Engineer Girls of Turkey Meet for the Fifth Time in Istanbul

February 26, 2020

Scholars under the project “Engineer Girls of Turkey” jointly implemented by UNDP and Limak Foundation in collaboration with Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services and Ministry of National Education met for the fifth time in Istanbul. In addition to the Engineer Girls of Turkey, the project mentors and coaches also participated in the event.

The meeting opened with the speeches of Ebru Ozdemir, The Chairperson of Limak Foundation; Sukhrob Khojimatov, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative and Gülser Ustaoğlu, General Director on the Status of Women at the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services.

Like every year, the 5th Istanbul Meeting also hosted many inspirational role model speeches and training programs as well. Dr. Menzer Pehlivan, Co-chairperson of the Technical Group of Jacobs Earthquake Engineering; Murat Kolbaşı, Chairperson of Arzum; Melek Pulatkonak, Founder of TurkishWin & BinYaprak; Giovanni Guidetti, Head Coach of VakıfBank and Turkey Women’s National Volleyball Team; Belçim Bilgin, actress and Aret Vartanyan, author, met with the audience with their speeches.

Having started five years ago to increase the number of women engineers and ensure that women be more effective in business life and decision-making, the project “Engineer Girls of Turkey” continues to grow. While a total of 310 public university students from several engineering departments were provided scholarships, they also benefited from certain opportunities such as certificate programs, English language course, mentorship support, internship and employment that will contribute to their personal and career development throughout their studies.

In the fifth year of the project, 120 students are currently benefiting from scholarships and being supported in multiple ways within the scope of the program. In the event, a graduation ceremony was also organized for the scholars who graduated last year.

Besides role model speeches, trainings and panels towards Engineer Girls of Turkey on topics such as “Successful Job Interview” and “Gender Equality Awareness Raising” were organized. The music band GRIPIN organized a workshop with Engineer Girls of Turkey to make a composition for the project.