Say Yes, Summer 2007: UNICEF Executive Director commends Turkey’s progress
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman pictured on her visit to a preschool in İstanbul
Photograph by Sedat Suna
© UNICEF Turkey 2007
When UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman visited Turkey in June, she had the opportunity to observe at first hand the progress which Turkey is making towards achieving its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets. At the same time, she did not fail to underline the challenges which persist if all Turkey’s children are to enjoy their rights to the full. Efforts to overcome these challenges require comprehensive and accurate statistics, the Executive Director emphasised.
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman left İstanbul on June 27 at the end of a four–day visit during which she took part in two international conferences, met Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other government officials, and held candid discussions with Turkish children and adolescents, parents, academıcs and representatives of non–governmental organisations (NGOs).
On behalf of the United Nations, Ms Veneman addressed the fifteenth anniversary summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, attended by numerous regional heads of state and government. The UNICEF Executive Director later took part in the opening session of the OECD World Forum on Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies, also in İstanbul.
Meeting the Premier
At her meeting with Prime Minister Erdoğan, Ms Veneman expressed her satisfaction at the state of relations between UNICEF and the Government of Turkey. Education figured high on the agenda of the meeting. The Premier and the visiting Executive Director reviewed the efforts of the government to enrol girls in school through the Girls’ Education campaign, Haydi Kızlar Okula!. The campaign was launched by the Ministry of National Education (MONE) in 2003 with support from UNICEF. Backed by a policy of conditional cash transfers to parents whose children go to school, it has resulted in the enrolment of over 300,000 children — mainly girls — who would otherwise have been out of school. Mr. Erdoğan and Ms Veneman also talked about efforts to improve the quality of education and discussed the role of women in politics and the economy.
One of the highlights of Ms Veneman’s stay in İstanbul was a meeting with a group of parents who have attended parenting education courses at an education centre in İstanbul. The Executive Director later discussed a wide range of topics with adolescents who are members of some of Turkey’s provincial child rights committees. The adolescents also organised a surprise birthday party for her.
Progress on the MDGs
At a press conference on June 26, Ms Veneman described the visit — her first to Turkey since her appointment as executive director in 2005 — as enlightening
and productive
.
She expressed satisfaction that Turkey was making good progress towards the achievement of the MDGs in areas such as reducing under–five mortality by two–thirds by 2015, and raising school enrolment rates. Enrolment rates nevertheless still fell short of the 100% target, she noted. Moreover, she continued, It’s not just about getting children into school but about the quality of education.
In this context, she underlined that it should be possible for children to succeed in examinations without having to take private lessons. A public school system should support quality education during school hours,
she said.
Relative to the developing world, Turkey is making good progress overall for its children. The country is not only advancing economically but also making progress with many of the key social indicators,
the Executive Director said. However, she added that it was sometimes necessary to look a little deeper
. In this context, she stressed that there were still important disparities
between geographical areas. She also spoke of the need to improve the quality of education and to keep focusing on child protection issues — an increasing focus of UNICEF’s work in many Middle Income Countries.
Dealing with violence
Asked by a journalist whether violence against women and children could be overcome by education, Ms Veneman referred to the young mothers and fathers whom she had met at the education centre. Some of these, she said, had stopped hitting their children as a result of the course, and many others had explained how learning about better parenting had given them new skills and made their households much more peaceful. This showed that education could help to reduce and eliminate violence; the challenge was to make such messages widely available.
I think you need education at every level,
the Executive Director went on, pointing out that children who experience violence at home or in school are more likely to practise violence themselves in future.
Accurate statistics
If assessing Turkey’s progress towards the MDGs was one theme of Ms Veneman’s visit, another related theme was the importance of sound statistical data.
UNICEF collects a lot of data on children, much of which is included in our annual report The State of the World’s Children,
Ms Veneman told journalists. For this reason, she said, UNICEF was pleased to have been a part of the OECD Forum in İstanbul, addressing the the critical issues of data for development.
Asked about the quality of statistics in Turkey, the Executive Director said that there was always room for improvement, but that she thought statistical systems had been relatively good since the mid–1990s.
In the dark
Without accurate and detailed statistics, policy–makers are in the dark. They cannot define their priorities, they cannot know how best to employ their resources, and and they cannot assess what progress they are making.
This is all the more true in a complex and constantly changing society like Turkey’s, where widely–held assumptions can quickly become out of date, where general statistics can hide subtle disparities of geography or gender, and where the range of issues is vast — from honour killings and child marriage to the level of preparedness for earthquakes or an avian influenza epidemic.
The UNICEF contribution
UNICEF has been playing a leading role in gathering data on children and women for many years. The household survey programme known as Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), which UNICEF developed, is one of the most important instruments used to monitor the MDGs. UNICEF and its partners have also been supporting the development and use of DevInfo, a user–friendly software program for maintaining, organising and disseminating key human development statistics.
DevInfo has evolved from a decade of innovations in database systems that support informed decision making and that promote the use of data to advocate for human development. An important aspect of DevInfo is that it helps nations track national benchmarks on children to support evidence–based decisions. It is currently being adopted in Turkey.
I think statistical systems are a very important part of a country’s infrastructure overall,
Ms Veneman concluded.
Executive Director hears all about educating parents
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman is greeted on arrival at the Bakırköy education centre, İstanbul.
Photograph by Sedat Suna © UNICEF Turkey 2007
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman’s encounter with participants in the My Family parents’ education programme produced a torrent of positive feedback.
I have brought up two children, and now I am looking after my grandchildren. Sometimes I feel really sorry for my own children because I brought them up before I came to this course. I think all pregnant women should attend.
A relative came from our home town. The children were playing and my child said,
Do your parents hit you?The other one said,Yes they hit me a lot.And then my child said,Your mother should go to the course my mother’s been on.
When my elder one came home with his school report, I gave him a hug. But I also showed affection to my other child. I wouldn’t have remembered to do that if I hadn’t had this training.
Some fifteen young mothers, and one grandmother, sat in a circle — in appearance, a typical sample of suburban women. There were also three or four fathers, a toddler in a push chair and a handful of older children. Crammed in at the back, or up against the classroom door, were officials in ties, men and women with cases, cameras and brochures, and the more familiar faces of course leaders Zeliha Eken and Şükran Evirgen.
All of the parents were participants in the education programme, My Family, developed with UNICEF and EU support for parents and care–givers of children aged 0–6, and made available to them at MONE education centres in İstanbul’s Bakırköy and Küçükcekmece districts. They had been sitting waiting here at the Bakırköy centre for some time — which had given them the opportunity to try out their novel headphones. Another ten minutes had elapsed as Ms Veneman was introduced to some of those who had made this meeting possible — among them Bakırköy Governor Dursun Ali Şahin, İstanbul Deputy Director of Education Abdullah Tanır, and Bakırköy Adult Education Centre Director Bahaettin Kabahasanoğlu.
Now at last it was the parents’ turn to display what they had learned. Many had abandoned physical punishment:
I used to beat my kids. Now I have learned to listen to them. My husband has stopped beating them too.
My son was in fifth grade and he was going in for the state boarding school entrance exam, and he said,
Why are you being so nice to me? Is it because I am going in for the exam?So I explained that it was because of the course. I said,You are important for me whether you pass the exam or not. Then he apologised. And I felt really bad because it means I used to treat him badly.
Other parents had different tales to tell:
I work 12 hours a day. When I came home, I used to just look as if I was listening. But since attending the course, I take them out with me more often and I try to teach them something. If there is no time, then we find time later.
Both my sons have been successful at school. It has been a great year. I am happy because I believe I am supporting them.
My daughter didn’t want to go to school but she changed her mind when she saw that I was going to a course too.
The sun streamed in above the tiled roofs of southwestern İstanbul, adorned by concrete chimneys, corregated sunshades and all manner of antenna and minaret. In one direction, seagulls hovered above the dome of a grander mosque; in the other stretched the dense seven–storey streets where many of the parents live.
The topics are very relevant,
said a mother of two, separated from her husband. You feel more attached to your life again. I wish all mothers could take part in this programme.
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman meets My Family participants in Bakırköy education centre, İstanbul.
Photograph by Sedat Suna © UNICEF Turkey 2007
Peace in the family
My Family aims especially at poor and undereducated parents and caregivers. Mothers are taught about nutrition, health and child development. They are encouraged to communicate with children and to treat girls and boys equally. They are also referred to government health services for check–ups and immunisation. Fathers receive follow–up letters that summarise the course content.
Apart from improving the physical, emotional and cognitive well–being of children at a critical stage in their lives, My Family provides young mothers with a peer group support and often seems to improve matrimonial relations:
Fortunately my wife took this course and it brought peace to the whole family,
a young husband declared. 80% of the arguments in a family occur because of the children. Why is she crying? — that sort of thing.
Now my husband looks into my eyes first — to check if he is right. And then he treats the children according to that. I am so proud of this,
reported a migrant woman from Eastern Turkey. My husband has started saying to me, If you had carried on at school you really could have gone far.
My Family participants at the Bakırköy education centre, İstanbul.
Photograph by Sedat Suna © UNICEF Turkey 2007
Recommendations
The Bakırköy mothers are not short on recommendations. If only these courses were organised in the Southeast where I come from,
remarked one. Families have ten children there. We never received any affection from our parents but at least we know better now.
All newly–weds should go to these courses,
added another mother.
Now we need to learn how we can help children in the 7–14 age–goup,
a father pointed out.
Parents education is available not only through MONE but also via community centres of the Social Services and Child Protection Agency (SHÇEK), municipalities and NGOs. Closer ties are envisaged with Ministry of Health programmes on safe motherhood and infant health. Courses are being developed for parents of older children. Nevertheless there is a long way to go before all disadvantaged families are reached.
I must congratulate you on taking the time to be a part of this,
Ms Veneman told the parents.
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