US embassy cable - 05ANKARA2684

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002684 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USAID/GH DGIBB 
STATE IO/EDA WSWANEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, ECON, PREL, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKEY: VIEWS ON UNICEF COUNTRY PROGRAM 
 
REF: STATE 76373 
 
1. Summary.  Econoffs met with UNICEF representatives from 
both the National Committee and Country Offices to evaluate 
Turkey UNICEF,s program content and effectiveness per 
request in reftel.  UNICEF,s activities in Turkey focus on 
maternal and child health; early childhood development and 
child-friendly learning environments; child protection; and 
policy, social mobilization and emergency preparedness. 
UNICEF has a positive and cooperative relationship with 
relevant government agencies in Turkey and has been 
effective, particularly, in bridging the gender gap in 
primary education.  End Summary. 
 
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Priorities in Turkey 
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2. There are five key areas in which UNICEF focuses its 
resources globally: 1) girl,s education, 2) early childhood 
development, 3) immunization, 4) fighting HIV/AIDS and 5) 
protecting children from violence, exploitation, abuse and 
discrimination.  The UNICEF Turkey Country Office is 
currently in the last year of its most recent five-year 
planning cycle.  It is now developing a new five-year country 
program for 2006-2010.  Over the next five years, UNICEF will 
continue to focus on the five priority areas and place a 
special emphasis on child protection. 
 
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Education 
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3. UNICEF,s main goal in this field is to ensure access to 
education and gender parity for girls.  Main obstacles to 
girl,s education in Turkey include a social priority 
accorded to boys over girls, long distances to schools, 
limited access to schools and classroom space, limited funds 
for families to send their children to school, and a need for 
girls to be a source of additional income for families.  In 
addition to UNICEF, the World Bank has identified increasing 
girls' enrollment rates as a priority in its programming. 
UNICEF,s Girl,s Education Campaign reduced the number of 
out-of-school girls by 15% during 2003 and 2004.  It also 
resulted in a significant increase in boys, enrollment. 
 
4. UNICEF also wants to ensure access at the preschool level. 
 Turkey currently has a low 15% attendance rate and most of 
this attendance is in urban areas only.  Preschools are not 
widely available in rural areas.  UNICEF,s target is to 
raise the attendance rate in urban areas by 15%.  In rural 
areas, UNICEF hope,s to help develop a community-based 
preschool system. 
 
5. UNICEF plans to work with the GOT to assess the quality of 
education in Turkey.  UNICEF, along with officials from the 
Ministry of Education (MOE), is working to ensure that 
&Child-Friendly8 criteria will be adopted in approximately 
30,000 schools by 2010.  Currently, there are 250 
Child-Friendly schools throughout the country.  Each has a 
minimum standard which helps ensure the development of a 
child,s faculties of critical thinking, self-esteem, and 
social skills.  Under the joint UNICEF/MOE program, UNICEF 
will assess everything from school response systems and 
safety to parental involvement. 
 
6. As part of the U.N. Secretary General,s request for a 
&Global Study on Violence Against Children,8 UNICEF will 
work with the MOE on a study looking at violence in 
schools*particularly bullying.  UNICEF and the MOE will 
select a team of national researchers who will look at how 
teachers and parents address the issue of bullying and the 
team will endeavor to come up with effective solutions. 
UNICEF official told Econoff that though there have been some 
studies on this issue in Turkey, the studies have never been 
nationally representative. 
 
7. UNICEF is also going to develop &catch-up8 education 
curriculum for working children and children who have never 
attended school.  The curriculum will be specifically 
tailored for the educational needs of children who may not 
have had any formal schooling but who have developed 
mathematical or reading skills in the workforce or at home. 
 
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Health 
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8. In the area of health, UNICEF supports the Ministry of 
Health (MOH) to ensure that babies throughout Turkey have the 
&best start in life.8  UNICEF helps the MOH establish 
Mother Support Systems and Baby-Friendly Hospitals which 
encourage mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies for 
at least six months.  There are currently 322 
&baby-friendly8 hospitals throughout Turkey. 
 
9. UNICEF also supports the Ministries of Health and 
Agriculture to encourage consumption of iodized salt to 
address iodine deficiency disorders.  UNICEF works with 
relevant ministries on immunization campaigns and hopes to 
eliminate measles from Turkey by 2010. 
 
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Protection of Children and Adolescents 
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10. UNICEF will continue its work in education and health 
throughout its 2006-2010 country program.  However, it plans 
to place a special focus on child protection.  With funding 
from the European Union (EU), UNICEF will continue to work 
with the Ministry of Justice (Laws Department, Prisons and 
Reformatories, International Law and Foreign Affairs, and the 
Education Department), the Ministry of Justice, the Gendarme, 
and their key partner, Social Services and Child Protection 
Services, to strengthen the systems that protect children. 
UNICEF officials told Econoff that some improvements have 
already been made in the Turkish Penal Code in the area of 
preventing and addressing the abuse and exploitation of 
children. 
 
11. UNICEF also plans to develop a program to help prevent 
the increase, in recent years, of children living and working 
on the streets in Turkey.  UNICEF believes a program which 
builds the capacity of parents to care for their children and 
reinforcing positive child-rearing is the best protection for 
keeping kids off the streets.  In addition, UNICEF will 
improve monitoring and reporting of abuses committed against 
children and help develop short and long term solutions. 
 
12. With 20,000 children living outside of parental care in 
institutions, UNICEF believes the establishment of an 
ombudsman for children is vital.  This would ensure that 
children have an advocate of their own to turn to if their 
rights are violated. 
 
13. For adolescents, UNICEF is working with a team of 
adolescents to develop a &life skills package8 for 13 
million of their out-of-school peers.  The life skills based 
education will touch upon everything from HIV/AIDS prevention 
to gender equity*giving these adolescents the basic life 
skills and the knowledge to live healthy and productive 
lives.  The material will be delivered peer-to-peer by the 
teams of adolescents with whom UNICEF is working. 
 
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Advocacy and Social Policy 
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14. In the past, UNICEF has worked with the GOT at the 
national and provincial levels.  In the future, UNICEF also 
plans to work with municipalities and help build 
&Child-Friendly Cities.8  UNICEF hopes to monitor the 
enforcement of policy reforms in cities and assess cities, 
data management of resources that are targeted for children. 
Ultimately, UNICEF would like to see the localization of 
international standards for children.  The Ministry of 
Interior is UNICEF,s key partner in this endeavor to 
encourage proper municipal budget allocation to improve the 
quality of life for children. 
 
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UNICEF Success 
-------------- 
 
15. UNICEF has made great strides in education.  Over 100,000 
girls have enrolled or re-enrolled in school and UNICEF is 
helping to close the gender gap in primary education.  Though 
UNICEF recognizes that it has been a concerted effort at many 
levels, UNICEF believes it has been a contributor to the 
reduction in child and infant mortality rates in Turkey. 
According to UNICEF, the GOT has shown political commitment 
and high level support for the issues UNICEF champions and 
the recently formed GOT Parliamentary Commission on Children 
is an example of the government,s commitment. 
 
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Funding 
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16. UNICEF Turkey receives $1 million per year from UNICEF 
headquarters.  The Turkish National Committee for UNICEF 
raises an additional $0.5 million mostly through sales of 
UNICEF products and from corporate sponsorships.  Some funds 
also come from individual and pledge donations.  However, 
National Committee officials told Econoffs that Turkish 
people are sometimes wary that by donating to an 
international organization, their donations will go abroad 
rather than helping children in Turkey.  National Committee 
fund-raisers can, however, earmark donations at the donor,s 
request. 
 
17. In the past, most of Turkey UNICEF,s spending has been 
in girls, education.  However, the EU is a major funder for 
UNICEF and as a result of Turkey,s acquis with the EU, more 
funding will be focused on child protection in the 2006-2010 
term.  Other major funders for UNICEF in Turkey are the World 
Bank and the U.S. 
 
Country Coordination 
-------------------- 
 
18. Though Post is not directly involved in any programming 
activities with UNICEF, UNICEF does attend a Project 
Coordination group composed of representatives from donor 
organizations in Turkey.  The group includes Embassies, 
international organizations and private institutions.  The 
aim of the coordination group is to have a forum for 
discussion of each group,s programming activities to 
eliminate repetition or to determine if joint cooperation is 
feasible between donor organizations.  UNICEF attends these 
meetings (which Post also attends) and shares information on 
its projects and plans. 
 
19. The UN, under the leadership of the UN Secretary General 
Kofi Anan, has initiated a process of cohesive planning among 
UN agencies and their government counterparts in an effort to 
have better coordination and strategic planning.  Through 
this process, UNICEF coordinates with the GOT and develops a 
common country assessment of Turkey,s needs in improving the 
lives of children.  The GOT State Planning Organization 
reviews and approves the final country assessment. 
 
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Comment 
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20. In the past 54 years of cooperation with Turkey, UNICEF 
has developed a reputation as a respected organization which 
does good work in improving the lives of children in Turkey 
and throughout the world.  An example of its ability to 
mobilize support in Turkey is the recent success of UNICEF,s 
efforts to raise one million dollars from the Turkish public 
for the Tsunami relief effort in Indonesia.  UNICEF,s 
coordination with relevant government agencies to produce 
positive results in areas such as girl,s education is an 
example of UNICEF,s continued effectiveness in 
country-appropriate programs in Turkey.  End Comment. 
EDELMAN