E-Kartla Hayata Destek

Closure of the Project: Highlights of the past year

By Maria del Mar Marais

In 2015 Hayata Destek (STL) and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH) were presented with a new challenge: to inform the public about the new E-voucher project funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Office (ECHO). The most important information we wanted to transmit (key messages) was:

-The humanitarian situation and the scale of needs of refugees in the region require substantial international humanitarian efforts.
-Refugees not living in camps have specific needs; cash assistance and protection of refugees are best practices.
-As the conflict continues, all states involved have to work on durable solutions for the refugees in the region.
-Independent NGOs are able to provide targeted and adequate humanitarian assistance for those affected by the crisis in Syria and Iraq because of European Union funding through its ECHO partnerships based on humanitarian principles.

This was planned to be done through a number of different channels: websites, blog posts, postcards, stands, exhibitions, photobooks, news articles... The organization of all these events required a lot of time an effort from the Communications teams in Istanbul and Berlin, the program officers in headquarters and the always welcoming and ready to help field teams.

To celebrate the successful results, here are the highlights of the past year:

EVENT EVANGELISCHER KIRCHENTAG: At the biggest event of the protestant church in Germany the e-voucher project was part of our stand. It took place from 3rd to 7th of June 2015 in Stuttgart. Altogether we counted about 1,800 people visiting the stand amongst them the former German Secretary of state Frank-Walter Steinmeier and other German politicians. The event was for us very successful.

PHOTOGRAPHERS AND JOURNALIST VISITs: A number of Turkish and international journalists and photographers visited the field during the year to collect stories for newspapers alongside images to use in the photobook and exhibitions. Stories and portraits of the people who received the e-voucher were featured in articles of newspapers such as the German Berliner Zeitung and Zeit Online; and the Spanish “El Pais”. 

PHOTOBOOK: We printed 1500 copies of a photobook featuring e-voucher holder’s portraits and their personal stories. The stories were written in two languages: Turkish-English. The books were distributed for free in a number of high profile events.

PHOTO EXHIBITONS: Three exhibitions were organized in Turkey. The first exhibition was held in Istanbul and the second exhibition was held in Gaziantep in March, for the anniversary of the start of Syrian uprising. Finally, the third exhibition was part of the World Humanitarian summit “refugee home”. The exhibitions were visited by over 1000 people in each event.

WORLD HUMANITARIAN SUMMIT: At the summit in Istanbul from 23-24 May 2016 we had a stand presenting the E-voucher project. The structure consisted of a reception area plus a “refugee home” that visitors could enter. Postcards, photobooks and other PR material from Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and STL was given out for free. Kerem Yucel, the photographer of the photobook joined the team and signed copies of the book. Politicians and journalist visited to our stand. Even Ban-Ki Moon and his wife took a copy of the photobook. It was not always easy but we are proud and happy to have been involved in such an important task. Congratulations to everyone involved!