11/14/2023 - 12:28
On October 20, we held the fourth experience sharing meeting where Haklara Destek organizations shared the “best practices" pertaining to their scholarship programs. Ali İsmail Korkmaz Foundation (Alikev), Women's State of Solidarity Association (Dakahder), and Migration and Humanitarian Aid Foundation (Giyav) shared their experiences on their scholarship programs.
During the meeting, we listened to organizations’ experiences pertaining to the structures of the scholarship programs offered, the criteria and mechanisms by which scholarship recipients are selected, and the ways in which the scholarship programs are linked to the empowerment work or other programs carried out by these organizations.
Alikev, which was established in Hatay in 2014, carries out various activities for young people. Representative from Alikev stated that the scholarship program has been ongoing since 2016 and illustrated how this program works using in-depth examples. Alikev also stated that in the scholarship program which they offer to high school and university students, they attach importance to criteria such as needs of the students, the volunteering activities the students carry out in civil society as well as academic achievement. Alikev also stated that the foundation, which switched to an online interview system after the pandemic, has four different scholarship commissions and keeps on engaging with scholarship recipients after graduation as volunteers. The foundation, which aims to enrich its scholarship programs with other empowerment activities, also mentioned the one-time support offered in emergency and extraordinary situations.
Dakahder, a Diyarbakır-based association, informed us that their scholarship commission uses the budget funded by individual donations to provide scholarships to women and LGBTI+ university students between the ages of 18-25. They also added that even though the scholarship program could not be fully implemented due to the earthquake, the association has various activities prepared to empower scholarship recipients in different fields and that they want to improve and increase these activities. Dakahder’s scholarship program is also open to those living in the neighboring provinces.
Giyav works with women, children and youth who have been adversely affected by internal migration. Giyav’s scholarship recipients are children between the ages of 7-18. Giyav stated that it enriches its support for scholarship recipients with multilingual workshops, arts and sports activities. They added that scholarships are provided from the budget funded by individual and corporate donations to the foundation. Giyav representative also stated that scholarship recipients are selected by a committee focusing on organizational strategy, sustainability, gender equality, and the organization’s memory. Attendance at school is a mandatory condition to receive the scholarship. The representative also added that scholarships are a tool used by Giyav to advance schooling. She emphasized the importance and necessity of keeping records digitally based on the problems they experienced and encountered in their own scholarship program in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
This experience sharing meeting, which was deepened by the questions asked to the representatives of associations and foundations, concluded in a way that might be resourceful for other organizations planning to carry out scholarship-related activities.