When FAO’s Director of Emergencies and Resilience Strategic Programme Leader Dominique Burgeon met a group of Syrian refugees in Gaziantep, Turkey, earlier this month, he sat in a circle on a carpet with the refugees and heard their stories. Mostly he was told how agricultural training is helping them get better jobs, and providing hope for their futures.
“I’ve met some wonderful people who highly value their new skills, which they can use in Turkey or in Syria for those who will eventually return,” Burgeon said. “What’s more, employers are getting the skilled workers they need and are seeing increases in their productivity.”
Since 2017 FAO has provided agricultural vocational training to Syrian refugees in Turkey, and vulnerable members of the Turkish host communities. Trainees learn about cultivating apples, olives, and grapes, processing citrus fruits and chilli peppers, greenhouse vegetable production, livestock husbandry, irrigation management and much more. So far 900 people including over 400 women and 300 members of the Turkish host community across five provinces have been trained and many of those have already found jobs in a region facing a shortage of agricultural skills. Building on that success, FAO plans to develop skills through vocational training for more people and expand into new provinces.
“So far, this project has been a proof of concept on a small scale, with remarkable success as many of those trained actually found a job,” Burgeon said. “We hope that it can be scaled up this year.”
