A contribution from: Sencer Ecer, Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Economics, Istanbul Technical University

What existing socially innovative developments do you notice in Turkey?

Socially innovative developments are focused in the fields of environment, poverty and employment. First ideas arise in the joint use of energy. The rest of the efforts are mainly categorised as traditional non-profits.

Examples:

• Türkiye Erozyonla Mücadele Ağaçlandırma ve Doğal Varlıkları Koruma Vakfı (TEMA Foundation): Turkey’s oldest, largest and best-connected environmental group. Primarily known for large scale tree planting campaigns, which have been largely responsible for incremental gains in forest cover over the past two decades. Primary issue is soil erosion and degradation due to land use practices. Runs broad outreach campaigns focusing on teachers, decision makers, religious leaders and the military. Supports socially innovative initiatives arising from organisations, organises pilot projects scattered around the country on alternative land use best practices and sustainable rural development.
• Anadolu Vakfı (Anatolia Foundation): Cooperates with local communities in order to preserve the environment and to provide incomes through projects in local villages that promote application of traditional skills. Alternative and sustainable income sources in rural areas are designed to mitigate the local poverty and counter-balance the effects of heavy out-migration to distant cities. The resulting organic and fair trade products help to promote sustainable living in the villages.
• Doğu Anadolu Tarımsal Üreticiler ve Besiciler Birliği (Eastern Anatolia Agricultural Producers and Breeders Association): Organic farming cooperatives should help to avoid emigration from Eastern Anatolia. EAAPBA coordinates the initiative and provides a solution to small and medium sized firms to survive through the intense competition.
• Buğday Derneği (Ekolojik Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği) (Bugday Association for Supporting Ecological Living): is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation registered under the Turkish law. Since the 1990s, the pioneering Buğday (Wheat) ecological movement served as a space for like-minded, environmentally conscious people to meet, gather and share their ideas and visions about ecological living. Buğday’s mission is to create ecological living conscience and sensitivity in the society both on the individual basis and as a whole; to offer solutions to the problems arising due to the irreversible destruction of the ecological systems, and to support living in harmony with nature. The main working areas of Buğday can be summarised as: Organic Agriculture (e.g. 100% ecological market places); Ecological Living (e.g. Camtepe Ecological Center); Agro-Biodiversity (e.g. seed network); Eco-Agro Tourism (e.g. TaTuTa -Eco-Agro Tourism and Voluntary Exchange); Urban Agriculture (e.g. Cumhuriyetköy Community Garden). TaTuTa (stands for agriculture, tourism, exchange) is the name of the project on ‘Eco-Agro Tourism and Voluntary Knowledge and Skills Exchange on Organic Farms’, organised by the Bugday Association. With TaTuTa, the Bugday Association is the official member of the European Center for Ecological and Agricultural Tourism (ECEAT), the national World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) organisation of Turkey, and an accredited European Voluntary Service (EVS).

Is social innovation formally positioned on policy the level in Turkey?

Turkey has a very long history of philanthropic funding (particularly faith-based) and this is still the most important and dominant way of helping the poor. However, social innovation (SI) is not formally positioned at the policy level in Turkey. Governments of local municipalities may, however, encourage SI in their areas, financially support and collaborate enthusiastically where they are aware of projects. Social Entrepreneurship is more commonly used and had some traction at policy circles.

What is the biggest challenge for social innovations to become alive?

The biggest challenge for socially innovative projects is that individuals involved in SI or social entrepreneurship may have difficulty funding their endeavor on a continuing basis, barring substantial government financial support, which is exacerbated by their muddled legal status. Many socially innovative projects will never reach an advanced stage due to the inability of the innovators to remain committed to the project in the face of financial insecurity. This may prevent the innovation from spreading beyond the initial stillborn project. Assumptions regarding personal finance and career risk may also represent a barrier to taking action on socially innovative ideas by would-be social entrepreneurs.

Which impacts do you expect from social innovations for our societies?

Except in the above mentioned areas (environment, poverty and employment) SI does not play a huge role in Turkey. This is because of the financial and organisational barriers that stunt or shut down socially innovative projects and organisations before they are able to reach a scale where their work shows tangible benefits. This is necessary either for the idea to go viral and spawn social imitators in other regions or other countries. Opportunities for success for socially innovative projects and for impact from SI will be much greater in policy fields in which actors are more likely to represent local communities (rather than seek to transform them from outside) and where the broader goals of SI in the policy field cut across social groups rather than representing a preference or agenda identified with one shard of a fractured society.

However in the area of employment, for example, SI initiatives may be more effective. This may be mainly due to the social and economic impact of large groups of unemployed men and women. Moreover, there are a few large SI-projects in the field of employment initiated by government agencies. Also, environment and poverty are two areas that the SI made significant inroads. This is also because environmental initiatives find international support and fighting poverty has a long tradition rooted in the society.

Why is social innovation important for your organisation?

Established in 1773, Istanbul Technical University (ITU) is the world’s third oldest technical university dedicated to engineering sciences as well as social sciences recently, and is one of the most prominent educational institutions in Turkey. Long history, intelligent minds and outstanding academic environment of ITU form a strong bridge connecting the past to the future. With the priority for continuous development and innovative perspective ITU proves to be the university that leads the society to better standards of living. Therefore, ITU understands the importance of SI and its driving force of the large groups and the role it serves to lead the society to better living standards.

Author: Sencer Ecer, Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Economics, Istanbul Technical University