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Internal UNICEF Document

RAPID ASSESSMENT OF TURKEY COUNTRYPROGRAMME

1997-2000

Augustus TiambengConsultant to UNICEF Ankara

UNICEF AnkaraAugust 2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

RAPID ASSESSMENTTURKEY COUNTRY PROGRAMME 1997-2000

Executive Summary

I. INTRODUCTION 81.1. The Assessment Process 8I.2 Overview of Turkey 9

II. ANALYSIS 11II. 1 Relevance of the Programme 1111.2 Adequacy of the Programme 1211.3 Advocacy 1211.4 Strengthening Management of Child Survival 15

Protection & Development11.5 Empowerment of Families and Communities 1611.6 Improving Information Base for Child Survival, 19

Protection & Development11.7 Support to the Process of Decentralization 2011.8 Impact of Mid-Term Review Assessment 2211.9 Adjustments Made During the Programme: 23

The Earthquake ProgrammeII. 10 Country Programme Budget Performance 28

III. STRATEGIC LESSONS LEARNED 29

IV. FUTURE DIRECTIONS 33

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYRAPID ASSESSMENT

COUNTRY PROGRAMME 1997-2000

1. Socio-economic Trends in Turkey: Overall the Turkish economy shows trends towardlower purchasing power for consumers and more threats to the consumption of basic socialneeds resulting from decreased incomes, higher unemployment and inflation. There will bewider income disparities between groups, regions, and between urban and rural areas. Tradedeficits, negative Balance of Payments, and domestic and external debt situation will alsocontinue to pose difficulty in the government's ability to provide social safety nets to thepoorest sectors affected by the economic downturn. The enormous losses in lives,infrastructure, and businesses resulting from the two earthquakes will further drawgovernment resources from the mainstream socio-economic programmes towards therehabilitation of the affected areas.

2. Relevance and Adequacy of the Country Programme: The Country Programme (1997-2000) was designed to support the goals and objectives of the CRC/CEDAW and theNational Programme of Action (NPA) of Turkey.The following programme areas were defined to address the goals and objectives:a) Civil Society Mobilization (Support for Community and NGO Participation);b) Support for Regional and Intra-Urban Disparity Reductionc) Social Research and Monitoring; andd) Policy, Planning and Development.There is relevance in the goals and objectives since these were adopted from the NPA and theCRC, which have the force of law. But while the goals, objectives, problems and strategieshave been adequately identified, the formulation of the four programme areas to address theproblems poses difficulties in establishing a direct causal linkage between these areas and theobjectives. It is a conceptual framework that is not amenable for testing via the logicalframework evaluation method to whether the programme area is effective or not.

3. Advocacy: The program engaged in an intensive promotional campaign of awareness-raising on the CRC and of developing strategic partnership with both government and civilsociety in complementary roles. Local and international NGOs were mobilized in support ofits three program concerns: health and nutrition, education and the status of women, and childprotection. Most of the activities were for the purpose of mobilizing partners at both nationaland sub-national levels to collaborate on program implementation. There was a majoryearlong CRC Promotion Campaign which started in November 1999. Earlier in October1999 the Children's Information Network in Turkey (CINT) was launched by the Presidentand the Unicef Executive Director.In April 2000, a National Congress for Children brought together about 1000 people from allover the country: youth, professionals from the health, education, justice, labor, parliament,NGOs and the universities. The congress identified the 10 major areas of problemsconcerning survival, development and protection of the children and proposed solutions. Thechildren submitted a declaration to the President who promised to follow-up the issues.In July 2000, the Progress of Nations was launched together with the Four Instruments toMonitor CRC Implementation in Turkey, namely:a) The State of Women and Children in Turkey: Perspectives in the Context of CRC and

CEDAW:

b) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): Relevant Laws and Legislation of theRepublic of Turkey;

c) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): Implementation Checklist of the Republicof Turkey (which include 572 indicators); and

d) The Progress of Regions in Turkey: Towards Advancing the Quality of Life for All

The cumulative advocacy efforts of Unicef, the media and civil society through the yearsresulted during the period in a demonstration of government political will with the adoptionof child-related policies and the enactment of important legislation.a) the compulsory iodization of all table salt produced in Turkey by July 1999;b) the 8-year compulsory education law of 1998;c) incorporation of the Comprehensive Basic Education Analysis to the Basic Education

Reform; andd) the Law on the Protection of the Family was passed.

Of the three concerns, child protection provided most activities, a reflection of this newconcern in the country and the demand for knowledge on its issues.

4. Empowerment of Families and Communities: The Country Programme adapted to thesituation of diminishing government expenditures in the social sector by adopting measuresthat would allow the community to assume a greater role such as:a) giving more emphasis to village level intervention, primary health care and referral

system, which better attends to the people's needs in a more cost-effective way;b) adopting more intersectoral collaborations and partnerships with community volunteers in

the delivery of social services; andc) reviving participatory practices inherent in the people's culture e.g., imece, or voluntary

labor contribution by community.

The programme infused participatory approaches largely centered on the implementingfunction and with the combined participation of both village leaders and immediate end-usersof the intervention. This indicates the long work ahead towards empowerment where thepeople can take more control over the project and are not only a delegated cooperator orpartner.

5. Improving Information Base: The research agenda contained mostly baseline studiesfor the design of pilot projects. The baseline studies and other data and information have tobe consolidated. They should be used to establish the socio-economic and demographicprofiles of the at-risk groups and to identify and map them at the household level for thepurpose of programme targeting. The Geographic Information System (GIS) now used forthe earthquake areas is an appropriate tool and could be used for this purpose. This is thesecond step since the available situation reports have already identified the priority areas atthe provincial level.

6. Support to the Decentralization Process: The Country Programme's support todecentralization has so far been limited. The programme tried to provide practical examplesof area-based pilot projects in the provinces of Van and Yozgat that demonstrated localmanagement and implementation of intersectoral programmes. The programme showed howdecentralized planning and management are done by the Provincial Child Committeecomposed of relevant directorates of the sectors of health, education, agriculture, and village

works. It is chaired by the Provincial Governor (or the Deputy) who is the integrating factorof the whole inter-sectoral effort.

The area-based programme provided important lessons for the discussion aboutdecentralization. First is that the provincial and district levels are natural places forintegrating and facilitating intersectoral interventions. Second, local governments readilyaccept social indicators on the quality of life (QOL) as a development agenda afterundergoing a situation analysis backed up by research. And third, the people's culture andsocial support systems could be a rich source of methods for mobilizing communityinvolvement, project cost sharing and co-ownership, and for ensuring sustainability of projectinvestments.

Support to decentralization in Turkey will have to be made more relevant by including inputsto the discussion of financing issues, especially as they pertain to resource poor areas whereQOL indicators are worst.

7. Impact of the Mid-term Review: The MTR suggested strategic activities related to massmedia relations, development of national experts to document programme innovations andexperiences, developing monitoring and evaluation mechanism and using operationalresearches to develop and identify best practices. These outstanding issues need immediatelya (strategic/unified) plan and effective implementation.

8. Programme Adjustments Made: There were no significant adjustments made on theregular programmes of the MPO. There was, however, a major addition to the workprogramme as a result of two powerful earthquakes that hit Turkey in 17 August andNovember of 1999. The two disasters caused more than 18,000 deaths, damaged 291,000buildings, schools and hospitals and made 600,000 people homeless. Worse, the social effectsof the disaster lingered. Thousands of children suffered different degrees of trauma and as aresult began to perform poorly in school while some of them had nutritional problems.Unicef responded with two timely interventions. First was the emergency operation madewithin 72 hours after the earthquake. It brought relief supplies essential for survival: waterand sanitation facilities, water purification tablets, disinfectants, health kits, vaccines,vehicles, generators, tents, educational materials and toys.

Second was the Recovery Plan for Turkish Children (RPTC) which was a caring operation toreclaim the future. Unicef mobilized international fund support from 11 donor countries and17 Unicef National Committees totaling $US 15.2 Million. These funds were used for theremaining relief operations and for the effort to bring the children and their families andschools quickly back to normalcy.

The RPTC had 5 sectors with 9 projects with an implementation period of 9 months. Themain purpose of the programme was to ensure that all children and mothers had access to apackage of services essential for growth and development of children in the transition phase.Health and Nutrition Expanded Programme of Immunization

Nutritional SurveillanceRehabilitation of Primary Health Care Centers

Water & Environmental Safe Drinking Water Support ProgrammeSanitation Environmental Sanitation Support ProgrammeEducation Reactivation of schooling activitiesPsychosocial Intervention School based project

Support to service providersThe implementation of the RPTC provided Unicef in Turkey a wealth of experience inimplementing a major emergency programme. The experience brought new programmeinnovations like psychosocial intervention and child friendly spaces, new collaborations, newtechnologies, and new programme resources.

9. The regular programme demonstrated examples of interventions and strategies thathave been proved effective in Turkey as in other societies. Among these that the regularprogramme successfully applied were:

a) Advocacy and social mobilization as an initial phase of the programme;b) Information infrastructure to compete for public attention;c) Capacity building for implementation partners;d) Intersectoral approach to delivery of services;e) Participatory approaches and empowerment to improve demand for services, ensure

sustainability, and attain cost effectiveness; andf) Area-based management of social projects for greater implementation effectiveness and

efficiency resulting from greater (local) accountability and supervision.

10. The Programme Budget Performance: The PROMS (Programme ManagementSystem) has the format, filing system and tools for performing operations especially forplanning and reporting outputs, unit costs, expenditure per cost item, totals, etc., broken downper month and year. The system can provide robust analyses that can help the programmesimprove absorptive capacity. The financial reporting/tracking can be improved. Eachprogramme, especially its training and pilot projects, must have reports (processed from thePROMS data) about direct and indirect costs that are further broken down to majorexpenditure items. These financial details are important documentation to measure costefficiency and to provide basis for future replication of activities.

11. The focus in the future will be on the pursuit of appropriate social developmentstrategies in a middle-income country like Turkey that is in the process of radical economicand social transformation, namely:

a) intersectoral approaches such as IMCI, primary health care and the referral system,integrated ECCD - Mothers' training, creche and youth centers etc. that are more cost -effective;

b) empowerment and participation that enable community volunteers and the households inthe communities to take responsibility for the pursuit of their welfare including theadoption of new patterns of behavior and initiating demands for services. Towards thisend, culturally relevant social support systems will be tapped to enhance the participationprocess;

c) area-based (provincial and district levels) entry and management of programmes thatwould allow optimum coverage/utilization of interventions per spatial concentration ofthe at-risk population;

The Unicef as a catalyst must take measures to:a) ensure the relevance of its programmes to the people's needs and culture;b) select priority target groups and areas for potential high impact on the improvement of

social indicators at both the provincial and national levels;

c) consolidate the partnerships and alliances formed in the past programmes by activating orbringing the partners to joint activities with adaptive learning processes and capacitybuilding measures like training and studies;

d) plan advocacy and mobilization efforts from a long-term strategic perspective. Theagenda for change will have to be prioritized and assigned for pro-active monitoring andfollow-up through the activated CIB sub-groups. Accordingly, the research andcommunications should be aligned to this agenda;

e) facilitate voluntary replications especially by local administrations, using own fundsleveraged with those of international financing institutions (IFIs). Along this effort,collaborations within the UN system would be pursued with greater vigor as with recentexperiences with ILO-IPEC, UNAIDS, FAO and WHO.

The Unicef in Turkey should continue its state of ready response to emergencies. ItsEarthquake Programme experience should be "packaged" for ready adoption by the countryas part of disaster preparedness

Finally, there is a strong call for justice for youths in the adult detention centers whose casesare delayed due to inadequacies in the juvenile justice system and whose rights needprotection. Just as in the Earthquake Programme, the future of these youths and the childvictims in the streets should be reclaimed.

Internal UNICEF Document

RAPID ASSESSMENTCOUNTRY PROGRAMME 1997-2000

I. INTRODUCTION

I.I. The Assessment Process

The assessment attempted to review the Country Programme by putting each of theprogramme areas through the logical framework method that evaluates performance againstplanned target activities, outputs, objectives and goals. This method has the strength ofproviding quantitative assessment of the implementation process as well as the outcomes(effects and impact) through objectively verifiable indicators. Logframe, however, could notbe performed. One main reason, as will be explained further in the following section onadequacy (Section II.2), is that the formulation of the programme areas does not permit an in-depth analysis on the causal linkages between the individual programme areas and the higherlevel of objectives and goals. Outcomes in relation to objectives (effects) and goals (impact)can not be measured.

Another reason is the inadequacy of reports that would show planned targets and actualaccomplishments. The programme's system of progress reporting does not provideinformation for such quantitative analysis. This assessment is based on the annual reports, theMid-Term Review, research studies undertaken from 1997 to 2000, statistical reports onTurkey, and situation reports on the programme.

The assessment method now applied on the Country Programme is one that is based onnorms and needs. It adopts in part the "needs-based" approach that works as a complement tothe logframe, which is "goal-based." * This assessment reviews performance againstqualitative norms based on clientele needs such as relevance, participatory approaches, andsupport to decentralization etc., which were listed in the assessment terms of reference. Thesenorms also include capability to adjust to valid and compelling needs of the clientele ofwomen and children that might emerge during the course of the programme. Meeting theseneeds then also becomes a norm.

*The "needs-based" approach calls for project evaluation based on people's needs. It fearsthat project goals may not necessarily be what people need or could even be anti-people andtherefore assessment based on stated goals is mere "validation" rather than evaluation.

The assessment proceeds first with the rationale for the norm explained or justified and theninformation on the programme is analyzed to assess its performance against this norm. Thisassessment cautiously took note that certain norms may not be taken as absolute and have tobe qualified. For example, practice of advocacy must go hand in hand with capabilitybuilding of service providers. Advocacy alone would only raise people's expectations andcreate unmet demands that it could be interpreted as simply "instigating." Participation andsupport to decentralization have also been placed in the context of the country's overallsituation so that evaluation based on such norms can be more relevant and appropriate.

1.2 Overview of Turkey

1.2.1 Key Indicators on the Situation of Children and Mothers (TDHS 1998)

1. Population. Based on the Turkish Demographic and Health Survey report of 1998, Turkeyhas a population (survey taken 1997) of 62.9 million of which are 25.15 million are below18 years of age. There were also 1.5M ages 0-11 mos. and 1.3M 12-23 mos. of age.

2. Safe Water. About 26% of HH in Turkey do not use safe drinking water. The highest non-user is the East region, specifically, Erzurum sub-region composed of 7 provinces with54% of its HH without safe drinking water.

3. Sanitary Toilet. The country has 31.3% of its population not using sanitary toilet.Erzurum sub-region has the highest with 58.2%.

4. Poverty Line. The State Institute of Statistics estimates about 14.2% as below the povertyline. The East region's 4 sub-regions have the highest poverty rates in the country.Erzurum had 44.7%; Diyarbakir with 8 provinces had 39.7%; Sanliurfa with 5 provinceshad 36.5 % incidence; and Elazig with 5 provinces had 30.3%. All these sub-regions havemore than double the national rate.

5. Registered Marriages. Turkey has about 7.5% of its marriages without officialregistration. Highest are Diyarbakir, Erzurum and Sanliurfa sub-regions with 29.2%,21.4%, and 19% respectively.

6. Births Assisted. Trained health personnel assist about 80.5% of births. The 4 eastern sub-regions had below the national average with 41%, 64.2%, 64.7%, and 79% forDiyarbakir, Erzurum, Sanliurfa, and Elazig respectively.

7. No Education. The country has 16.7% of the women population, ages 15-49, without anyeducation. Again the 4 eastern sub-regions have the highest percentages with 42%,41.5%, 39%, and 31.4% for Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Sanliurfa, and Elazig respectively.

8. Exclusive Breastfeeding. Infants who were exclusively breastfed up to 4 months wereabout 9.4% of the population.

9. Full Vaccination Rate. Infants who have had full vaccination by 1 year of age whoreceived one dose of BCG, 3 doses of DPT and OPV, and 1 dose of measles vaccine were45.7% of the population. The lowest rates were from the East region with Erzurum sub-region having the lowest at 18.6%.

10. Infant Mortality Rate (1993-98). IMR for Turkey was 42.7%. The 3 highest sub-regionswere Erzurum (83.7%), Diyarbakir (63.9%) and Eskishehir with 5 provinces with 53.8%.

11. No Birth Registration. The percentage of children under 5 years of age without birthregistration was 27.2% on the national scale. Diyarbakir sub-region had the highest at57%.

12. School Enrollment. The percentage of boys and girls 7-13 years of age who are notenrolled in school are 21.2% and 31.9% respectively showing more girls are withouteducation. Again the 4 sub-regions in the East plus Eskishehir sub-region have the highest

rates with Diyarbakir, Erzurum, and Sanliurfa having 61.4%, 59.4%, and 46.3%respectively on girls. Eskishehir had 42.7%.

13. Malnutrition. The prevalence of underweight among children under 5 years of age is8.3% in the country. The 5 sub-regions above the national average are Erzurum (24.5%),Diyarbakir (18.7%), Sanliurfa (13.6%), Adana (10.85), and Elazig (10.3%).

1.2.2 General Economic and Political Situation

For the last 10 years, Turkey experienced three boom and bust cycles. In 1991 GNP growthrate dropped to near zero after the previous years' high growth, due largely to losses inrevenue from the Iraqi pipeline rentals after the Gulf War. In 1994, GNP growth againdropped to minus 5% and then in 1999 to minus 6.4% in constant prices. Per capita incomealso decreased in 1999 to USD 2,878 after a period of increases $3,000 in 1996, $3,105 in1997, and $3,213 in 1998. Explanations for the decrease were the contagion of the SoutheastAsian financial crisis and of other developing countries in 1997 and 1998, the capital outflowfrom Turkey following the Russian crisis in 1998, and the early general elections in 1999 firsthalf and two devastating earthquakes in the second half.The following selected indicators also show the economic trends in Turkey (Banks in Turkey1999).

Indicator (Unit) 96 97 98_ 991. GNP Growth (%) 7.5 8.0 3.8 -6.42. Unemployment (%) 5.8 6.9 6.4 7.3

Urban 9.3 9.7 9.9 11.7Rural 2.9 4.2 3.2 4.0

3. Inflation (%)Wholesale 85 91 54 63Retail 80 99 70 69

4. Outstanding Domestic Debt/GNP(%) 47 43 45 585. Outstanding External Debt (US$ Bin) 84.1 91.5 106 111.26. Interest Expenses/GNP(%) 10.0 7.7 11.7 13.67. Foreign Trade (US$ Billion)

Exports 23.1 26.2 26.9 26.6Imports 42.4 48.1 45.9 40.1Trade Deficit , 10.5 11.2 9.3 7.3

8. Balance of PaymentsCurrent Account Balance/GNP(%) -2.4 -1.4 0.9 -0.8

Overall the economy shows trends toward lower purchasing power for consumers and morethreats to the consumption of basic social needs resulting from decreased incomes, higherunemployment and inflation. There will be wider income disparities between groups, regions,and between urban and rural areas. Trade deficits, negative Balance of Payments, anddomestic and external debt situation will also continue to pose difficulty in the government'sability to provide social safety nets to the poorest sectors affected by the economic downturn.The enormous losses in lives, infrastructure, and businesses resulting from the twoearthquakes will further draw government resources from the mainstream socio-economicprogrammes towards the rehabilitation of the affected areas.

The current government coalition of three parties has been showing political will by hangingon to the latest economic reforms to put a rein on inflation that affects the poor most. This is

not without short-term costs, however, because this means less salary and wages increasesrelative to inflation, loss of subsidies to the agriculture and rural sector, and reducedgovernment spending overall.

The state appears to be holding on to these reforms despite their unpopularity. It aims tofinally put its house in order to improve its chances of joining the common rules of thepolitical and economic bloc of the European Union. Turkey has a unique geopolitical positionof being at the crossroads of opposing nodes of culture, ideology at one time, politicalalliances and economic development status. Since the founding of the Turkish Republic thecountry has tried to be a bridge between both ends while at the same time aligning itself withEurope and the United States by contributing to their defense. And since it could be a partnerin defense, it also sought partnership in the political and economic areas. This motivation tointegrate with EU has encouraged greater openness on the part of the state machinery to newperspectives and international standards in implementing children and women rights. TheGovernment of Turkey signed the Convention on the Elimination of All forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1979 and ratified it in 1985. It was a signatoryin 1990 to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which it also ratified in 1994.

II. ANALYSIS

II.l. Relevance of the Programme

The Country Programme (1997-2000) was designed to support the goals and objectives of theCRC/CEDAW and the National Programme of Action (NPA) of Turkey, supplemented bythe strategy meetings of October 1995 and June 1996. Unicef supported the NPA objectivesin:

1. Nutrition and Primary Health Care;2. Upgrading the status of women;3. Universal Primary Education (UPE) and functional literacy, with focus on the girl child;

and4. Children in difficult circumstances, specifically street children and working children.

The following programme areas were defined to address the goals and objectives:1. Civil Society Mobilization (Support for Community and NGO Participation);2. Support for Regional and Intra-Urban Disparity Reduction3. Social Research and Monitoring; and4. Policy, Planning and Development.

The format of the programme was based on a matrix of strategies (which defined theprogramme areas), areas of concern, and their underlying causes.

There is relevance in the goals and objectives since these were adopted from the NPA and theCRC, which have the force of law. The objectives are feasible and respond to the aspirationsof the people. The programme on the whole relates directly to and supplements the on-goingprogramme of social services of the Government of Turkey (GOT) by providing newperspectives as well as additional resources. The UN General Assembly has mandated theUnicef to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs, andto expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

11.2. Adequacy of the Programme

The situation in Turkey discussed in Section IIA outlined the levels of the problems in theareas of mother and child health, nutrition, children education and how these are distributedamong regions. The programme as a whole addresses these problems adequately with supportprojects for primary health, nutrition, education, etc., including area-based solutions to thespatial dimension of these problems.

But while the goals, objectives, problems and strategies have been adequately identified, theformulation of the four programme areas to address the problems poses difficulties inestablishing a direct causal linkage between these areas and the objectives. By beingprincipally based on strategies or segments in the entire process of a social mobilizationmodel, the programme areas have to be taken as seamless parts in a whole process that ismoving towards objectives. The MPO states that the output of one programme area is aninput to another. It is a conceptual framework that is not amenable for testing as to whetherthe programme area is effective or not. If an objective is attained, which programme area,operating unit, set of outputs, management operation will account for it? Is it research,mobilization, or policy? Under the current view, all work together in a process. As such, theCountry Programme can not be evaluated at the programme area level under a logicalframework method because the areas are not discrete. Causal linkages can not be establishedbecause each programme area is a confounding factor to the other. The elimination ofcompeting explanations or confounding factors is an element to establishing causal linkage.

The programme areas could rather have been defined by the traditional sectoral concerns. Orif the intention is to reflect an inter-sectoral concept, a higher level concept of a concern thatincorporates the various sectors within a coherent framework could also have been used. Forthe purpose of this evaluation and of having a convenient description that could relate directlyto objectives and goal indicators stated in existing CRC documents, the programme has beendivided into: 1) Health and Nutrition, 2) Education and Women Status and 3) ChildProtection. The Area-based programme and the Emergency Programme will be treated asspecial projects.

11.3. Advocacy

The program engaged in an intensive promotional campaign of awareness-raising on the CRCand of developing strategic partnership with both government and civil society incomplementary roles. Local and international NGOs were mobilized in support of its threeprogram concerns: health and nutrition, education and the status of women, and childprotection. Most of the activities were for the purpose of mobilizing partners at both nationaland sub-national levels to collaborate on program implementation. Following were the majoradvocacy activities undertaken during the period and their immediate results, most notable ofwhich is the new collaboration established with non-traditional partners:

II.3.1. Program Activities: Results

A. Health and Nutrition

1. Salt lodization: The law requiring all salt produced in Turkey be iodized by July 1999was passed in 1998. Partnerships & alliances established with Kiwanis International and

national, Ministries of Health and Agriculture, salt producers association. Unicefextended technical assistance to salt producers in order to meet new law requirements.

2. Polio Eradication: Partnership/alliances built: Rotary International and national, WHO,community volunteers, village religious leaders.

3. Support to AIDS: Partnerships with UNAIDS and Fighting Against AIDS Association onimplementation of information campaign through 2 secondary schools in Istanbul usingpeer group education against AIDS.

4. Agreement by the government for the creation of a National Nutrition Committee todevelop a national strategy on nutrition in order to address more effectively this endemicproblem.

5. Iron Deficiency Anemia and food fortification advocacy: Partnership with MOH andInternational Life Science Institute (ILSI). Work in progress to develop a programme.

6. Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI): The IMCI was adopted by theMOH as a strategy for the reduction of infant/child mortality rates and for effective use ofresources. IMCI promotes activities within communities for the prevention andmanagement of major childhood illnesses, such as diarrhea diseases, acute respiratoryinfection (ARI), child-related aspects of malaria control, breastfeeding and nutrition, andexpanded programme of immunization (EPI).

B. Education and Women Status

7. WB-Basic Education Pilot Project: incorporation of Comprehensive Education Analysis tothe Basic Education Reform

8. ECCD European Forum: brought together different ministries to have a consensus onintegrated ECCD concept using the conference as context for intersectoral consensus. Pilottesting is now being planned

9. CRC Child-to-Child Apprenticeship Centers: teachers from apprenticeship schools trainedon how to apply child-to-child to different subjects affecting working children's health,nutrition, work safety. Min. of National Education (MoNE) and Turk-Is (Confederation ofTurkish Trade Unions) as partners.

10. Ministry of Labor -TESK: new partnership with Turkish Artisans Confederation (TESK)on training of employers on the negative effects of hazardous work on the overalldevelopment of the child.

C. Child Protection

1 l.ILO-IPEC: Unicef accessed to ILO-IPEC network, Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen,to raise awareness on child labor issues at local level mobilizing resources to combat childlabor.

12. Police Training: Partnerships with police forces in Turkey on proper handling of childrenin conflict with the law.

13. Global March vs. Child Labor: Alliances formed with Trade Union (Turk-Is) anduniversities in Istanbul to raise awareness against child labor.

1 4. Child Courts Training/ Detention Guards Training: Workshop on the CRC andinternational standards for child protection. Partnerships formed with court judges, courtspersonnel, penologists, Bar Association, Ministry of Justice and SHCEK (Directorate forthe protection of children) and an NGO Youth Re-Autonomy Foundation

There was a major yearlong CRC Promotion Campaign which started in November 1999 andwas devoted exclusively to awareness raising on the vision of children among the country's

political leadership. It was launched by the President of Turkey and followed by a series ofmeetings with women parliamentarians, provincial Governors and Mayors. Earlier in October1999 the Children's Information Network in Turkey (CINT) was launched by the Presidentand the Unicef Executive Director.

In April 2000, a National Congress for Children brought together about 1000 people from allover the country: youth, professionals from the health, education, justice, labor, parliament,NGOs and the universities. The congress identified the 10 major areas of problemsconcerning survival, development and protection of the children and proposed solutions. Thechildren submitted a declaration to the President who promised to follow-up the issues.

hi July 2000, the Progress of Nations was launched together with the Four Instruments toMonitor CRC Implementation in Turkey, namely:1. The State of Women and Children in Turkey: Perspectives in the Context of CRC and

CEDAW;2. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): Relevant Laws and Legislation of the

Republic of Turkey:3. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): Implementation Checklist of the Republic

of Turkey (which include 572 indicators); and4. The Progress of Regions in Turkey: Towards Advancing the Quality of Life for All

The campaign institutionalized the Information Education and Coordination Committee(IECC) which effectively functioned as a technical working group under the ChildIntersectoral Board (CIB). The IECC is composed of SHCEK, MOH, MONE, and Unicef.The University of Ankara Faculty of Communications and the government-owned TurkishRadio Television are supporting this campaign, which will culminate in November 2000 withthe expected attendance of the Turkish President.

The cumulative advocacy efforts of Unicef, the media and civil society through the yearsresulted during the period in a demonstration of government political will with the adoptionof child-related policies and the enactment of important legislation.1. the compulsory iodization of all table salt produced in Turkey by July 1999;1. the 8-year compulsory education law of 1998;3. incorporation of the Comprehensive Basic Education Analysis to the Basic Education

Reform; and4. the Law on the Protection of the Family was passed.

Advocacy is sometimes an opportunistic activity where programme communicationscapitalize on events and statements of political leaders to gain mass media exposure for itscause. The advocacy programme appears to rely heavily on this approach. The yearlongcampaign is composed of activities with broad and short-term objectives. The campaigncould be further strengthened if each advocacy activity will be asked "What next?"Specifically, after sensitizing the parliamentarians and the Provincial Governors and CityMayors, what desired response or concrete actions do we expect? When? Whose follow-up isit within the IECC? Is there a legislative/policy agenda incorporated in the whole campaignplan? Would the CRC checklist be adequate as an agenda?

The Country Programme is currently addressing this issue, now that it has the instruments toassess which laws, policies and mechanisms are needed to include in the advocacy plan.Instrument No.3, CRC: Relevant Laws and Legislation of the Republic of Turkey, released in

June 2000 will be the basis for determining the legislative agenda for advocacy. Work on thereforms within the juvenile justice system through the Ministry of Justice has been startedusing this document.

By generally accepted definition, advocacy is social preparation whose aim is to createconditions for change. The target agenda for change needs to be specified, prioritized andincorporated into the research agenda and communications plan for a better long-termperspective. If this could be done, a more pro-active monitoring of progress in theimplementation of the CRC could be developed. At present, the linkages among all theseelements of the programme are weak.

II.4. Strengthening Management of Child Survival, Protection andDevelopment

Capacity building must go hand in hand with advocacy. The credibility of the servicedelivery system could be damaged if people's expectations are raised but fail to be met byservice providers, even if the people feel ownership of the project. The programmeappreciates fully the need for training of its implementation partners and has built it into thepolicy formulation, project planning and implementation stages of its activities.

The need for training is further justified by the demands of having intersectoral and area-based approaches to the delivery of services. The multi-dimensional (spatial, social group,and time) and multi-faceted character of the problems besetting the highly at-risk groups ofwomen and children require these approaches. Thus the programme implemented thefollowing capability building measures for the suppliers of the programme:

A. Health and Nutrition:1. Provincial health: training of provincial health personnel on AFP polio surveillance,

BFHI, newborn resuscitation, JJDD2. Salt lodization: Study tour and technical training on iodization regulations3. Area-based provincial training teams: training on intersectoral approaches to delivery of

services for mother and children

B. Education and Women Status:4. Mothers training: nationwide in 51 provinces, training on nutrition, breastfeeding, and

children's physical/psychological/cognitive development, with video aid "BetterParenting Initiatives"

5. CRC/ Child-to-Child Training for Apprenticeship School Teachers: training of 50 teachersand principals on Child-to-Child approach, nutrition, CRC, vocational health/safety relatedissues

7. Child-to-Child Training of Trainers: training of 30 regional training team members andtrade union members on child-to-child approach, nutrition, CRC, health/safety relatedissues

C. Child Protection:7. Social workers at community centers: nationwide training of SHCEK personnel on project

planning8. SHCEK training of trainers: training on communication skills in relation with children

9. Study tour to Philippines: SHCEK, Justice, State Planning Organization. Tour providedinternational experiences on local government and civil society collaboration on childprotection and child victims' issues.

10. Police training: training of 30 trainers on CRC, special handling of children in conflictwith the law, teaching methodology on communications, and psychology

11. Detention guards training: training of detention guards on psychosocial skills, conflictresolution, and crisis intervention

12. Study tour to Romania and England: SHCEK and Justice personnel exposed tointernational practices on children centers.

Of the three concerns, child protection provided most activities, a reflection of this newconcern in the country and the demand for knowledge on its issues. The selection of traineesmade strategic sense. The trainees were from offices which children needing special handlingor protection would most likely encounter. They are the police, detention guards, socialworkers, officers of SHCEK, and personnel from the courts or the judiciary. They are the firstlines of the child's defense.

Of all the trainees, the police would seem to be the most strategic. It is through them whereon the one hand, children and women in conflict with the law would find first contact. Andon the other, the proper pursuit of violations against children and women rights will startfrom them. The training programme for child protection has provided new and favorableconditions for children as indicated by a revamp on the structure of the police units handlingchild cases and the non-wearing of uniforms during encounters with children.

The trainers' training imparted new knowledge about police work on children. Theparticipatory training approaches also brought so much interest among police officers thatmore joined the training than originally planned. The training manual has been developedwith the participation of the first police trainers and is now being used nationwide.

The organization and training of salt producers and the area-based community healthvolunteers were similarly breaking new ground. They were given a mechanism by which theycan participate in the programme of heath for children and were trained on new technologies:iodized salt production and the administration of Oral Polio Vaccines.

II.5. Empowerment of Families and Communities

The catalytic role of Unicef involves the empowerment of families and beneficiarycommunities. They constitute the demand side of the programme, the receiving, utilizing andmaintaining side. Unicef s role is to help create the right environment from which theprogramme goals and objectives will be "owned" by the local people, and the programme'scontinuation, improvement and replication will take place even after the donors exit.Empowerment involves enabling the people to assume greater responsibility for their ownhealth and welfare, including self-care and the pro-active seeking of services required fortheir well being. Empowerment cannot be imposed and should be relevant to the people for itto take root in the society.

In Turkey, people's participation has relevance in the people's culture. In rural villages peoplepractice imece. the contribution of voluntary labor for community civil works. But thehistorical preponderance of state power with its apparatus as the principal and mandatedprovider of the people's welfare has supplanted this volunteer contribution to the solution to

community problems. The years of emergency rule in the country's recent history furtherdampened popular initiatives on the creation of demands on the government. The stateresponded to the people's needs by playing a "big government" role resulting in its publicinvestments often outpacing private investments.

This unsustainable government role, in combination with external factors affecting thecountry's balance of payments, eventually put a strain on the government's finances (SectionIIB). Beginning in the late 80's, the state made policy changes with a series of slow; off andon, reform programs: privatization, banking, monetary, and recently agriculture and healthreforms. These reforms compelled the government to reduce its "big" role.

The Country Programme is facing the challenge of meeting the CRC goals under a rollercoaster economic and political situation and a partner that has been diminishing itsinvestments in the social sector. The ratio of expenditures on basic social services declinedfrom 28% in 1992 to 19% in 1996. This development at first maybe regarded as a serioussetback in terms of constraints in fund resources. But on reflection, this could also be seen asan opportunity for people resources to reemerge and become relevant again.

Specifically, the Country Programme could find the situation of financial resource constraintsas the opportunity to:1. give more emphasis to village level intervention, primary health care and referral system,

which better attends to the people's needs in a more cost-effective way;2. adopt more intersectoral collaborations and partnerships with community volunteers in

the delivery of social services; and3. revive participatory practices inherent in the people's culture e.g., imece, and other social

support systems especially involving women.In Turkey, there are social support systems practiced by women that could be of relevanceduring childbirth where more than 50% of infant deaths in the country occur during theperinatal period. There is during the wedding a kina gecesi, (hena night) where women cometogether to give moral support to the bride and the yenge(s) (aunts/old women) prepare her.The groom also chooses a Sagdic couple to help get the wedding organized with all the ritualsand details attended. In death, neighbors provide food to a grieving widow and family duringkirki (40-day mourning period). In urban areas, women circles or mutual support groups havetheir rotating gun (day of hosting for a cooking, knitting or gold saving session). All these canevolve into a similar participatory support group for mothers or would be mothers before,during and after childbirth.

The Programme under review demonstrated participatory and people empowerment strategiesin the implementation of its projects. Moreover, it applied in some form the above threetimely measures by which the community people can once again assume a greater role. Thefollowing selected activities illustrate people empowerment in the programme. The nature ofparticipation infused into the programme are described by: functional types of participation(planning, implementing, benefits sharing, evaluation), extent (Who is participating?), andintensity (How is the process of participation occurring? Genuine: citizencontrol/empowerment or delegated power/partnership/cooperation? Or Token:Consultation/Assistance or mere Information/Domestication?).

II.5.1. Activities: (Type) (Extent) Intensity

A. Health/Nutrition:1. Village water supply & sanitation:(Plan decision-making, implementing, &benefits sharing) (Village leaders & end-users)

2. Immunization Campaign & BirthRegistration: (Implementing)(Villageleaders)

B. Education and Status of Women:3.0pen Primary Education: (Plan decision-making, implementing) (Girl Student drop-outs)

1 .Users join in planning, providemoney share in cost, "labor equity" orimece in civil works, are trained tomaintain & repair the system.Users undergo training with healthworkers on hygiene & safe water.Cooperation.2.Village heads (Muhtars) and religiousleaders mobilize people with the help ofcommunity volunteers for NIDs and helpidentify & register unregistered birthsCooperation

3. 40 girls freed by ILO-IPEC fromdomestic labor decide to continue educ.They enter OPE and were taught "selfstudy skills" then supported with face-to-face tutorials from university students.Were able to meet standards for higherlearning. Assistance.4.Mothers in Van & Yozgat trained inhealth, childcare, and agriculturetechnologies. Implemented livelihoodprojects that provided food and income.Assistance.

5.Children involved in the research contentdecision: how they would like the

authorities and the public to view them,what questions they would like to be asked.They make suggestions on how to improvetheir situation and how to be treated.Empowerment.

6. Police officers trained on CRC andinternational standards for engagementwith children. In turn they will train otherpolice officers. Training manual taken frominternational sources evaluated andlocalized for nationwide adoption.Cooperation.

The programme infused participatory approaches largely centered on the implementingfunction and with the combined participation of both village leaders and immediate end-usersof the intervention. This indicates the long work ahead towards empowerment where thepeople can take more control over the project and are not only a delegated cooperator orpartner.

4. Area-based Mothers Training: (Decisionon project selection, implementingbenefits sharing) (Mothers, end-users)

C. Child Protection:5. Participatory action research on childrenliving or working on the streets; (Decisionon research content and process bychildren, implementing and evaluation)(Children and social workers)

6. Police Training: (Implementing) (End-users police trainees)

The unique and bold approach of the action-research about, by and with street children hadstrong empowerment designs. This, however, is full of implementation risks and invites validquestions about efficiency. Could the results of the study have been achieved in a quicker andeconomical way? This highlights the dilemma at times encountered in planning whenparticipatory methods become end in themselves and are pursued at high costs or in a trade-off with other equally sustainable projects. This extreme tendency can be remedied by havinga criteria for project selection (action or research) that includes efficiency as a balancingcriterion.

II.6. Improving Information Base for Child Survival Protection andDevelopment

Most of the research activities funded by the Programme of Cooperation were in the nature ofeither baseline study or surveillance for the purpose of situation analysis, monitoring of CRCimplementation, and design of project interventions. The following table shows this:

II.6.1. Research

A. Health and Nutrition:1. Situation Analysis of Van, 1999

2. Nutrition & Health Info. &Surveillance in Van & Yozgat3. Iodine Scanning & SonographicPrevalence among SchoolAge Children in 20 Provinces in Turkey4. Relation Between TSH & ST4Levels in Neonatal by Region and byIodine Status of the Mother Before andAfter the Iodine Prophylaxy in Turkey(Neonatal- TSH)5. Assessment of KAP of SecondarySchool children on AIDS & STDsB. Education and Status of Women:6. Early Childhood Development andEducation in Kecioren (Urban poorSettlement in Ankara)7. Evaluation of Adult Literacy Courses

8. Evaluation of ECCD- Mothers'Training Programme

9. Participatory Action Research in ECCD

C. Child Protection:10. Participatory Action Research with

Description

1. To support village volunteers' training,treatment of anemia, agriculture interventions2. To support health and nutrition services

3. On-going baseline for the project on theelimination of IDD

4. On-going baseline for IDD elimination

5. On-going baseline study for use in a peer-to-peer education on AIDS and STDs

6. Completed baseline study of 0-6 agesactivities and their families. For ECCDproject intervention in Ankara.

7. To evaluate these courses accordingly.This is not an evaluation of a completedUnicef project.8. Evaluation research. To assess devt'algains & quality of the home improvementin Van & Yozgat. On-going.9. On-going baseline study to identifyvarious childcare practices & needs forsurvival, growth, & dev't & to support thedesign of tailor-made interventions

10. On-going baseline study to provide

Children Living and Working in the effective strategies for advocacy/skillsStreets. development of social workers11. Female Teenage Sex Workers in Istanbul 11. Completed baseline study on below

18 child labor, sex workers and needingspecial protection.

12. Evaluation of the Training of the Guards, 12. Evaluation of a completed trainingProfessional Personnel of the Juvenile project. Results to be inputted in the nextDetention, Courts and Reformatories. Country Programme cycle.

14. The Four Instruments to Monitor CRC 13. Compilation of four instruments toImplementation in Turkey (See Section V: monitor CRC implementation in order toAdvocacy) provide an effective advocacy tool to

mobilize decision-makers, planners inthe legislative, executive and judiciarybranches of the government as well asmass media and private sector.

The programme shows the linkage between its research agenda and the design of innovativeand effective project interventions. The programme also designed and launched a monitoringsystem through the Children's Information Network in Turkey (CINT) to assess the progressof implementation of CRC/CEDAW in the country. It also tried to bring participatoryapproaches to two of its researches.

The research agenda, however, heavily favors baseline studies for the design of pilot projects.Meanwhile, evaluation and documentation studies of pilot interventions were only two. Thistype of research should have been built-in to pilot projects or training interventions.

The baseline studies and other data and information have so far not been consolidated. Theyshould be used to establish the socio-economic and demographic profiles of the at-riskgroups and to identify and map them at the household level for the purpose of programmetargeting. The Geographic Information System (GIS) now used for the earthquake areas is anappropriate tool and could be used for this purpose. This is but the logical second step sincethe available situation reports have already identified the priority areas at the provincial level.

II.7. Support to the Process of Decentralization

The policy makers in Turkey are currently debating the issue of decentralization, particularlythe form it must take. The rationale for decentralization is that it will unleash local initiativesthat will respond to the needs of the people faster and in more relevant and cost-effectivemanner. Traditional dependency on the central government, especially on one that aims toreduce its big role, will also be diminished as the locals take on more responsibilities.

Strong arguments in its favor notwithstanding, decentralization is finding resistance evenfrom locals who are expected to benefit from it. Resource poor, geographically disadvantagedregions with poor economic base, and hence, low tax base would find it more advantageousto rely on the distributive policies of enlightened central leaders than have "autonomy." Foreven if they are granted the power to raise funds, these local units would find it counterproductive to further tax its poorer inhabitants and businesses whose presence is also soughtwith incentives in other areas. Decentralization, therefore, can not at once be viewed as anend-goal or as a replacement for centralized authority. Rather it is a complement to it. The

interest of the periphery may also be served by a dominant center that is generative, not ahindrance, and power giving. The preferred modalities of decentralization may therefore varyaccording to the resource endowments of the local area and the value attached by theresidents to either pragmatism or self-reliance/self determination.

The Country Programme's support to decentralization has so far been limited. It has notdefined decentralization in terms that would address the critical issues raised above. Theprogramme has simply tried to provide "practical examples of economic and technicallyeffective and efficient interventions that help reduce disparities." These examples includepilot projects in the provinces of Van and Yozgat that demonstrated local management andimplementation of projects on health and education services and agricultural technologytransfer and production. Unicef s support centered on:1. capacity building of local officials;2. social mobilization and empowerment of village volunteers;3. advocacy; and4. research studies and materials for pilot livelihood activities.

The programme showed how decentralized planning and management are done by theProvincial Child Committee composed of relevant directorates of the sectors of health,education, agriculture, and village works. It is chaired by the Provincial Governor (or theDeputy) who is the integrating factor of the whole inter-sectoral effort.

It further showed intersectoral cooperation and people's participation in village level projects.The most significant were: greenhouse vegetable growing, vegetable growing in high tunnels,mushroom culture, squat apple growing, strawberry growing, apiculture, sheep raising,walnut production, food preservation, and the installation of village water supply with thecommunity contributing "sweat equity" during construction, funds and a commitment tomaintain the system. The govemorate, the community and Unicef shared in the costs of theseprojects. As a spillover effect of the project, the village volunteers together with the villageheads and religious leaders assisted in the immunization campaign that resulted in above100% coverage. Migrants from other communities displaced by conflict were included.

The area-based programme provided important lessons for the discussion aboutdecentralization. First is that the provincial and district levels are natural places forintegrating and facilitating intersectoral interventions. Second, local governments readilyaccept social indicators on the quality of life (QOL) as a development agenda afterundergoing a situation analysis backed up by research. And third, the people's culture andsocial support systems could be a rich source of methods for mobilizing communityinvolvement, project cost sharing and co-ownership, and for ensuring sustainability of projectinvestments. Culture after all is conceptually defined as the set of people's beliefs, manners,costumes, ways of doing things including songs, dances, and letters by which they need tocommunicate with one another in order to adapt, survive and grow in their particular harshenvironment.

But while the programme provided examples of decentralized delivery of social services,there is an overriding concern about decentralization that the programme has omitted. Thecurrent public statements of the parliament and some local administrators suggest that themain concern is local financial resources. Thus, the members of the parliament have shownconcern mainly on:

1: revising Acts 1580 and 3030 taking into consideration the provisions of the EuropeanCharter of Local Authorities on Self-government;

2. revising Municipality Revenues Act pertaining to supplying a share from the GeneralBudget to municipalities and provincial special administration;

3. revising Property Tax Law;4. expanding loan facilities to local administrations by revising the Bank of Provinces Act

No. 4759; and5. effecting changes in legislation that regulates the organization and functions of the

municipalities and other central government administration that provide services of localcharacter so as to arrange for the transfer of such qualified services together with fundingsources to local administrations.

The Ministry of Interior Affairs is also mainly concerned with increasing the ratio ofresources used by local administration in the total public expenditure. The localadministrators on the other focus on the hierarchy system of local administration andempowering the "district" over concerns for economies of scale and how best to close the gapbetween the local administration and the people.

Support to decentralization in Turkey will have to be made more relevant by including inputsto the discussion of financing issues, especially as they pertain to resource poor areas whereQOL indicators are worst. This is the missing, yet most critical, element in the localcapability building process. "How to spend your money wisely" has an inevitable nextquestion: "Where do you find the money?" The programme should be ready to show someexamples on this as well.

11.8. Impact of Mid-Term Review Assessment

The MTR of 1998 made recommendations pertaining to program thrusts to be made duringthe rest of the Programme cycle. The following recommendations have been substantiallycomplied with or nearing completion:1. More holistic approach in the way interventions are planned for children. Continue

support for capability building, empowering and awareness raising;2. Capability building focusing on child protection;8. Dissemination of CRC reports to mass media and use of AV materials;4. Awareness raising among professionals;5. Malnutrition issue must be raised at the political level;6. Health reform packages be adjusted to improve coverage and access through volunteers;7. On local initiatives, collaboration on health must be supported;8. National AIDS strategy with UNAIDS be developed within the framework of peer

education strategy;9. ECCD be linked to projects of safe motherhood, nutrition and health information;10. Open Primary Education as a strategy for enduring girls schooling be expanded;11. Comprehensive Education Analysis be expanded and integrated;12. Revise teacher's guides and the student activity workbook produced by UniversalPrimary Education and adapt them to the 8-year primary education curriculum;13. Support SHCEK (coordinator for CRC National Report) to share report with all sectors ofsociety;14. Model center for keeping children off the street be developed;15. With intersectoral approaches as framework, central and provincial level counterparts beestablished;

16. Unicef collaboration with ILO-IPECs network, UNDCP, WHO be continued; and17. Strengthen collaboration and partnerships with local agencies to promote community

participation and empowerment of families.

The following MTR recommendations remain as outstanding issues:1. area-based program be expanded to 2 new provinces. The CIB postponed this plan to a

later time when the impact of the present pilot programme has been assessed.2. develop strategic relationship with mass media;3. develop national experts in material development to bring innovative ideas and

experiences which proved to be effective in pilot projects;4. monitoring and evaluation mechanism be developed in order to establish basis for further

replication at the national level; and5. use operational researches to develop and identify best practices using qualitative and

quantitative research design.

Mass media support has always been tapped for Unicef advocacy special events and recentlyto inform as well particularly on the situation of the Earthquake Programme. How to relatewith the media is still a challenge due to the high costs of using their channels. The numberof competing media to choose from also poses questions about effective hitting or coverage.These issues make the planning for strategic relations with the mass media a cost-efficiencyquestion basically.

The Country Programme recognizes that Unicef support is but a fraction of the resourcesrequired achieving the objectives of the National Plan of Action and the end of decade goalsof Turkey. Unicef, therefore, has defined its role as catalytic, meaning that it will be amobilizer of resources to advance these goals. An important aspect of this function is the useof project documentation, monitoring and evaluation, research, and informationdissemination to consolidate alliances and bring in new partners to multiply the innovationsand projects that contribute to the attainment of NPA. All the 5 outstanding issues above areinterrelated from this strategic perspective. Items 2 to 5 are strategic activities that needimmediately a (strategic/unified) plan and effective implementation.

II.9. Adjustments Made During the Programme

There were no significant adjustments made on the regular programmes of the MPO. Therewas, however, a major addition to the work programme as a result of two powerfulearthquakes that hit Turkey in 17 August and November of 1999. The two disasters causedmore than 18,000 deaths, damaged 291,000 buildings, schools and hospitals and made600,000 people homeless. Worse, the social effects of the disaster lingered. Thousands ofchildren suffered different degrees of trauma and as a result began to perform poorly inschool while some of them had nutritional problems. The personal losses in lives andproperties and the uncertainty of the future disoriented as well as agitated both parents andchildren. There was increased incidence of alcoholism and domestic violence due totraumatic stress. There were also restlessness and vandalism among children in the sheltercamps. It is in situations like this when frustrations in trying to make sense of a tragedy thatpeople can go adrift and begin to vent their anger on society. This is an effect that could goeven farther into the future and potentially evolve into a bigger social problem.

Unicef responded with two timely interventions. First was the emergency operation madewithin 72 hours after the earthquake. It brought relief supplies essential for survival: water

and sanitation facilities, water purification tablets, disinfectants, health kits, vaccines,vehicles, generators, tents, educational materials and toys.

Second was the Recovery Plan for Turkish Children (RPTC) which was a caring operation toreclaim the future. Unicef mobilized international fund support from 11 donor countries and17 Unicef National Committees totaling $US 15.2 Million. These funds were used for theremaining relief operations and for the effort to bring the children and their families andschools quickly back to normalcy.

The Unicef in Turkey extended its regular programme resources and hired more people tosupport both the relief and the recovery plan operations. The entire earthquake operation wasof a magnitude that its budget was bigger than that of the Country Programme cycle. Itslinkages with the regular programme i.e., vaccination, health services, water supply andsanitation, early child development and pre-schools and the provision of youth centerfacilities, provided a wealth of information on project experiences that could prove useful infuture Country Programmes. The following section will review the Earthquake Programme todraw from it strategic lessons for the future.

II.9.1 The Earthquake Programme (EP)

The destructive effects of the two earthquakes were of such magnitude that Turkeyconsidered them the worst national disaster of the century. Effectively they could negate thegains made by the regular Country Programme in the past years. But the timely interventionsfrom relief organizations, the government, the Unicef and other international donors wereable to mitigate these effects. This experience provides a lesson on the value of timelyresponse. What this also points to is that being response-able and adjust-able to suchemergencies is a new standard by which Country Programmes should also be measured.

What would be required of a Country Programme that must be response-able and adjust-ableto emergencies?

The Unicef in September 1998 affirmed its commitment to "protect women and childrenagainst effects of man-made/natural disasters and armed conflict in a rapid, effective andappropriate manner" through the Core Corporate Commitments (CCC) in emergencysituations. The CCC outlined four areas of interventions in response to an emergency:1) Rapid assessment; 2) Coordination; 3) Programmatic commitment; and 4) Operationalcommitment. The application of this framework was a key factor in the quick response. Itfacilitated the gathering of relevant data, the mobilization of appropriate collaboratinginstitutions, and in preparing an immediate and short-term action plan.

A. Rapid Assessment

Twelve hours after the earthquake of August 17, the OCHA and UNDAC were on location tofacilitate the work of international rescue teams. On the 19th, the UN Disaster ManagementTeam made an aerial assessment. On the 20th, Unicef brought its emergency coordinator tosupport the country office and together with the Turkish government, UNFPA, UNDP, andOCHA deployed a multisectoral assessment mission to the stricken provinces between 23 and26 August. The Unicef team, consisting of 21 national and international experts in the field ofwater and sanitation, education, health and nutrition, and psychosocial intervention prepareda situation analysis and by 27th submitted the Recovery Plan for Turkish Children (RPTC).

B. The Programme

While the needs of the earthquake victims were many the EP focused mainly on the needs ofwomen and children. Their needs were of two kinds: 1) the immediate life-saving materialsessential for their survival in the face of losses of their personal properties; and 2) the short-term requirements to get them back to a normal life. As mentioned earlier, the Unicefprovided relief supplies in response to the first group of needs within 72 hours under EP-Phase I. Then within 10 days after the earthquake it prepared the RPTC as EP-Phase II.

The CCC framework largely determined the content of the RPTC, which also easilyconnected with the regular programme activities: health and nutrition, education, mother andchildcare, safe water supply and sanitation, and child protection. The established jointprojects with the government, NGOs and universities in these sector activities facilitated theprogramming process.

The components on psychosocial intervention and creche and youth centers were included inthe RPTC based on the unarticulated need of the victims to cope with their tragedy and withthe disruption they were experiencing. Apart from the physical, there are intangible needsthat are required to enable the victims of tragedies to get back to their normal paths. This isbased on experiences of similar tragic situations. The early observations on the behavior ofthe victims in the field further confirmed the wide incidence of traumatic stress. Thus, thesetwo components completed the adequacy of the recovery program.

The two additional components have been found to be relevant as well, there being noinstitution or programme providing these services especially at that time. Without them, therecould have been serious aggravation of the social effects of the disaster to the families and tosociety. A report on the evaluation of the effects and impact of the psychosocial interventionsis forthcoming in October to confirm if this view is correct or not.

Hence, the RPTC had 5 sectors with 9 projects with an implementation period of 9 months.The main purpose of the programme was to ensure that all children and mothers had access toa package of services essential for growth and development of children in the transitionphase.

Health and Nutrition Expanded Programme of ImmunizationNutritional SurveillanceRehabilitation of Primary Health Care Centers

Water & Environmental Safe Drinking Water Support ProgrammeSanitation Environmental Sanitation Support Programme

Education Reactivation of schooling activities

Psychosocial Intervention School based projectSupport to service providers

Pre-school Children & youths Creche and youth center support project

C. The Implementation Outcomes

The implementation of the RPTC provided Unicef in Turkey a wealth of experience inimplementing a major emergency programme. This experience also brought new ideas andresources to the country.

D. New Programme Innovations

The disaster created an unusual situation where all children and mother beneficiaries werelocated in concentrated areas at one time thus allowing opportunities for the intensivedelivery of social services. The service providers were also available on site at any time.Moreover, the watchful eyes of the local and international media and the pressure frompolitical leaders created a favorable programme environment. The urgency of the reliefefforts also set aside minor differences that normally plague multi-sectoral projectimplementation. Thus, in a field of massive death, ruins, and under the loud demands fromrestive victims, the greater human selves emerged and gave way to greater cooperation,openness to new ideas as well as participation of other voluntary organizations, and togenerous contributions to the big task.

Under favorable conditions, the implementation of RPTC proceeded well as it also testedsuccessfully new programme innovations. Among these were:

1. Psychosocial intervention: The Unicef consultants' preliminary assessment ofpsychological trauma revealed that 30% of the children had post traumatic stress reactionsin the severe and very severe range; another 33% in the moderate range; and about 40%had repressive reactions in the moderate and severe range. The project, designed to reach240,000 children, had two phases largely through the school system. First was thedebriefing and training a national group of academicians and Ministry of NationalEducation personnel. This group then debriefed and trained a core group of nationalexperts coming from the MoNE guidance and research centers of the 8 stricken provinces.This latter group then cascaded the debriefing and training to 289 provincial fieldcounselors. And finally, the provincial counselors trained and debriefed 8,235 teachers.Phase II involved classroom based intervention (CBI) through the teachers who had beentrained; group counseling (GC) intended to attend to the needs of more serious cases; andPsycho-Education (PE) as an outreach to teachers, children and parents. This innovationhas been received well by MoNE and has incorporated the programme into its next year'scurriculum. Plans are also underway to extend the new knowledge and skills nationwideto improve counseling services in general.

2. The Delivery of Multisectoral Services: The programme carried out the simultaneousdelivery of health, nutrition, water supply and sanitation services and support toeducation. In health and nutrition 171,273 children in 5 affected provinces received fullimmunization against measles by January 2000 and the damaged primary health centers(about 70%) were assisted with vaccines, health kit supplies and health cards to enablethese to resume their services. It also conducted surveillance and provided supplementaryfood with Unicef biscuits upon finding that as a result of trauma and food qualitydeficiency in the area, malnutrition increased two to three-fold among children.Provincial and field staff were also given training workshops on nutrition in emergencies,

management of psychologically disturbed patients, control of acute respiratory infectionsand diarrheal diseases and immunization. In water and sanitation, the programme assuredproper hygiene and safe water supply for children and women through the supply of watertanks and environmental sanitation clusters which provided hot showers and flush toilets.They alleviated hardships within the tent camps especially during winter. In education,schooling activities continued inside tents and the programme supported them witheducational and recreational kits for students and teachers; heaters, electric fans and woodpallets for flooded tent classrooms, and computers and household materials for teacherscenters.

3. Creche and Youth Centers:_The programme introduced the concept of child friendlyspaces (CFS) that aimed to provide a place where basic services were available forchildren and mothers in the transition period. In close collaboration with SHCEK, Unicefdeveloped a project for the installation, furnishing, and training of social workers for upto 80 temporary creches in tent cities and 25 semi-permanent youth centers and 40creches in prefabricated housing sites. Volunteers and social workers from SHCEK,NGOs and universities manned these centers' activities.

E. New Collaborations

The RPTC's new programme interventions afforded the Unicef to collaborate with newpartners that would also be their resources for the future Country Programme. Thepsychosocial intervention brought the Unicef to working arrangements with civicorganizations and leading institutions for trauma: The Turkish Psychologists Association, theBoston Trauma Centre, the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), the Universityof London and the Center for Crisis Psychology in Bergen, Norway. The Creche and YouthCenters brought working relationships with NGOs that would later support the integratedECCD programme such as Enfants du Monde, Yuksek Ogretimde Rehberligi Tanitma veRehber Yetistirme Vakfi, Yeni Meydan Theater Group and Kadin Insan Haklari Projesi.

Now in the period of reconstruction of new housing districts, Unicef has advocatedsuccessfully with the government for the adoption of Child Friendly Environment (CFE). TheMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Middle East Technical University, and theSakarya University are collaborating on this project.

F. New Technologies

The programme introduced the Geographic Information System (GIS) into the programme'sfield assessment, planning and monitoring activities. Eventually the experience gained herewill be used for the regular programme's similar activities and most importantly foradvocacy. The visuals provided by GIS will facilitate in communicating to the general publicthe status of women and children in Turkey as well as progress in the implementation ofCRC.

Through the Water and Environmental Sanitation component, Unicef installed "Water andSanitation Clusters" comprising latrine and shower containers with pumped water tanks andenvironmental septic tanks. They provided the amenities of hot shower mat would be moreappropriate for the earthquake victims who have enjoyed these facilities before. Moreover, itis transportable and designed for 10 years hard use. It proved particularly useful as the tentcity residents were transferred to the prefabricated houses. It also brought in Water Leak

Detection Equipment meant to control water losses of up to 60% as a result of damagedpipelines. The package includes acoustic (noise) detector, ultra sonic flow mete, undergroundpipe locator, pressure data logger and computer. They could also be used for rescueoperations of trapped victims in damaged buildings.

G. New Programme Resources

Unicef accessed to new sources of fund support. Apart from the 17 Unicef NationalCommittees, there were 11 governments that contributed to the funding of EP.

11.10. Country Programme Budget Performance

The allocation of general resources (GR) funds in 1999 was at a lower $1.34M compared to1997 and 1998 which were both $ 1.4M. The supplementary funds (SF) also had the sametrend but this is due to the termination of the World Bank funded Basic Education project.There is really no point for comparison. Of interest here is the absorptive capacity orutilization rates of the programme.

In 1998 the requisition rate was 84% for the GR and 74% for SF. Expenditure for the sameperiod was 76% for GR and 73% for SF. In 1999, there was 99% requisition for the GR and94% for the SF. Expenditure was 90% for GR, good absorptive capacity, but 79% for SFwhich is fair.

Among the programme areas in 1998 the Regional and the Policy programmes showed thelowest capacities with 56% and 63% expenditures in GR. Social Mobilization, Research andProgramme Support had 80%, 84%, and 87% respectively. In 1999, all programmes wereabove 85% expenditure in GR with Social Mobilization and Programme Support at a higher92% level.

There were neither counterpart funding reports nor reports about budgets and budgetexpenditures from the line ministries that are involved in Unicef s areas of concern.

While from the latest reports there have been significant improvements in the absorptivecapacities of the programme areas, there is still 10% unused funds under GR ad 21 % in SF in1999.There are two probable causes for these and they must be addressed.

First is that there is inadequate planning in both physical and financial aspects. There are lowrequisition and expenditure rates because the activity was not accomplished for whateverreason or there were over-estimations about planned quantities and prices. For prices thiscould have been avoided if there is close coordination between programme and supply.

Second, the level of requisitions has reached the budget allocation level and therefore thesource of funds is "closed" technically. It is possible, however, that there are still unusedfunds available but could not be used because the earlier released or requisitioned amountswhich might have excess funds (due to over-requisitioning or devaluation of mediumcurrency) have not been properly liquidated by the project. Had these requisitioned fundsbeen liquidated quickly, the excess would automatically revert as available or outstandingfund balance. This can be avoided if the programme officers track down their accounts withfinance section regularly and liquidate all requisitions and expenditures quickly.

In real terms the unused amount from both the GR and SF is about $373,000 out of a totalbudget of $ 2,458,696 in 1999 which was the better year. This is an opportunity loss forimproving QOL indicators and a wasted effort in funds mobilization. This could be avoided ifthe work and financial plans would be fully utilized as a project monitoring and managementtool. The unspent amounts, however, were carried over to the next year's budget.

The PROMS (Programme Management System) has the format, filing system and tools forperforming operations especially for planning and reporting outputs, unit costs, expenditureper cost item, totals, etc., broken down per month and year. The system can provide robustanalyses that can help the programmes improve absorptive capacity.

The financial reporting/tracking can be improved. Each programme, especially its trainingand pilot projects, must have reports (processed from the PROMS data) about direct andindirect costs that are further broken down to major expenditure items. These financial detailsare important documentation to measure cost efficiency and to provide basis for futurereplication of activities. The reporting system has to be strengthened.

III. STRATEGIC LESSONS LEARNEDThe programme has demonstrated examples of interventions and strategies that have beenproved effective in Turkey as in other societies. They continue to provide strategic lessons asmore organizations adopt them. Among these that the regular programme successfullyapplied were:1. Advocacy and social mobilization as an initial phase of a programme. Traditional beliefs,

rules and ways of doing things are often deeply held that their changes require aprolonged effort of social preparation through awareness raising, education,demonstration and sustained mobilization to action. Section V (Advocacy) shows theCountry Programme's initiatives in arguing for child protection, health, and care anddevelopment. It brought the issues before the legislature, judiciary, civil society, media,private sector, and those who provide services related to these areas of concern. On thepart of the people in the communities, they have been shown the benefits of theprogramme. Now they have taken the responsibilities of providing themselves self-help/self-care and of seeking the vital services from those who provide them.

2. Information Infrastructure. There is much information being disseminated everyday topeople that there is strong competition for their attention and time. To obtain them, moresophisticated methods of reaching these audiences (where they are, when they areavailable and how they can be effectively tuned-in) are being employed. The electronicmedia and quick social surveys have become important tools. The GIS and CINT couldprovide the competitive edge for advocacy and raising people's awareness on child andwomen rights issues. Through them, more user-friendly, new and accessible informationcould be made available to policy decision-makers, the media and civil society so theycan make their own contributions to the programme.

3. Capacity building of implementation partners. In order to respond to the increasingdemand for services from the communities and families, the service providers also needto be trained to cope with the demand. The capacity to deliver can also be improvedthrough the formation of alliances, and partnerships with universities and internationalorganizations and through their joint actions that have adaptive learning processes likesituation analysis, advocacy, mobilization of resources, planning, research, actionprojects, or evaluation. In the process, trust and rapport among partners are built. Each

small victory or accomplished task brings more confidence and a greater commitment toeven attain more and bigger victories;

4. Intersectoral approach to delivery of social services. People describe their problems andneeds in a multifaceted (intersectoral) way. Accordingly, service programmes should alsoadopt a holistic view. The integrated ECCD-Mothers1 Training Programme, IMCI, crecheand youth centers are projects that bring together training on adult functional literacy andbetter parenting, health and nutrition, pre- and early child education, environmentalsanitation, and women and child rights components. Contact with the family is thusmaximized with a wide coverage of services. One component is an entry point for theothers as they all belong to one coherent framework that is child survival anddevelopment.Healthy children who grow up to be productive members of a progressive society are theresult of proper care or "good start" given by mothers and fathers beginning from birth upto 6 years. Children have to be given proper feeding, immunization, drinking water andsanitation against the major causes of infant/children morbidity and mortality as well asproper stimulation and early learning environment that make them cognitively alert. Lackor absence of these could result in poor health and slow brain development that causedifficulties in coping with school work and their eventual dropping out of school. Thiscould then further lead to other social problems such as juvenile delinquency, child labor,drug abuse, AIDS, or early parenthood that brings another lifecycle of similar children,only much poorer and even less cared. And this is one explanation why it is poverty thatis being replicated and perpetuated.

5. Participatory approaches and empowerment to improve demand for services, ensureproject sustainability through "people ownership" and to attain cost effectiveness. Thesucceeding portion on area-based projects will show lessons in empowerment of people inthe communities. The ECCD mothers' training is the empowerment of the householdthrough the mothers and caregivers by enabling them to establish an interactive nurturingrelationship with the child. This is done through home visits and group meetingsconducted by trained social workers for a programme period of 25 weeks. Equipped withknowledge about better parenting, these mothers will now be able to perform self-careand demand for the necessary social services for their children. This programme respondsto the oft repeated argument that in middle developed countries like Turkey, there existadequate facilities available to them but are not being utilized for "lack of demand;" and;

6. area-based management of social projects for greater implementation efficiency andeffectiveness, resulting from greater (local) accountability and supervision. Earlier in theEarthquake Programme it was shown how the families in concentrated areas were givenrelief materials and social services more effectively and efficiently when implementationis managed on site and with all service providers working in close coordination.

It is in the area-based pilot projects that the programme incorporated all the other strategies. Itwould be appropriate if it is through these projects, specifically the case of Van province inthe East, that discussion on the strategic lessons learned from the regular programme could beexemplified and modeled.

Project Objective:. The Van project between the GOT and Unicef started in 1997 with theobjective of creating a model for resource mobilization and for the elimination of differencesin social indicators within the province and in relation with other provinces of the country.

Organization: The project began with the formation of the Provincial Committee(PC) madeup of the Provincial Governor or Deputy and the provincial directors of the Ministries of

Interior Affairs, Health, Education, Agriculture and Village Works. The PC selected pilotvillages based on a set of criteria that showed low scores in QOL. The pilot area started with6 villages in 1997 and now involves 12 villages.

To study and analyze the situation in the project area, a Technical Team was formed. At thesame time a Provincial Training Team was organized to provide the package of trainings toselected village volunteers which it will also select. Both teams are intersectoral incomposition just as the PC. Through field visits and consultations with the villagers theTechnical Team prepared the project plan of action. The Training Team on the other handwas first trained as trainers and technology transfer agents. It then selected village volunteersor cooperators through individual interviews, observations and focus group interviews. Thenumber of volunteers started with 120 in 1997 and now it is 213, all women. "If you train aman, you train one person, but if you train a woman, you train a family," was the guidingthought.

Project Design: Given the goal of improving the social indicators of the villagers, theTechnical Team and the PC selected a set of interrelated, intersectoral activities that wouldhave biggest impact on nutrition and health. Food production and preservation and villagewater supply were chosen. The food project had high relevance as it responded to problemsof malnutrition and health risks among women and children. It addressed the problems'underlying causes: 1) household food supply and security via production and preservation 2)purchasing power or financial access to food via additional income 3) food distribution vialocal food production and direct distribution to households. The training on adult literacy,mother and childcare, health, nutrition, and child development on the other hand addressedthe other underlying causes such as illiteracy, food consumption habits, food preferences,food preparation, and food quality. Other malnutrition factors such as demographiccharacteristics, fertility rates, dependency ratio, and the like were, however, not touched. Thewomen volunteers were empowered through technology transfers in the production of meat;fruits, vegetables, dairy, nuts and their proper preservation to ensure year round food security,

Results: The greenhouse and tunnel garden projects with longer growing periods increasedfood production and income as well as consumption. Other projects such as apples,strawberry, mushroom, apiculture, sheep and walnut production provided high rates of return.Their produce were used as materials for food preservation training practicum. The numberof projects increased through project expansion made available by additional financing fromthe provincial directorate and Unicef and by voluntary replication by well-off neighbors. Thereplications occurred in two steps. First, Van province learned of the greenhouse and othertechnologies from a nearby province. Second, non-project members who saw and learned ofthe project benefits then multiplied the first replications piloted in the Van project.

The water supply project was straightforward in its design. It provided water services to thosewho needed them. The water users were trained by the training team on the value of safewater, hygiene and sanitation, and maintenance of the system. They gave counterpart moneyto be used for future repairs and, most importantly, their voluntary labor contribution in thepipe laying activities. The Directorate of Village Works provided water pipes and technicalhelp.

The training of women on better parenting, the ECCD, and health education by socialworkers, health and nutrition volunteers have shown positive effects with changes in attitudesand behavior such as:

- Mothers used to give water to the baby right after birth. Now they breastfeed after an hourand know that colostrum is the baby's first vaccine;

- They did not breastfeed during diarrhea, now they breastfeed and know about dehydrationand how to prepare ORS;

- They used to believe that family planning was a sin; now it is not being able to take careof the child that is sin;

- Vaccination makes the child infertile. They now believe this is false and that vaccinationprevents the child from diseases;

- They used to breastfeed the child up to one year without supplementary food, now theystart giving supplementary food beginning 4-6 months age;

- They used to cover babies when they have fever, now they know that even warm watercan lower the fever;

- They used to keep their pregnancy a secret, now they believe that it is important for themand the baby to be monitored;

- Now they know the importance of iodized salt in preventing goiter;- They used to put tomato paste, toothpaste, paraffin on burned skin or cut their skin to put

yoghurt on insect bites or put sugar or tobacco on wounds, now they believe in hygieneand in seeing a doctor for treatment to prevent infections;

Strategic Lessons: The project is succeeding in terms of the social and economic benefits it isgiving to the beneficiaries and, from a catalyst perspective, because it is being replicatedvoluntarily by the strategic partner, the Provincial Directorate, and by new collaboratorsthrough their own resources. Contributing to the success were such factors as:1) the relevance and the overall feasibility of the project;2) the delivery of the package or related mix of services were executed at the village level

by a trained and motivated team; and3) the target beneficiaries were well identified, socially prepared and trained.That the beneficiaries were selected on the criterion that they were from high-risk groups ofhouseholds multiplied the project impact even further. It will also be another impactmultiplier if the beneficiaries, collaborators and partners have the will and resources to investon the project's expansion on their own. Financing will be a key factor to sustainability. Inthe future, as the projects are multiplied or expanded more funds for inputs will be required.Group marketing (that must include internal study of each project's rate of return andexternal study of competitors and market prices) and the immediate need for "turn around"cash by producers will also demand funds. Contributing also to the replication process is the"show and tell" or demonstration effect of the pilot projects.

If these projects were replicated in all high-risk areas and households at a quantitycommensurate to the prevalence of the problem in those target areas, the quality of lifeindicators would improve significantly at both the provincial and national levels. If, forinstance, the 5 sub-regions with the highest rates of under 5 years age malnutrition (SectionIIA, indicator No. 13: Erzurum, Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa, Elazig, and Adana) were to replicatethese projects and reduce the incidence by only 50%, the effect would be a 30% reduction onthe national rate. And if the 4 sub-regions alone of Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Sanliurfa, andElazig which have the highest illiteracy rates (Indicator No.7) were to reduce their own ratesby 50%, its effect on the national rate would be 22.5% reduction. Similar results could beobtained if this strategy is adopted on the other indicators.

IV. FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The focus in the future will be on the pursuit of appropriate social development strategies in amiddle-income country like Turkey that is in the process of radical economic and socialtransformation. It is foreseen that there will be greater income inequalities as well asworsening of inter-group and inter-regional disparities in the social indicators before thefruits of its economic reforms to correct structural weaknesses take place. It is hoped that thestate will pursue the reforms consistently and avoid the stop and go policies that resulted inthe periodic boom and bust cycle that also affected the social sector. The Unicef, in itscatalytic role and aided by past lessons from programme experience, should promotestrategies that are suited to the time when the government is compelled to reduce its big role.Specifically, this means that it must intensify support to:1. intersectoral approaches such as IMCI, primary health care and the referral system,

integrated ECCD - Mothers' training, creche and youth centers etc. that are more cost -effective;

2. empowerment and participation that enable community volunteers and the households inthe communities to take responsibility for the pursuit of their welfare including theadoption of new patterns of behavior and initiating demands for services. Towards thisend, culturally relevant social support systems will be tapped to enhance the participationprocess;

3. area-based (provincial and district levels) entry and management of programmes thatwould allow optimum coverage/utilization of interventions per spatial concentration ofthe at-risk population;

Realizing that its resources are but a fraction of what is required to attain the goals set by theCRC/CEDAW and NPA goals, Unicef as a catalyst should take measures to:1. ensure the relevance of its programmes to the people's needs and culture. Towards this

end, more analyses of the underlying causes of the social problems and the constraints toaddress them would be required;

2. select priority target groups and areas for potential high impact on the improvement ofsocial indicators at both the provincial and national levels. Existing data and new onesshould be collected and consolidated to draw the profiles of the at-risk groups. Thesegroups will then be identified and mapped at the household or family level forinterventions;

3. consolidate the partnerships and alliances formed in the past programmes by activating orbringing the partners to joint activities with adaptive learning processes and capacitybuilding measures like training and studies. The technical working committees of the newBoard established by the Prime Minister to monitor the implementation of the CRC inTurkey (replacing Child Intersectoral Board) and their local level counterparts as deliverymechanisms would be most immediate concern. Another is the group of civil societyorganizations like the NGOs, the private sector, academic institutions, and the massmedia whose involvement needs to be intensified. Their parity role in the programme hasbeen sought in the past and will have to be given a proper venue in the future. To startwith, it is known that the NGOs and other civil society institutions also need capacitybuilding to improve the delivery of their own services. This could be the entry point fortheir parity involvement.

4. plan advocacy and mobilization efforts from a long-term strategic perspective. Theagenda for change will have to be prioritized and assigned for pro-active monitoring andfollow-up through the activated CIB sub-groups. Accordingly, the research agenda andcommunications plan with the hardware will be tapped to support the advocacy and social

mobilization. Another key point of the strategy is the selection of key partners andcollaborators. From a catalyst's perspective, they should be those who can replicate theprogrammes of Unicef in the most effective way and in the scale that would have highimpact on the social indicators; and

5. facilitate voluntary replications especially by local administrations, using own fundsleveraged with those of international financing institutions (IFIs). Along this effort,collaborations within the UN system would be pursued with greater vigor as with recentexperiences with ILO-IPEC, UNAIDS, FAO and WHO. The major tasks would be todocument, evaluate and package (particularly investment costs and returns) the pilotedprojects and interventions for ready adoption. Then "show and tell."

The Unicef in Turkey should continue its state of ready response to emergencies. ItsEarthquake Programme experience should be "packaged" for ready adoption by the countryas part of disaster preparedness. This is one way to ensure that the gains made by the regularCountry Programme are not negated.

Finally, there is a strong call for justice for youths in the adult detention centers whose casesare delayed due to inadequacies in the juvenile justice system and whose rights needprotection. Just as in the Earthquake Programme, the future of these youths and the childvictims in the streets should be reclaimed.