır and were not able to reach the existing support mechanisms providing clothing, household goods, and support for children’s education.
Nature Conservation Centre Foundation (Doğa Koruma Merkezi Vakfı)
Nature Conservation Centre Foundation provides a centrally organised pool of expertise and technical capacity for conserving biodiversity in Turkey and the surrounding area with farmers, farmer’s associations, the government, and academic institutions in the light of the European Union policies. The Foundation will conduct environmental monitoring activities on the forest and maquis shrubland ecosystem as well as tracking the revitalisation of the forest life with the active participation of the citizens. All the information obtained from these monitoring activities will be shared through a website to inform society about the developments.
Yuva Association (Yuva Derneği)
Yuva Association generates holistic and sustainable solutions to environmental problems, education, and social issues. The association also works to support the personal development of adults and young people through lifelong learning, raise awareness regarding the environment, and contribute to eradicating poverty. Yuva Association received a grant from our Turkey Wildfire Relief and Mitigation Fund in 2021 to raise awareness about natural disasters caused by climate change, along with the measures and response methods for these disasters. The association will organise Climate and Nature Literacy training for 960 beneficiaries with different socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.
İzmir Education Cooperative (İzmir Eğitim Kooperatifi – İZEK)
İZEK is a sustainable cooperative that strives to create a just society by meeting the basic educational needs of individuals from all age groups through lifelong learning. İZEK carries out projects and educational activities for young people, refugees and teachers in the fields of art, rural development and quality education. With the İzmir Earthquake Emergency Relief Fund grant, İZEK aimed to provide educational drama-focused psychological support for 134 children. İZEK designed age-appropriate training materials and the impact evaluation process. İZEK held five online meetings with 164 parents to discuss topics such as “Emotional Awareness and Regulation Skills” and “Effects of Traumatic Experiences and Ways of Coping”. For the 134 children participants, İZEK organised an 8 week-programme of trainings of 80 minutes each.
Support to Life Association (Hayata Destek Derneği)
Support to Life Association (Hayata Destek Derneği) is an independent humanitarian organisation founded with the principle aim of helping disaster-affected communities meet their basic needs and rights. Since 2005, Support to Life conducts its activities with principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence and accountability. As part of this project, STL planned to conduct a needs analysis on the field with a group of volunteers from the students of the Social Work Department of Fırat University in Elazığ. To strengthen the capacity of the students, STL implemented an accelerated training program on how to respond to emergency interventions.
Basic Needs Association (Temel İhtiyaç Derneği-TİDER)
Basic Needs Association (Temel İhtiyaç Derneği-TİDER) works to ensure that all people are able to meet their basic needs in a fair and equal manner and uses the food banking model as an important tool in combating hunger, poverty, and waste prevention. TİDER also works with the beneficiaries to help them access jobs compatible with their competencies and abilities. TIDER’s project aims to provide trainings and supervision to local stakeholders in Malatya and Elazığ on opening and operating two Support Markets to serve people who are affected by the earthquake directly and indirectly. A sustainable model will be implemented in the region in order to ensure that post-disaster donations and products will be saved from waste and directed to designated people in need with a systematic approach.
Needs Map (İhtiyaç Haritası)
Needs Map (İhtiyaç Haritası) is a web-based matching platform active in Turkey that enables people in need to connect with those who can help them through providing in kind support. The platform aims to learn and verify the non-monetary needs on the basis of individuals and communities, to collect and list them on a map-based approach, and to facilitate the process of meeting the needs of institutions, organizations or private individuals. The Needs Map aims to identify and map the needs of individuals affected by the earthquake in the region and to meet these needs from local businesses through the use of Needs Map Social Marketplace which allows people to provide the needs of a particular area from the local suppliers. Thus, the project will contribute to the local economy of Elazığ and small business owners who financially struggles after the earthquake.
Civil Society and Media Studies Association (Sivil Sayfalar)
Civil Pages will carry out monitoring, evaluation and awareness-rising activities on the Research Commission for the Investigation and Determination of Measures Against the Earthquake (Depreme Karşı Alınabilecek Tedbirlerin Araştırılarak Alınması Gereken Önlemlerin Belirlenmesi Araştırma Komisyonu) which was established as a result of the joint will of all political parties represented in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey following the earthquake in İzmir. With an aim to monitor the developments regarding the Commission’s work and promote CSO participation in this process Civil Pages, will prepare a news series on the Commission and will also organise an online workshop to facilitate the involvement of CSOs in Commissions working process. At the end of the project, Civil Pages will also prepare a report on the work of the Research Commission and the participation process of CSOs.
Turkish Psychologists Association İzmir Branch (Türk Psikologlar Derneği-İzmir Şubesi)
As part of the İzmir Earthquake Emergency Relief, TPD İzmir Branch aims to provide acute and long-term psychological support to people who have been directly or indirectly affected by the earthquake. Psychosocial support activities will be carried out in the tent/container areas in the first month in accordance with the requirements of the acute period. 48 psychologists will be trained on trauma intervention techniques. TPD İzmir branch will provide therapy support to people who experience post-traumatic stress symptoms. Including the acute phase, a total of 2.400 people will benefit from psychological support provided by the association.
Search and Rescue Association (Akut Derneği)
The main purpose of the Search and Rescue Association (Arama Kurtarma Derneği-AKUT) is to conduct voluntary search and rescue work in natural disasters and accidents such as earthquakes, floods or major hazards. AKUT provides basic first aid to the victims, ensures their transfer to safe conditions, minimise loss of life in such incidents and informs the public about search and rescue issues. Following the earthquake in İzmir, AKUT will purchase equipment that search and rescue teams need in their fieldwork and the volunteers will receive training on how to use the equipment. Additionally, AKUT plans to provide food and hygiene packages to 250 families affected by the earthquake in the tent/container areas.
Support to Life Association (Hayata Destek Derneği)
The aim of the project is to improve sufficient hygiene conditions for the people affected by the Izmir earthquake by providing portable toilets for temporary tent/container camp areas. Given the additional risks associated with the COVID-19 outbreak, STL observed the need to provide additional portable toilets and improve periodic disinfection services. Within the scope of the project, 72 portable toilets will be placed in temporary tent camps in Bornova and Bayraklı for a period of 10 days.