A ‘Joint’ Programme

The United Nations Joint Programme to Protect and Promote the Human Rights of Women and Girls (UNJP) sets many firsts in Turkey. The Joint Programme is the embodiment of the reform process in progress since 1997 by the UN. The Joint Programme is the cooperation and partnership of the UN, the government, civil society and the public. The Joint Programme defines local partners (local governments and women's organizations) as basic actors that will transform all walks of life and establish women-friendly cities. Therefore, it aims to strengthen local governments and women's organizations.

Our Goals

The main goal of the Joint Programme is to support the creation of "women-friendly" cities. The following are our objectives to reach this goal:
1. To create an environment (plans, programs, policies, legislation) facilitating the protection and promotion of the rights of women and girls.
2. To build capacity in local governments to design and provide quality services to women and girls.
3. To build capacity in all non-governmental organizations and associations operating in this field to advocate gender equality, interact effectively with relevant agencies and organizations, and strengthen positions of women and girls.
4. To raise awareness in public for the rights of women and girls.

Why Six Cities ?

In the programme preparation phase, a detailed and comprehensive study was held to select cities. After evaluating many criteria, it was decided to implement the project in İzmir, Kars, Nevşehir, Şanlıurfa, Trabzon and Van. The indicators of the State Planning Organization, eagerness of the local governments, premises where other UN projects were being carried out, and the financial indictors were the major criteria in the selection of these provinces. Geographical diversity was another factor as well. The UN Joint Programme mainly targets decision makers at the national level, local decision makers in the six provinces, non-governmental organizations and the public.These cities were selected to show how services could be diversified and developed, how resources could be multiplied, and lives of women and girls could be improved by adopting a participatory approach that focuses on coordination and inter-sectoral cooperation.

What is a ‘women-friendly city’?

While they make up the half of the city population, women’s participation in the local decision making processes remains extremely low. Indeed women are natural partners of local administrators, and should be consulted with in the planning and the management processes. The demand of women for equal representation in these decision making mechanisms is a constitutional right, an integral part of democracy. City planning, traditionally, is handled by men and women's needs are ignored. However, local decisions on housing, security, transport, education and health directly affect women. In such planning, premises which would bring together women, such as a childcare center for each quarter etc., are not considered. For example, the insufficient lighting on streets, insufficient public transportation, and poor safety of the vehicles are barriers to women enjoying their basic rights to life. Furthermore, shelters where women can resort when they are subjected to violence, and hotlines through which they can contact authorities are elements that city planning should not ignore. Women constitute one of the groups, least enjoying the cultural, sports and recreation facilities of the cities.WE WANT TO CREATE WOMEN-FRIENDLY CITIES, where women take active roles in planning, creation and daily life.
By the "Women-friendly City" slogan, we aim that everybody will enjoy the economic, social and political opportunities offered by the city equally.