Ideas and Arts Workshop Association (Fikir ve Sanat Atölyesi Derneği – FISA) protects children’s rights through initiatives addressing child abuse, labour, discrimination, migration, disability, and education. Its Children’s Rights Centre works to raise awareness of human rights violations affecting children and develop effective policies while promoting civil society and children’s involvement.
FISA received grant support from the Regional Recovery Support Program, launched under our Kahramanmaraş Earthquake Emergency Relief Fund, to run extensive individual and group psychosocial first aid programmes for children and their caregivers living in container homes in Adıyaman.
Please read the following interview to learn more about their work.
Can you tell us about the challenges faced in the field of children’s rights in Türkiye? How does FISA contribute to addressing these issues?
Children’s rights in Türkiye, as in other parts of the world, are strongly affected by global crises. In addition to these global challenges, children here face issues arising from social, political, economic and cultural changes in the country.
The lack of a comprehensive, democratic, and rights-based child policy has become increasingly evident. Such a policy should recognise children as active political actors, respect their freedoms, and prioritise their well-being in any crisis. Unfortunately, the absence of this leads to serious rights violations for children, including exposure to violence, extreme poverty, and discrimination. These conditions negatively affect children’s lives, resulting in serious rights violations, and in some cases, preventable deaths.
At FISA’s Child Rights Centre, we work to identify and address these violations, to make them visible and to develop model solutions. One of our key objectives is to implement the “right to participation,” which is central to children’s rights. We believe that the best way to combat disempowerment is by ensuring children can actively participate in all aspects of life, enabling them to fulfill their potential.
During crises, it’s vital to provide psychosocial support. Helping children express their needs and voice their concerns allows them to regain a sense of normalcy in their lives. At FISA, we focus on developing sustainable models that support children’s recovery through art and media without over-emphasising their trauma.
Additionally, we often find that there is insufficient monitoring and reporting of the effects of crises on children. For this reason, collaborating with local organisations to track and report rights violations is crucial.
Although we haven’t reached thousands of children, we have made deep connections with the children we have worked with.
With the grant support of our Regional Recovery Support Program, you are implementing the Child Rights-Based Psychosocial Support Project in Post-Disaster Settings project. Can you tell us about the aim and activities of this project?
Before we began our fieldwork, we anticipated that children’s voices would be overlooked after such a massive disaster and that many children would face challenges accessing their rights, including protection from violence and mistreatment. While there have been some improvements, the situation is still far from ideal.
At FISA, we entered the field with a child-centred, rights-based approach, and it quickly became clear that this approach was necessary. One of the most profound impacts of our work has been to change the way children are perceived by local adults and institutions. Although our approach of centring children and ensuring their participation wasn’t fully understood at first, the positive changes in the children made it clear how important this approach was.
Beyond our direct work with children, we engaged local individuals and organisations to help them understand the importance of listening to children and recognising their rights as human beings.
Looking back over the past year, we’ve built a far-reaching network in a city that was previously unknown to us. Although we haven’t reached thousands of children like larger humanitarian organisations, we have made deep connections with the children we have worked with.
What sets us apart from other organisations is our focus not just on providing support but also on monitoring and reporting child rights violations. By involving other local democratic organisations in our work, we’ve helped bring children’s rights to the forefront of their agendas.
What key factors should be considered when working with children in post-disaster settings, and what challenges do organisations face?
In both disaster and non-disaster periods, we’ve observed that civil society organisations are often highly motivated to work with children. This motivation only increases after disasters, as children are among the most affected groups.
However, there are important ethical questions to consider before undertaking such work. The primary question should be: why is this work being done? The answer must always be to benefit the children, not the organisations involved. Unfortunately, we sometimes see organisations working in disaster zones for self-promotion rather than the children’s welfare, which can ultimately cause harm.
Even when an organisation’s intentions are good, this alone isn’t enough. Organisations working with children, particularly in disaster-affected areas, must have a rights-based understanding of children’s needs and expertise in child development. They must be able to engage with children as equals and see them as subjects with their own rights.
Furthermore, it’s crucial to recognise that working with children means working with their entire ecosystem—parents, teachers, local authorities, and peers. The capacity of organisations in Türkiye to adopt this holistic approach is still limited, but we do see some promising examples, which gives us hope.
At FISA, we’ve faced our own challenges, particularly given the scale of the crises we’ve responded to. We’ve learned that it’s essential to be present on the ground, observe the situation firsthand, and develop solutions in collaboration with the children themselves. This experience has been incredibly valuable for us, both in terms of learning and in refining our rights-based approach.
We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to your donors for their trust in our work and their solidarity.
What are FISA’s future goals and projects? Has the grant support impacted your plans?
FISA’s Child Rights Centre will continue its work to protect and advance children’s rights. Unfortunately, we anticipate that crises and rights violations will persist in the coming years. Therefore, we will continue monitoring and reporting these violations to raise awareness and engage the public.
We also plan to expand our efforts to prevent child labour. We are particularly interested in speaking with child labourers and analysing the current situation.
In Adıyaman, where we’ve been working for the past 15 months, we aim to extend our work for another year. We’ll continue to develop our psychosocial support programs through art and media, reaching even more children. We want to amplify children’s voices by encouraging them to create their own blogs, newsletters, books, videos, and music. Our legal advocacy work, including case tracking and strategic litigation, will also continue.
In the future, we will focus on children’s right to life, education, and the right to organise. We plan to meet with children regularly to understand what’s happening around them and to support them as they navigate these issues.
Why is it important for work in the field of children’s rights to be supported by donors? Do you have a message for our donors?
Support from diverse donors strengthens both children and the children’s rights movement. It helps create a powerful force for ensuring children’s access to their rights and freedoms and fosters greater awareness of children’s rights issues. This, in turn, builds momentum for meaningful change.
Turkey Mozaik Foundation and the Support Foundation for Civil Society have always stood out as unique among our donors. What sets them apart is that instead of a typical donor-recipient relationship, they work with us side by side, like teammates, to empower the people we support. It’s a rare kind of partnership where both the donor and the association feel like part of the same team, united by a common goal.
We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to your donors for their trust in our work and their solidarity. We’re committed to continuing our efforts to make a real difference in children’s lives, helping them lead happier, better futures.
