The Deeper the Darkness, the Stronger the Light
Social Entrepreneurship, Empowerment and Cohesion Project Notes || September, 2024
When shepherds graze their animals in the highlands and mountains at night, they light a fire to keep warm or to protect themselves against danger. In addition to protecting them from the cold, this fire makes the shepherd feel less alone and reassures them. Shepherd's fire carries deep symbolic meaning in Anatolian culture.
Seeing the fire on the opposite hill, the shepherd remembers that he is not alone. In difficult and dark times, it has become a symbol of unity and solidarity. Its light may be weak, but the hope it gives is strong.
As Social Economies Rise
Lighting the shepherd's fire is analogous to being an active citizen.Lighting the fire means taking responsibility, striving for change.When active citizenship is supported by 'social entrepreneurship' and 'social economy', the shepherd's fire grows and a village full of people gather around it. Social impact starts to reach a social scale.
In addition to the efforts of active citizens who take action not only for themselves but also to find solutions to social problems, who take responsibility for social change and social benefit, institutions have also been increasing their efforts in recent years, making the shepherd's fire grow and social economies rise.
Unlike traditional profit-oriented economies, social economy refers to economic activities that prioritize social benefit and sustainability and aim to provide social, environmental and cultural benefits. In addition to cooperatives, foundations, associations and social enterprises that aim to improve the welfare of individuals and communities, public institutions also support the development of social economies.
Social Procurement
One area where the public sector can contribute to social economies is social procurement. Social procurement is a process that requires a conscious consumer profile, where attention is paid not only to price and quality, but also to the social impact of the production process when purchasing a product.
Social procurement means that consumers purchase products and services by taking into account certain ethical concerns and social criteria. From a public perspective, while traditional public administration and public procurement approach prioritizes criteria such as cost, quality and reliability, the social procurement approach considers social and environmental goals in addition to these criteria.
By supporting social economies in the public sector, innovative and sustainable solutions can be developed to solve social problems, employment is created, local resources are used effectively and local development is supported.
In the SEECO Project, we are working to contribute to the social economy with our social entrepreneur beneficiaries and the cooperatives we support in 11 cities. Supporting social procurement processes and increasing the quality of production and design in the region are among our prioritized goals.
What Happened on the Field in September?
Evaluation Process for New Centers Completed
The first steps have been taken for centers that both teach and produce in many fields from gastronomy to software, from packaging to digital media. The application results of our call to create sustainable economic livelihoods and common use areas to strengthen solidarity and cooperation among communities in the 11 provinces where the SEECO Project is carried out have been announced. We continue to support and expand social entrepreneurship with the opening of new facilities that will further increase our impact in the region.
As a result of the Call for Project Proposals, contracts have started to be signed with the candidates who are entitled to receive grants.
Some of our facilities and centers to be implemented;
Joint Use and Production Workshop for Textile Sector (Mersin Governorship)
Tarsus Aromatic Plant Distillation and Hydroponic Greenhouse Facility (Tarsus Municipality)
Tourism Oriented Social Entrepreneurship Center (Çukurova University)
Technology and Innovation Center in Wood Manufacturing (Çukurova District Governorship)
R&D and Entrepreneurship Center (Adana Provincial Directorate of National Education)
Vocational Development Project for Women and Youth (Adana Chamber of Industry)
İpekyolu Gaziantep Informatics and Social Entrepreneurship Center (Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce)
Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Workshop (Mardin Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports)
Process Evaluation and New Steps
On September 10th in Ankara, Ahmet Şimşek, Director General of Development Agencies of the Ministry of Industry and Technology and Project Director, Hande Kara, SEECO Project Coordinator and our project team met with experts and consultants from the World Bank to evaluate the progress of the project and discuss the next steps.
Field Visits
In order to develop strategies to strengthen our impact on the ground, we conducted field visits in Şanlıurfa and Gaziantep on September 16-17. We examined the acceleration and incubation centers that received grant support, listened to the success stories of the initiatives that benefited from the project and had the opportunity to observe the concrete impact on the ground. We also visited the newly opened and planned social entrepreneurship centers and evaluated the contributions of these centers to the region.
Beneficiaries on the Path to Social Procurement
We took part in the 36th Corporate Gift and Promotional Products (Promotion Show) Fair in order to support our beneficiaries to establish business-oriented connections. Approximately 7 thousand domestic and foreign corporate buyers participated in the fair held in Istanbul on September 18-21.
Our beneficiaries, who produce in different categories such as food, cosmetics, textiles and souvenirs, exhibited their products at this event, shared the stories of their initiatives and had the opportunity to connect with private sector representatives. During the fair, which was an important opportunity to introduce their social benefit-oriented production approach to a wider audience, our entrepreneurs established ties with local and foreign buyers, told their stories, received orders, made new agreements by developing their supply networks, shared their experiences and took important steps towards growing their businesses.
Shepherd's Fire Grows
The light of the fire we see from a distance may seem weak and ineffective. However, it is possible to light this fire in many places, big and small.
As social and environmental negativities increase, so do the efforts of both individuals and organizations to create healing social impact. The darkness we are in allows the light to multiply at the same time.
The distant flame of a shepherd's fire may herald the beginning of a great movement. So let's keep the shepherd's fire alive by making the best of what we do, benefiting society.