Within the framework of the ‘Business Against Domestic Violence (BADV) Project’ carried out by the Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey (CGFT) and supported by the Sabancı Foundation and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with TÜSİAD, the ‘Workshop on Evaluation of the Draft Workplace Policy Development and Implementation Guide for Combating Domestic Violence Against Women at Municipalities’ was held in partnership with the Union of Municipalities of Turkey.
The workshop was held online on January 26, 2021 with the participation of representatives of 15 metropolitan and district municipalities.
YADA Foundation was the cooperating partner for the preparation of the ‘Workplace Policy Development and Implementation Guide for Combating Domestic Violence Against Women at Municipalities’, which is the first output of the project. This guide was based on the guide developed by and for the business world back in 2015, at the beginning of the BADV project. The draft guide, adapted to municipalities, was completed in December based on outputs from the preparatory workshop with municipalities in July 2020 and interviews with municipal officers.
At the Workshop on Evaluation of the Draft Guide, held on January 26, all the headings included in the draft were discussed thoroughly with municipal officers and workshop participants were consulted about the content of the guide. According to outputs from the workshop, the draft “Workplace Policy Development and Implementation Guide for Combating Domestic Violence Against Women at Municipalities” will be revised and the final Guide will be launched in March for use by municipalities.
Melsa Ararat, Director of the Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey, stated that the fact that municipalities employed women and men with both civil servant and worker status presented an opportunity for the newly prepared guide to set an example for all public institutions, and to impact social norms in this way.