VY TURKEY'S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2° VNR Ee I) “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” ae ae es ae ae ee eeoeeeee a ae es a eeeeeee ae Wee ae eS a eeoeeeee Wee aae B Tee ee Oe Oe ee2eeee0e mah aR da dD Tree ee THE GLOBAL GOALS @e@eeee80 0 For Sustainable Development 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................9 2. PROCESS OF AND METHODOLOGY FOR REVIEWING TURKEY’S PROGRESS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS..........................................................................................................................................................................11 2.1. Stocktaking Analysis Project ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................12 2.2. Partnerships for Engaging All Relevant Parties in the Process.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................12 2.3. Database for Best Practices and Projects Related to of SDGs.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................14 2.4. Multi-stakeholder Consultation Processes ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................15 2.5. Summary of Main Messages and Political Ownership................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................15 3. INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS INTO NATIONAL AGENDA...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................17 3.1. Creating Ownership for SDGs...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................17 3.1.1. High-Level Ownership of SDGs.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................17 3.1.2. Inclusion of SDGs in the Agenda of TGNA.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................17 3.1.3. Audit by the Turkish Court of Accounts.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................18 3.1.4. Role of Local Governments in SDGs.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................18 3.1.5. Private Sector’s Ownership of SDGs......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................20 3.1.6. Awareness-Raising Activities ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................21 3.2. Integration of SDGs into National Policies....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................21 3.2.1. SDGs in the 11th NDP Specialised Commissions (OIKs) ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................21 3.2.2. Inclusion of SDGs in Annual Programmes...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................22 3.2.3. Turkey’s Stocktaking Analysis Project under SDGs .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................22 3.2.4. Indicators for Monitoring National Policies in the Implementation of SDGs..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................23 3.3. Developments in Sustainable Development Indicators ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................24 3.3.1. Turkey’s Current Situation vis-à-vis Global SDG Indicators Framework...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................24 3.3.2. Increasing Awareness and Ownership for SDG Indicators....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................26 3.4. Integration of Three Dimensions of Sustainable Development.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................26 3.4.1. SDG Heat Map.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................27 3.4.2. Interlinkages between SDGs in the context of Turkey ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................29 3.5. Institutional Mechanisms ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................31 3.5.1. Transition to Presidential Government System ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................31 3.5.2. Institutional Mechanisms Established for SDGs following 1st VNR .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................32 3.5.3. Distribution of Institutional Roles in Monitoring SDGs...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................35 3.6. Challenges and Opportunities Encountered in the Implementation Process..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................35 4. LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................38 4.1. Policies for Women........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................39 4.2. Policies for Children and Youth....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................40 4.3. Policies for Persons with disabilities and Elderly.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................43 4.4. Policies for Refugees under Temporary Protection........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................44 5. PROGRESS TOWARDS SDGs AND NEXT STEPS................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................50 5.1. SDG 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................51 5.2. SDG 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................55 5.3. SDG 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................59 5.4. SDG 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................64 5.5. SDG 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................69 5.6. SDG 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................73 5.7. SDG 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................77 5.8. SDG 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all..................................................................................................................................................................82 5.9. SDG 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................90 5.10. SDG 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................95 5.11. SDG 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................100 2 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.12. SDG 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................106 5.13. SDG 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................110 5.14. SDG 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................114 5.15. SDG 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................117 5.16. SDG 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................121 5.17. SDG 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development ...................................................................................................................................................................................................125 6. CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................131 7. ANNEXES: ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................133 7.1. ANNEX-1: SDG Focus Areas:............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................133 7.2. ANNEX-2: Sustainable Development Indicators, 2010-2017 ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................134 2. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 3. LIST OF TABLES Table 1. SDG Voluntary National Review, Organising Partnerships and Responsibilities ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................14 Table 2. SDG Practices in Municipalities ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................19 Table 3. Indicators Produced in Turkey by Tiers, February 2019.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................24 Table 4. SDG Heat Map .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................28 Table 5. Interaction between SDGs ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................30 Table 6. Distribution of Institutional Responsibility by SDGs ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................33 Table 7. Population by sex and age group, 2018, TURKSTAT ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................38 Table 8. SDG Focus Areas ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................50 Table 9. Share of Sources in Power Generation .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................78 Table 10. Employment Data .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................86 Table 11. Sectoral Distribution of GDP at Current Prices (2000-2017), with 2009 Reference Year ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................91 Table 12. Solid Waste Data .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................102 Table 13. Turkish Bilateral Official Development Assistance by Region (million USD) ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................127 4. LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Distribution of Indicators by SDGs ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................25 Figure 2. Structure of Presidential Government System ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................31 Figure 3. Poverty Gap .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................52 Figure 4. Sectoral Water Use for Turkey ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................75 Figure 5. Gini Coefficient ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................96 Figure 6. Share of Turkish Official Emergency and Humanitarian Aid in ODA (%).............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................128 3 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” FOREWORD We adopted in 2015, along with all World Leaders, the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” that addresses, with a common understanding, issues such as protecting the environment, improving quality of life and economic growth, which are issues recognised by all in an era when global problems need global solutions. Through this new global approach to development that would guide us on a more sustainable course of development, we formulated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which includes 169 targets, based on the motto of “leaving no one behind”, aiming at leaving not a single person or country behind. We assembled on the same platform a broad range of targets, including engaging all communities in the global efforts to reduce poverty and enhance people’s well- being, responding to the needs of disadvantaged groups, eliminating inequalities, strengthening economic growth and technological development as well as employment, ensuring industrialisation, protecting ecosystems, adopting sustainable patterns of production and consumption, and preventing waste. We aim at handing over to our children, our grandchildren and future generations the same world as we inherited, or even a better one. Therefore, we must implement SDGs with a firm resolution. Turkey views strong ownership and leadership by the states as essential to achieve successful outcomes during the implementation of the SDGs, which represent an inclusive and results-oriented framework urging all countries to act at the local, national and international levels. Turkey has emphasized its commitment on every occasion to contribute to a sustainable world since the adoption of Agenda 2030. Demonstrating a strong ownership, Turkey was among the first 22 countries that submitted a VNR Report during the 2016 HLPF. On 20 September 2016, on the speech delivered on the occasion of the first anniversary of the adoption of SDGs, at the 71st United Nations General Assembly, we emphasised that the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development was created jointly and that it included ambitious and transformative goals for everyone; and we called upon countries to sustain the flow of official development assistance, which is the most important funding for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). As a result 4 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” of this approach, Turkey went beyond its commitments for official development assistance and sustained and increased it year- on-year. The Second Voluntary National Review Report of Turkey is the product of a process which we initiated by sending a circular to all our institutions, and it was conducted by demonstrating a highest-level political ownership. We, as Turkey, address international issues, global matters and regional matters with a human-centred approach upholding law and justice. We wholeheartedly believe in the prevention of ongoing wars and conflicts, building peace, sustainable development, an equitable distribution and solidarity. With her long-standing tradition of state and democracy, Turkey, relying on its central geographic location, vast historical experience, young and educated population, and strong institutions and dynamic economy, will celebrate the Centenary of our Republic in 2023. We are working tirelessly to achieve our goals for 2023 and we will achieve these goals through the principles of sustainable and human-centred development. We are aware that the national goals can be attained through international solidarity and cooperation, along with a national vision. This report presents Turkey’s progress on policies, legislation, implementation and projects as well as the steps necessary in the future, in the context of Sustainable Development Goals. Solving global problems depends on joint efforts on the basis of cooperation and effective multilateralism. Indeed, we always emphasize solidarity on all global matters, including in particular global stability. We know that our goals for 2023, and the 2030 Goals afterwards, can be achieved by such a solidarity, and we therefore make our preparations accordingly. Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN President 5 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As Turkey moves forward economically and socially along its development journey from the past to the future, it also prioritises environmental protection and improvement in line with its global responsibilities. In that context, our country has emphasised, at every opportunity, its commitment to work for a sustainable world since the adoption of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Thus, it was among the 22 countries, which submitted their first Voluntary National Review (VNR) Reports to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in 2016, demonstrating its strong ownership towards the Agenda. Turkey’s first VNR Report laid down a roadmap elaborating the planned steps to achieve SDGs. Its 2nd VNR Report of 2019 focuses on the status of progress towards the SDGs. Turkey prefers implementing and monitoring SDGs with a holistic approach, by integrating them into National Development Plans (NDPs) and sectoral strategies. Since the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992, Turkey has reflected the concept of sustainable development in its National Development Plans (NDPs), which represent the highest level of political framework. Following its reflection in the Plan, the concept of sustainable development has also been integrated into sectoral and thematic national policy and strategy documents. This accumulated experience, along with strong infrastructure and institutional mechanisms, provides a strong ground towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Presidency of Strategy and Budget, which is also in charge of preparing NDPs, is the national focal point for SDGs and it has carried out the coordination of the 2019 VNR preparations. The process commenced with the highest-level political ownership upon H.E. President Erdoğan’s call on all government entities. Within the scope of the VNR preparations, legislative and institutional framework, policies and projects were reviewed from SDG perspective. This VNR Report assesses the progress covering the period of 2010-2018 with an emphasis on the period following the adoption of Agenda 2030. The report determines areas to be focused for each goal, and examines the targets in a systematic approach. The analysis reveals that most targets have directly or indirectly 1 The Law on Foreigners and International Protection provides the legal basis of individuals seeking international protection in Turkey, whereas Temporary Protection Regulation constitutes the legal framework for temporary protection status given to Syrians. Said Law and Regulation provide the basis of assistance for asylum-applicants and Syrians under temporary protection, including access to health and education services, as well as access to legal employment. been incorporated in policy documents, and the legislation provides adequate framework for the implementation of SDGs. Furthermore, in an institutional scale, it has been determined that the responsibilities of the institutions in Turkey, which were specified in policies and legislations, have been fully aligned with SDGs. Upon reviewing the projects, the gaps and challenges in implementation have been determined. In the overall context of SDGs, Turkey stands at an advanced level particularly in respect of policies, strategies and legislation, while there is room for improvement in practices and projects. An overview of progress in this VNR proposes that SDG 1, SDG 3, SDG 6, SDG 7, SDG 9 and SDG 11 stand out as goals towards which significant progress has been achieved. While there is progress on other SDGs, it is required to accelerate efforts to address gaps in implementation and increase quality. In this respect, there is a need to enhance financial and technical capacities for some of the goals. Immediately after the adoption of Agenda 2030, Turkey designated the responsible and relevant institutions for the 218 indicators that apply to Turkey, and in February 2019, Turkish Statistical Institute published the SDG Indicators Set comprised of 83 indicators. While the ratio of produced indicators is higher for SDG 3, SDG 7 and SDG 9; further work is needed for SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 12, SDG 13 and SDG 14 indicators. Turkey achieved significant progress through effective social policies on reducing poverty, improving access to basic services, reducing inequalities and caring for the vulnerable. Especially, policies to reduce inter-regional infrastructural disparities and promote technological means across the country marked an inclusive development pathway. Looking ahead, Turkey will focus on maintaining the pace of progress, and improving the quality and effectiveness of the acquired services. Based on the principle of equity, efforts will be sustained to evenly distribute the outputs of increased prosperity among all segments of the society, especially among the vulnerable groups. Along with its assessments regarding vulnerable groups under each SDG titles, the VNR Report also addresses the progress within the context of the principle of “leaving no one behind” in a separate chapter. Thereby, the actions for women, children, and persons with disabilities, elderly and refugees1 are reviewed in an inclusive and holistic approach. 7 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” With its culture of solidarity and humanitarian approach to vulnerable groups, Turkey endeavours to reach out everyone who needs help in the world, its neighbouring countries being a priority. Thanks to this approach, Turkey has responded to the asylum requests of a large population migrated from Syria because of the humanitarian crisis that started in 2011, and indiscriminately welcomed the foreigners who have come to the Turkish border by implementing an open door policy and admitted them to the country under “temporary protection status”. Syrians are now receiving services especially in education, healthcare and humanitarian needs under equal conditions with Turkish citizens. Up to the present, Turkey’s expenditures out of its own resources for refugees have exceeded 37 billion USD. Turkey promotes the principle of “leaving no one behind” both at home and abroad, and advocates an increased voice for developing countries in the international decision-making mechanisms. In line with its policy of promoting regional and global stability, Turkey extends a helping hand to and supports the development efforts of developing countries, including particularly the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). In this context, as an emerging donor country, Turkey shares its experience with many countries as part of bilateral, multilateral, regional and global partnerships. Turkey’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) amount, which was 967 million USD in 2010, increased approximately nine- fold and reached 8.6 billion USD in 2018. As a result, Turkey achieved an ODA/GNI ratio of 1.10% in 2018, and became one of the countries reaching the ODA/GNI ratio of at least 0.7%, which is one of the SDG targets. In addition to ODA, assistance provided to developing countries through direct investments by the private sector and Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) grants amounted to 826.5 million and 303.3 million USD respectively in 2018. These development aids provided outside the public sector reached 7.3 billion USD in 2014-2018. Thus, the total volume of Turkey’s development assistance during the same period exceeded 38.7 billion USD. The Technology Bank for the LDCs as a UN entity was established in June 2018 in Gebze, Turkey. The Technology Bank aims at strengthening the capacities of LDCs in science, technology and innovation, and facilitating technology transfer. The establishment of the Technology Bank marked SDG 17.8 as the first global target achieved. Achieving SDGs is beyond the sources of finance: To achieve them, awareness is a priority, and ownership and engagement of everyone, including public and private sectors, local authorities, NGOs, academia and citizens are essential. The VNR process was also centered on the principles of participation and leaving no one behind. From that point of view, as part of the VNR preparation, the current situation and gaps were identified under the supervision of the Presidency of Strategy and Budget (PSB) under the Presidency as the coordinating institution, and future steps and recommendations were elicited in a transparent procedure by local administrations, private sector, NGOs and academia. Accordingly, 2,962 persons and institutions, including 312 NGOs, 2,000 company representatives, 50 municipality representatives and 600 experts directly contributed to the VNR process. In addition, a National Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Best Practices database was developed as a continuous application. With the system, 400 practices by public and private sectors, academia, NGOs and municipalities were collected in the first phase. The Report highlights the best examples selected from these practices. 8 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 1. INTRODUCTION Since the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992, Turkey has reflected the concept of sustainable development in its National Development Plans (NDPs), which represent the highest level of political framework. With this long-term experience, Turkey has strong ground and infrastructure to set a course in line with SDGs. Instead of producing a separate action plan or policy document for SDGs, Turkey prefers to implement and monitor SDGs and its indicators by integrating them into NDPs and sectoral strategies with a holistic approach. With its comprehensive framework, integrated approach and structure addressing all elements of development holistically, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provided Turkey with a new perspective in sectoral development policies. The Voluntary National Review (VNR) process also accelerated the steps to address policies from this perspective. The VNR process commenced with the highest-level political ownership upon H.E. Erdoğan’s call on all government entities. The report reviews the progress made in the 2010-2018 period focusing particularly in the time frame following the adoption of the Agenda 2030. During VNR process, the review of the current legislation, institutional framework, policies and practices from SD G perspective revealed that most of the targets were directly or indirectly incorporated in the existing policy documents. It was observed that significant progress has been achieved, in terms of many goals with a performance above the world average especially in such areas as reduction of poverty, elimination of inequalities, gender equality, and access to all basic services including particularly healthcare, energy and clean water. Social policies also had a positive impact on this outcome. On the other land although access to essential services is adequately provided, the need to increase service quality remains in parallel to economic, social and technological developments. Additionally, efforts continue to achieve balanced improvements in quality of life and well-being of the entire society and the vulnerable groups in particular in accordance with the principle of equity. In Turkey as well as across the world, the Agenda 2030 requires development of innovative practices and solutions, including especially the establishment of multilateral partnerships and diversification of financial resources. For this purpose, along public resources it is important to bring together efforts of NGOs with public resources, as well as with the contributions of the private sector, local actors and international financial institutions. Achieving SDGs is beyond the sources of finance: To achieve them, awareness is a priority, and ownership and engagement of everyone, including public and private sectors, local authorities, NGOs, academia and citizens are essential. Taking these considerations into account, the VNR process was centred on the principles of participation and leaving no one behind. Accordingly, current situation and gaps were identified under the supervision of the Presidency of Strategy and Budget (PSB) under the Presidency as the coordinating institution, and future steps and recommendations were elicited in a transparent procedure by local administrations, private sector, NGOs and academia as part of the preparation for the VNR Report. Initially, survey questionnaires were sent to all public institutions and the contributions of the public sector was obtained through special meetings. Seventeen SDGs were distributed the among parties to ensure that other stakeholders could contribute as well. For the private sector, The Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD), Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MUSIAD), Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TURKONFED), Business Council for Sustainable Development Turkey (BCSD Turkey) and Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) were selected as the coordinating institutions. For the civil society and all relevant UN agencies, the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office to the Republic of Turkey was designated as the coordinating institutions while the Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT) was appointed as the coordinating institution for local administrations. Consequently, during VNR preparations, a total of 2,962 representatives were consulted directly from government entities, 312 NGOs, 2,000 companies and 50 municipalities. 9 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Ensuring such an extensive participation in a country with a population of 80 million required comprehensive organisation, meticulous time management and considerable financial resources. In the VNR process, PSB has developed an online National SDG Best Practices Database, which will be active throughout the period covering the 2030 Agenda. In the first phase, 400 practices by public and private sectors, academia, NGOs and municipalities were collected. This report includes some of the best examples selected from these practices. The biggest challenge in the implementation of the highly comprehensive SDGs is to identifying the goals and related targets that the countries would focus their efforts on. After assessing its goals in the VNR preparation process, Turkey has identified focus areas for each goal as shown in Table 8. Immediately after the adoption of Agenda 2030, Turkey designated the responsible and relevant institutions for 218 indicators valid for our country and published SDG Indicators Set comprising of 83 indicators in February 2019. While the ratio of produced indicators is higher for SDG 3, SDG 7 and SDG 9; further work is needed for SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 12, SDG 13 and SDG 14 indicators. Turkey addresses the principle of “leaving no one behind” in a separate chapter in its VNR to demonstrate the importance to which it has attached to the overarching principle of the 2030 Agenda. In addition to its assessment on SDGs, it sets out its policies and practices for vulnerable groups including women, children, persons with disabilities, youth, elderly people and refugees in an inclusive and holistic approach. Turkey, with its culture of solidarity and humanitarian approach to vulnerable groups, has opened its borders to those fleeing conflicts in their countries. In line with this approach, Turkey has welcomed millions of Syrians escaping war in their country after 2011. Implementing an “open door” policy, Turkey gave them “temporary protection status”. Syrians are provided with basic services particularly in the sector of education, healthcare and humanitarian assistance under equal conditions with Turkish citizens. Turkey has spent more than 37 billion USD just for Syrians from its national resources. As an emerging donor country in terms of ODA and an active player, Turkey has been sharing its experience with many countries through bilateral, multilateral, regional and global partnerships. Turkey’s ODA/GDP ratio, 0.32% in 2010, increased to 0.95% in 2017 and 1.10% in 2018. As a result, Turkey became one of the countries reaching the ODA/GDP ratio of at least 0.7%, which is one of the SDG targets. This demonstrates Turkey’s success in upholding the principle of “leaving no one behind”. Turkey’s ODA amount, which was 967 million USD in 2010, increased approximately by nine-fold reaching 8.6 billion USD in 2018. In addition to ODA, assistance provided to developing countries through direct investments by the private sector and NGO grants amounted to 826.5 million and 303.3 million USD respectively in 2018. These development aids provided outside the public sector reached 7.3 billion USD in the period of 2014-2018. Thus, the total volume of Turkey’s development assistance during the same period exceeded 38.7 billion USD. 10 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY FOR REVIEWING TURKEY’S PROGRESS TOWARDS SDGs 2. PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY FOR REVIEWING TURKEY’S PROGRESS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2.1. STOCKTAKING ANALYSIS PROJECT 2 The project addresses the progress by mid-year 2017. 3 See Chapter 3.5.2. Having presented its first VNR Report in 2016 and in line with the vision of this report, Turkey initiated a comprehensive Stocktaking Analysis Project, which was conducted for one year with contribution of around 350 individuals representing 150 institutions from the public sector, NGOs, academia and private sector. The project aimed to identify the current situation, gaps and emerging needs in line with the key SDG targets relevant for Turkey.2 Additionally, an SDG relationships network was mapped and focal areas were assigned for the respective SDGs. In this analysis, SDG 4, SDG 8 and SDG 9 were identified as the most relevant goals for Turkey to achieve the Global Goals. SDG 7 was also added to the analysis, constituting a strategic area for Turkey in terms of its dependency on external resources for energy, and energy supply security policy. Within the project, institutional roles, responsibilities, legislation and areas of activity were assessed in relation to the relevant SDGs.3 The assessment findings were key inputs for the VNR process methodology developed; firstly, it helped identify the key stakeholders responsible for the respective SDGs while preparing the VNR; secondly, the project findings constituted the basis for assessments of policies, strategies and gaps per SDGs that is given in Chapter 5. In the VNR process the Stocktaking Analysis was updated using the following methods: 2.2. PARTNERSHIPS FOR ENGAGING ALL RELEVANT PARTIES IN THE PROCESS Considering the importance of political ownership in achieving the global goals, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) and the President of the Republic of Turkey were apprised of the preparation and scope of the Report at the beginning of the VNR process. Subsequently, PSB was assigned by the President for the preparation of the VNR report and all relevant institutions were instructed to support PSB in this process. This high-level ownership facilitated the participation and contribution of public institutions in the process. It is recognised that regular reviews in the Agenda 2030 would provide a platform for partnerships including the participation of larger groups and other related stakeholders. To implement this vision in the most effective way, Turkey started direct partnerships with the representatives of NGOs, private sector and local administrations, and through these platforms, initiated a comprehensive consultation process, which included all central and local parties. • Survey of public institutions The comprehensive survey prepared to update the findings of the Stocktaking Analysis Project was sent to 35 public institutions. The survey questionnaire elicited the comments and recommendations on policy integration by SDGs (in terms of strategy, action plan and legislation), progress in implementation, completed works and projects, awareness- raising campaigns, activities related to the theme of “leaving no one behind” and priority actions planned to achieve SDGs. 12 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” • Contributions through partnerships It was recognized that the second VNR must be more comprehensive and that the contribution of stakeholders such as NGOs, academia and private sector should be represented in a more innovative way. Seventeen SDGs were distributed among public and private sectors, NGOs and local administrations to ensure a wide range of stakeholders’ contribution. For the private sector, The Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD), Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MUSIAD), Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TURKONFED), Business Council for Sustainable Development Turkey (BCSD Turkey) and Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) were selected as the coordinating bodies. For the civil society and all relevant UN agencies, the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office to the Republic of Turkey was selected as the coordinating body while the Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT) was selected as the coordinator of local administrations’ contribution. To facilitate contributions from various entities, the “conceptual framework” was communicated in writing, followed by bilateral meetings with relevant parties. Close communication and cooperation with institutions were maintained throughout the process. While the conceptual framework communicated to the coordinating institutions was customised according to the selected SDGs and assigned institutions, all stakeholders were requested to contribute to the topics: “Recommendations on next steps, priority tasks and means of implementation to achieve SDGs”. The institutional tasks related to the process are summarised in Table 1. The Turkish case of drafting the second VNR Report may be summarised as follows: while the current situation and gaps were identified through analysis and projects carried out by public institutions; recommendations for necessary steps were developed by implementing entities, NGOs and representatives of the groups directly targeted by SDGs. Throughout the process, public institutions guided and supported the coordinating institutions by providing information, documentation and data. On the other hand, coordinating institutions organised the contribution of their own sub-stakeholders to provide inputs in the requested format and content. Contributions and views of 62 NGOs directly and 250 NGOs indirectly; of 600 companies directly and 105,000 companies indirectly from the private sector; 50 municipalities directly and 1,400 municipalities indirectly from the local administrations were merged and incorporated in the recommendations for next steps. During the Stocktaking Analysis Project, a total of 20 meetings including 6 roundtable meetings were held with the participation of over 300 experts and executives representing approximately 150 institutions. During this process, 2,962 representatives and entities were consulted directly from 312 NGOs, 2,000 companies and 50 municipalities. Additionally, the principle of “leaving no one behind” has been addressed in a dedicated chapter of this report. In this respect, it was requested that the priorities of disadvantaged groups be included in the national policy frameworks, and that all stakeholders conduct an assessment on necessary key steps and provide recommendations to raise awareness. This principle was addressed as a separate agenda item in the conceptual frameworks provided to stakeholders and in the meetings held with them. Regarding localisation of SDGs, UMT as the umbrella institution for the municipalities analysed and mapped the link between the projects implemented by the municipalities and SDGs. Accordingly, it was identified that the projects mostly related to SDG 3, SDG 6, SDG 10 and SDG 11, arebeneficial in localising SDGs and ensuring policy consistency between the central and local levels. 13 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Table 1. SDG Voluntary National Review, Organising Partnerships and Responsibilities Groups Coordinator Expected Outputs for Report SDGs Covered Public Institutions PSB Policies, strategies, legislation, Institutional structure Projects, best practices, gaps SDG Indicators assessment All Private Sector and Academia TUSIAD, MUSIAD, TURKONFED, BCSD Turkey, TOBB Best practices, Priorities for SDGs in terms of implementation means Private sector actions to integrate SDGs into its processes SDG 4. Quality Education SDG 7. Affordable and Clean Energy SDG 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth SDG 9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure SDG 12. Responsible Consumption and Production; NGOs and Academia UN Resident Representation and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Best practices Priorities of Means of Implementation for Sustainable Development, Policy evaluation of vulnerable groups: steps to include women, children, youth and persons with disabilities in the national policy framework and raise awareness. Leaving no one behind: Linking SDGs with projects and aid for Syrian Refugees-Actions of United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) SDG 1. No Poverty SDG 2. Zero Hunger SDG 5. Gender Equality SDG 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities SDG 12. Responsible Consumption and Production SDG 15. Life on Land Local Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT) Best practices: Booklet for SDG 17 Assessment: what has been done to localise SDGs? Sharing current activities in the areas of HLPF 2019 (SDG 4, SDG 8, SDG 10, SDG 13, SDG 16, SDG 17) SDG 3. Good Health and Well-being SDG 6. Clean Water and Sanitation SDG 10. Reduced Inequalities SDG 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities 2.3. DATABASE FOR BEST PRACTICES AND PROJECTS RELATING TO SDGs During the VNR process, PSB developed an online National Database for Best Practices and Projects, completing one of the works laid out in the 1st VNR Report. Seven coordinating stakeholder institutions provided support to operationalise the database. Each umbrella institution informed the institutions under its own responsibility area and network on the existence and operationalization of the database which enabled public and private sectors, academia, NGOs and municipalities to provide input/ submit their good practices to the system. In the first stage, a total number of 400 practices were collected using this method, including 99 from public entities, 81 from private sector, 70 from NGOs, 105 from municipalities and 10 from academia. Good practices submitted through the system were assessed based on certain criteria; for each SDG one example was selected to be used as a national showcase. The database will be operational throughout the Agenda 2030 implementation period. As the database is an on-line system, SDG efforts will be monitored and the activities contributing to the SDGs the most will be identified. The impact of efforts contributing to the principle of “leaving no one behind” will be monitored and evaluated as well. Additionally, these practices will be posted on the national SDG website and presented in various events to raise awareness and advocate solutions. 14 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 2.4. MULTI-STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION PROCESSES The draft VNR report, prepared through the aforementioned process, was shared with public institutions and 7 coordinating stakeholder institutions to solicit their views on the report. Subsequently, working group meetings were held with the participation of all stakeholders (NGOs, private sector, academia, experts from public sector). 300 experts in parallel sessions reviewed and discussed the draft recommendations proposed by different institutions, and incorporated additions and adjustments to complete the report. 2.5. SUMMARY OF MAIN MESSAGES AND POLITICAL OWNERSHIP The biggest challenge in achieving SDGs is to identify targets a country should focus its efforts on. While Turkey was assessing the goals during the preparation of VNR, focus areas were determined for each goal as indicated in Table 8. Following the 7-month-long preparation process of the report during which the views of all parties were solicited, the synthesis by the coordinating institution served as the basis of identifying the main messages. 15 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS INTO NATIONAL AGENDA 3. INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS INTO NATIONAL AGENDA 3.1. CREATING OWNERSHIP FOR SDGs The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, being a comprehensive agenda requires all stakeholders’ cooperation and contribution to ensure an open and transparent participatory process. To achieve the SDGs until 2030, innovative practices and solutions including multistakeholder cooperation and diversification of funding sources should be developed. To realise this, it is important to ensure the ownership of all relevant parties. In this regard, in the implementation process of SDGs are addressed at various levels including the contributions of local implementers and NGOs. 3.1.1. High-Level Ownership of SDGs The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a comprehensive and result-oriented framework that encourages all countries to take action at local, national and international levels. Strong ownership and leadership offered by governments is a key feature for effective and timely implementation of this framework. Turkey emphasises its commitment on every occasion to contribute to a sustainable world since the adoption of the SDGs. In his speech at the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 20th, at the first anniversary of the adoption of SDGs, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan drew attention to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes ambitious and transformative goals for all and has been developed collectively with contribution of all relevant parties. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on member states to maintain meaningful ODA support, which constitutes the most important source of funding for the least developed countries (LDCs). In line with this conviction, Turkey’s ODA continues to increase annually and surpasses its commitments. The preparations for Turkey’s 2nd VNR Report was formally launchedthrough a presidential letter conveyed to all institutions, demonstrating highest-level political ownership. 3.1.2. Inclusion of SDGs in the Agenda of TGNA Paragraph 45 of the Agenda 2030 acknowledges the essential role of national parliaments through their enactment of legislative bills and adoption of budgets, and their role in ensuring accountability for the effective implementation of SDGs. Parliaments, as part of the legislative, budgetary and monitoring mechanisms, assume an important role in the implementation of the SDGs. To achieve these goals, it is vital for governments to uphold accountability as a core principle in the implementation process along with ensuring political ownership. High-level ownership by parliaments find reflection in parliamentarians’ involvement in negotiation and implementation process of SDGs; impact of SDGs on the legislative process following the inclusion of SDGs in the agenda of parliamentary committees; SDG related issues are pointed out in national or international meetings; partnerships and collaborations are established with other parliaments; systematic briefings are prepared on SDGs; Members of Parliament (MPs)’ work on SDGs conducted in the electoral districts. In the implementation of SDGs, TGNA has been involved in various ways and played a strong role. Representatives from Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) group of TGNA participated in HLPF-2017, convened under the theme of “Eradicating Poverty and Promoting Prosperity in a Changing World.” At the Forum, IPU representatives shared the SDG review progress in Turkey with other countries. Our country considers political ownership and commitment during the implementation of SDGs as a prerequisite for achieving successful results. Since 2016, MPs are briefed on the process and activities related to SDGs, during the TGNA Plan and Budget Commission meetings and presentation of budget to the General Assembly. Turkey’s commitment to embed SDGs into its national policies and improve the practices is highlighted at the ministerial level during budget deliberations of the Parliament. During budget deliberations, the following items were underlined; 17 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” • Scope and content of the goals, role of means of implementation in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, • Conducted activities and coordination of the process at the national level in addition to the partnerships, • Stocktaking Analysis Project implemented for determining the level of coherence between national policies and SDGs, • Importance of ownership by the Parliament was emphasised including particularly the activities of IPU Group; and the expectation for more structured mechanisms to inform the Parliament, • It was recommended to organize informative meetings on HLPF agenda at least once a year for MPs that are not members of the IPU Group and relevant commissions in TGNA. Putting SDGs on the agenda during the budget process demonsrates our country’s determination to support the projects and practices that will contribute to SDGs. MPs who are members of the IPU Group of TGNA are regularly informed on the progress and status of SDGs by PSB as the national SDGs focal point. In this way, policy coherence is ensured at various levels. Turkey hosted the 3rd Meeting of Eurasian Parliament Speakers in Antalya on October 8-11th, 2018. At the meeting, the Speaker of TGNA informed other speakers of parliament on our country’s progress towards SDGs, and conveyed Turkey’s decision to prepare VNR for the second time in 2019. Turkey also hosted the Third Meeting of MIKTA (Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia) Speakers of Parliament in Istanbul on September 28-29th, 2017 on the theme of “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Role of National Parliaments”. 3.1.3. Audit by the Turkish Court of Accounts Another important role of TGNA is related to the auditing process. As stated in Article 160 of the Turkish Constitution and Article 4 “Remit of Audit” of Law No. 6085, the Court of Accounts is charged, on behalf of TGNA, with auditing all public administrative bodies that utilise public funds, including public administrations and social security institutions under the central administration budget, local administrations, joint- stock associations founded by special laws or presidential decrees with direct or indirect public shareholding, other public administrations, all public accounts including special accounts, funds and Public Economic Enterprises. According to paragraph 4 of Article 6 of Law No. 6085 on Turkish Court of Accounts, “the Turkish Court of Accounts may also audit the accounts, transactions, activities and assets of public administrations as of the pertaining year or years irrespective of their account or activity period; as well as based on sector, programme, project and topic.” Within that framework, the Court of Accounts started on February 2019 the process of “thematic audit” regarding the “Preparatory Processes for the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals”. The thematic audit is an objective, systematic review of the commitments, systems, operations, programmes, activities and projects of the public administrations in terms of economy, productivity and efficiency to ensure good governance, transparency and accountability. Following the audit of the Court of Accounts on the preparation process regarding the implementation of SDGs, it will be possible to disclose independent and impartial information to the public as well as assess the roadmap drawn by Turkey in the first VNR report on the preparations for the implementation of SDGs. 3.1.4. Role of Local administrations on SDGs Success in the implementation of SDGs depends on ensuring ownership and policy coherence at national and local levels. Local administrations have a critical and comparatively advantageous role in the implementation of SDGs as they provide direct services to citizens. Local administrations had the opportunity to convey their views and contribute to the preparation of the Agenda during the negotiation process of SDGs. Although the main interest area of local governments is under the SDG 11, the remit of local administrations includes a range of targets under various goals including education, healthcare, urban infrastructure services, climate change, eradication of poverty. The United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) formed a working group named the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments with a view to transposing SDGs at local level and integrating into policies. The Working Group aims to build a bridge between the UN and the local administrations. UCLG brings together all local administrations across the world under the same umbrella. One of nine sections of UCLG, namely the Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA) is headquartered in Istanbul. 18 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” UMT, the representative of all municipalities in Turkey, is a member of UCLG and follows the works of the platform to achieve SDGs. UMT implements various projects and works related to the following goals: SDG 4 Quality Education; SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities; SDG 13 Climate Action; SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions; and SDG 17 Partnership for the Goals. Responsibilities and duties of local administrations in Turkey overlap directly or indirectly with a large part of SDGs. Local administrations provide economic, social and environmental services to meet common local needs including clean water and sanitation services, waste collection and disposal, organization of economic life at local level, transportation, healthcare services and education. Therefore, local administrations naturally contribute to the implementation of SDGs. Further, they prioritise and diversify their activities in this direction, with an awareness of the importance of sustainable development. In this regard, as they are the units closest to the public, municipalities that are aware of local needs offer expeditious, effective and unique solutions to these needs. In addition to the direct services of local administrations, exemplary practices contributing to the success of SDGs are listed in the following table (Table 2): Table 2. SDG Practices in Municipalities Municipality Name Summary of Practice/Project Relevant Target Manisa Metropolitan Municipality As a part of the Women’s Health Education Programme; training on reproductive health are provided. Target 3.7. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality As a part of “Healthcare Services at Home,” medical examination, nursing services, physiotherapy, psychological counselling, patient transfer, patient escort service, household and personal cleaning services are offered to citizens free of charge. Target 3.8. K.Maras Metropolitan Municipality Within the framework of Elderly Support Programme (YADES), a smart city application was initiated through which, elderly people aged over 65 could measure their blood pressure and blood sugar free of charge. Additionally, those who wished to receive personal care could send their request. Target 3.8. Tuzla Municipality Tuzla Municipality organised a series of activities as a part of “No to drug addiction in Tuzla” project implemented under the leadership of Tuzla governorship and with the participation of civil initiatives. The project is based on volunteerism aimed to raise awareness. Target 3.5. Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality’s Department for Social Services implemented various activities as part of the “Province Action Plan for Combating Drugs” Those activities are aimed to raise awareness about drugs and drug addiction within families. Target 3.5. Edirne Municipality Counselling services are offered in the context of Combating Drug Addiction. Target 3.5. Yenimahalle Municipality Tutoring sessions are organised to assist economically and socio-culturally disadvantaged children in their school courses and examinations as well as to support their social and cultural development. Target 110.3 Adana Metropolitan Municipality Adana metropolitan municipality established the Refugee Assembly to form policies ensuring the social, cultural, political and economic integration of refugees into the city. Target 110.7 Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Municipal buildings, facilities and parks are being modified with energy efficiency solutions. Target 11.c Izmir Metropolitan Municipality As an environmental smart city solution, a solar power station was established on 10,000 m2 of roofs by the local transport authority ESHOT General Directorate. This station aims to meet the energy needs of 20 ESHOT buses fully powered by electricity. Target 11.2 Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality As the first Turkish city declared member for the field of gastronomy by the 116-member United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO)’s Creative Cities Network; Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality hosted the International Gastronomy Festival. Target 11.4. Seferihisar Municipality Seeds are produced in the Seed Centre and distributed free of charge to the villagers in need. Target 11.4. 19 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 3.1.5. Private Sector’s Ownership of SDGs Private sector in Turkey has high potential to achieve SDGs, considering its contribution to the national income, employment opportunities, size of its investments and its role in international trade. This potential will be mobilised in direct proportion to the ownership of SDGs. In addition to increasing ownership within, due to its large sphere of influence, private sector also has a significant multiplier effect on the public opinion, starting from its own employers. In this context, highlights of private sector activities regarding ownership of SDGs are summarised below. Cognizant of the importance of sustainable development in Turkey, private sector has first undertaken activities focusing on social responsibility projects. Along with the Agenda 2030, SDGs have become the main focus of private sector, trusting sustainability to the forefront. Various studies indicate that the business world follows sustainability issues/discussions closely. Private sector took an active role in the Stocktaking Analysis Project and made significant contributions for the preparations of the 2nd VNR. In this regard, private sector also showed significant interest in the project database and registered numerous projects therein.4 Organizations having a wide range of regional and sectoral affiliation from the business world such as TUSIAD, TURKONFED, MUSIAD and TOBB adopted SDGs and conducted diverse activities on the goals which were of particular interest to private sector. The activities of the aforementioned umbrella institutions of private sector include projects aiming increasing women’s participation in the business world, protecting the environment, ensuring sustainable production throughout the value chain, and enhancing sustainability in all economic sectors. These activities enable all segments of the society to familiarise, embrace and contribute to implementing SDGs as well as provide an environment for dialogue and cooperation. In addition to these activities, the Business Council for Sustainable Development Turkey (BCSD Turkey) was established in 2004 to mainstream sustainability into corporate strategies. With a total turnover, corresponding to more than 15% of GDP, Turkey’s 62 leading companies which employ 350,000 people are members of this Council. 4 See Chapter 2.2. BCSD is a regional network and a business partner of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. It also undertakes activities to raise awareness on SDGs for the public and increase their impact. In this regard, the Council works to boost best and exemplary practices, scale up and raise quality of sustainability reporting. At the beginning of 2019, TURKONFED and TUSIAD which represents more than 40,000 companies and 244 associations, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), founded the Business for Goals Platform to help businesses internalise SDGs. The platform aims to offer an environment to mobilise multi-partner programmes enabling companies to use their resources more efficiently and effectively, ensuring such resources are used in the most appropriate way by the public sector and civil society. LEADERS PLATFORM FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE SDG Targets 16.6; 16.7; 17.14; 17.17 Executing Entity Yıldız Holding Start & End Dates 2018-Ongoing Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and leaders of companies with major share in the development of Turkish economy, in cooperation with B Lab Europe, the Leaders Platform for a Sustainable Future has been founded to forge a common vision of sustainability. The Platform aims to mobilise the transformative power of the private sector and leaders to contribute to environmental assets preservation, to develop a highly prosperous society and to implement a value-based economic development model in building a sustainable global future. An all-volunteer force convening at least once a year, the Platform addresses all aspects of the concept of sustainability, share good practices for economic, social and environmental goals, and discuss next steps. The initial participants of the Leaders Platform for a Sustainable Future include Yıldız Holding, Boyner Group, Kaanlar Gıda, Ziylan Group, Doğan Holding, Albayrak Group and Zorlu Holding. 20 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” On the basis of Turkey’s unifying force and its dynamic private sector, Turkish Government and UNDP established the Istanbul International Centre for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD) in 2011. As one of UNDP’s 6 Global Policy Centres, the institution contributes to the global and local efforts exerted towards the solution of development problems through engagement of private sector. The centre aims to increase the support given by the private sector to the sustainable development efforts of countries. IICPSD, in collaboration with Turkish and international partners launched the “SDG Impact Accelerator” project to mobilise and maximize private sector’s impact accelerating role particularly for LDCs and refugee populations to achieve SDGs. Public and private sector representatives and many subject- matter experts have come together since 2015 to discuss steps towards achieving SDGs in the Istanbul Development Dialogues forums co-organised by PSB and the UNDP Regional Office for Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Borsa Istanbul (BIST) Sustainability Index was established in 2014 to increase the understanding, knowledge and practices on sustainability among companies listed in Borsa Istanbul (Istanbul Stock Exchange). By doing so, corporate awareness on sustainability is increased and investors are informed on corporate policies on environmental, social and corporate governance issues. 3.1.6. Awareness-Raising Activities A Training Programme on Sustainable Development Goals was delivered, in cooperation with the UN Office in Turkey, in Ankara in 2018 for all public agencies, academicians and private sector representatives to ensure that the scope of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is better understood, and to solicit ideas for better integration of the goals into Turkey’s development approach and policy choices. A workshop themed “Results-Oriented Management for the Agenda 2030” was also held in 2018, in cooperation with the UN Office in Turkey, for PSB and Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) experts to use innovative and holistic tools and methods for planning, monitoring and reporting the implementation of Agenda 2030. In addition, many activities are undertaken by public agencies, private sector, local governments and their unions, universities and NGOs to create awareness on SDGs. 3.2. INTEGRATION OF SDGs INTO NATIONAL POLICIES Turkey has pursued a holistic approach since the adoption of Agenda 2030 and aims to achieve SDGs through the NDPs. NDPs are policy documents that capture macro-level policies promulgated for public institutions and guiding for the private sector in Turkey. NDPs are prepared in line with the Constitution, with a participatory process involving Specialised Commissions, which include representatives from all public institutions, NGOs, international organisations and private sector. Prepared in technical terms, the plans are then debated politically in TGNA at Plan and Budget Commission and General Assembly respectively, subsequently entering into force upon approval of the TGNA. NDPs are the highest level, medium-term policy framework in Turkey. Turkey has not opted for drafting a separate action plan or policy document for SDGs, instead, chose to implement and monitor SDGs and their indicators in a holistic manner by integrating them into NDPs and sectoral strategies as a policy approach. 3.2.1. SDGs in the 11th NDP Specialised Commissions In the context of the 11th NDP preparations, 43 Specialised Commissions (OIKs) and 32 working groups for sectors and themes involving approximately 5,000 experts completed their reports in 2018. OIKs and working groups played a functional role in integrating SDGs into national policies. The OIK Report Preparation Guide demanded each Commission and working group first to make an assessment of the SDGs. They were further requested to examine the relation and coherence of the identified policies with SDGs in the section “Relation and Coherence of Goals, Objectives and Policies of the Plan with Sustainable Development Goals.” Thereby, SDGs have been discussed under all potential titles of the Plan in the preparation meetings of the 11th NDP. Discussions on SDGs with the stakeholders participating in the preparations of the 11th NDP also contributed to the recognition of the SDGs by all parties. Therefore, SDGs were mentioned in OIK Reports representing the main input into 21 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” NDPs, the highest policy documents. Accordingly, this raised awareness on the inclusion of SDGs in all action plans, thematic and sectoral strategy documents prepared by public institutions in their respective remits. 3.2.2. Inclusion of SDGs in Annual Programmes The concept of sustainable development in Turkey has always existed in the plans and programmes since the 8th NDP. The 10th NDP covering 2014-2018 includes all components of the sustainable development agenda. After 2015, SDGs were implemented through annual programmes.5 As the first programme published after the adoption of SDGs, the 2016 Annual Programme elaborated the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with all its elements, including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda under the heading of “Protection of the Environment and Sustainable Development.” In line with the measures laid out in the 2016 Annual Programme, the “Turkey’s Stocktaking Analysis Project for SDGs” was implemented in 2017 in close cooperation with public institutions, private sector and NGOs. The 2017 Annual Programme included the progress towards SDGs, particularly referring to the fact that Turkey was among the first 22 VNR countries in 2016. In this period, decision was taken to start monitoring activities as regards to the goals. The project entitled “Identifying National Indicators for Sustainable Development Goals” was initiated in the 2017 Investment Programme implemented by TURKSTAT.6 The 2018 Annual Programme referred to the need for an institutional body which could raise awareness on SDGs across the country; monitor and evaluate the implementation at the national scale in an effective and participatory manner, and included a measure stating that “institutional structuring will be completed for the coordination of sustainable development”. Under the said measure, it is aimed to establish a coordination structure7 which will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the national implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with broad participation from public and private sectors, academia and NGOs. 5 Annual Programmes are the annual planning of policies in NDPs, and represent the high-level policy framework documents prioritising the activities and policies of all public institutions with an integrated perspective. The 11th NDP is postponed for a year due to the administrative transformation initiated for coherence with Turkey’s Presidential Governmental System. 6 Detailed information on the project and results are covered in the heading on the monitoring system (3.3). 7 Developments regarding the said structure are covered in the heading of 3.5. The 2019 Presidential Annual Programme declared that Turkey would present its second VNR in HLPF to be held at under the auspices of ECOSOC in July 2019. Further, the need for an institutional structure for coordination, monitoring and evaluation of SDGs was reiterated. PSB was entrusted with the responsibility for the second VNR. Implementation steps of SDGs were planned and coordinated through the annual programmes under the 10th NDP. Under annual programmes, two of the measures have been fulfilled to date while one has been realised, partly due to the transformation in Turkey’s public administration system, and the process still continues. 3.2.3. Turkey’s Stocktaking Analysis Project for SDGs Turkey’s Stocktaking Analysis Project for SDGs was conducted in 2017 with participation of all relevant parties to establish the baseline and analyse gaps in integration of Agenda 2030 into national policies. Policies, strategies, relevant legislation, institutional framework processes, and projects that overlapped with goals were assessed during the baseline analysis to identify gaps and areas that need improvement. In addition to desk studies, the results of roundtable meetings, one-on-one interviews and information obtained from stakeholders were utilised in the evaluations. In the initial phase of the work, relevant stakeholders including public and private sectors, NGOs and universities were identified and means of collaboration were set up under each SDG. Considering interlinkages between and among SDGs, 6 SDG groups were formed and roundtable meetings were organised. In addition to the activities undertaken during the preparation and implementation phases of the project, 20 meetings including 6 roundtable meetings were held with participation of more than 300 experts and managers representing around 150 institutions. The results obtained through participatory methods were used in the qualitative analysis section of the project report. As a result of the evaluation of all works, a heat map was drawn on which developments regarding each goal were assessed. 22 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Results obtained through participatory methods were used in the qualitative analysis section of the project report. As a result of the evaluation of all works, a heat map was drawn on which developments regarding each goal were assessed. Policy and strategy-oriented recommendations were offered.8 Additionally, responsible and relevant institutions for the implementation of SDGs were designated by individual goals.9 At the same time, an inventory of the projects implemented in Turkey related to SDGs was prepared. In this work, areas with inadequate implementation were identified. Close cooperation with stakeholders in the project led to increased awareness on SDGs. Thereby, the representatives of stakeholders contributed to the inclusion of SDGs in their internal processes and policy documents. Through the synergy created, the ownership for SDGs enhanced for all stakeholders including particularly public institutions. At the same time, an inventory was prepared of the projects implemented in Turkey related to SDGs. In this work, areas with inadequate implementation were identified. The close cooperation with stakeholders in the project led to increased awareness on SDGs. Thereby, the representatives of stakeholders contributed to the inclusion of SDGs in their internal processes and policy documents. With the synergy created, the ownership for SDGs enhanced for all stakeholders including particularly public institutions. 3.2.4. Indicators for Monitoring National Policies in the Implementation of SDGs TURKSTAT is one of the most important stakeholder institutions in achieving SDGs. TURKSTAT follows up the international process conducted for determining the global SDG indicators. This is a significant advantage for the establishment of a monitoring framework in Turkey. As stated in the first VNR Report, Turkey has devised a set of SDG indicators since 2000, which includes 54 indicators. Following the identification of the global SDG indicators list subsequent to the adoption of SDGs, TURKSTAT started the 8 See Chapter 3.4.1. 9 See Chapter 3.5.2. 10 See Chapter 3.5.3. first domestic inventory work in April 2016, aimed to determine the availability of SDG indicators at the national level, and solicited views and recommendations of potential data producers and made initial assessments on the availability of data. This work was the first step to raise awareness on part of the official data producers on SDG indicators. Following the first domestic inventory in 2016, SDG indicators were reviewed at the working groups of the Official Statistics Programme (OSP)10,and responsible and relevant institutions for 218 indicators were identified and published in the 2017- 2021 OSP Supplement. With the transition to the presidential government system, the mandates and remits of ministries were amended, and the responsibilities for SDG indicators in the OSP Supplement were redistributed, eventually covering 215 indicators. Assigning institutional responsibilities through OSP was critical in creating institutional awareness and ownership for the indicators, and integrating SDGs into national policies. The first “SDG Indicators Newsletter, 2010-2017” was issued on 19 February 2019. Out of the 83 indicators in the Newsletter, 71 were identical to the global indicators and computed exactly through the same methodology, and 12 were proxies that were available at national level, appropriate for monitoring the respective target and considered to act for the respective global indicators. Acting on the principle that there would be no progress without monitoring, TURKSTAT undertook technical activities in line with the international process and by taking further disaggregation into account, which led to significant outcomes for the implementation of SDGs and preparation of VNR. In the future, new measures may be introduced in SDG monitoring system in parallel with global developments. 23 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 3.3. PROGRESS IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS 3.3.1. Turkey’s Current Situation vis-à-vis Global SDG Indicators Framework Global developments concerning SDG indicators as of February 2019 indicate that global metadata exist for 185 indicators out of the total number of 232 global SDG indicators (those under Tier I and II), while efforts are underway to develop methodology for 41 indicators (Tier III). As a result of evaluation of indicator performance, developments concerning metadata creation and of the other indicators that are now producible, revisions are planned on the set of global indicators in the years 2020 and 2025. In this perspective, it is recognized/acknowledged that the set of global indicators is a monitoring framework “that is still being worked on”. As a result of efforts to determine availability of and responsibility for indicators, 17 of the indicators were not included in OSP as they were irrelevant to our country or institutional responsibility could not be clarified in their cases. Therefore, attainability was evaluated for Turkey based on 215 indicators. Accordingly, 39% of the 215 indicators included in OSP is under the responsibility of TURKSTAT whereas the remaining 61% are under the responsibility of other institutions. According to the 2017-2021 OSP, TURKSTAT has responsibility for the highest number of indicators followed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Following the compilation of the indicators that are available at the TURKSTAT and other institutions, and the assessment of indicators against statistical quality criteria (consistency, reliability, comparability, timeliness etc.), it was determined that 83 indicators (36%) were publishable. Of the 83 indicators published in the Newsletter, 47 are produced by TURKSTAT, and 36 by other national data producers that are listed in OSP. Of the 132 indicators that are not produced, 38 fall under the responsibility of TURKSTAT, and 94 under other institutions that are listed in OSP. Considering the published indicators, the Ministry of Health produces data for 8 indicators, the highest number when TURKSTAT is excluded. TURKSTAT is responsible for compiling, monitoring, reporting the indicators that are under the responsibility of other institutions at national level. Table 3. Indicators Produced in Turkey by Tiers, February 2019 Number (%) Produced 83 100.0 Tier I 56 67.5 Tier II 20 24.1 Tier III 3 3.6 Multiple Tier* 4 4.8 Table 3 demonstrates that 67.5% of the published indicators are listed in Tier I, and 24% in Tier II. In addition, TURKSTAT published data on some of the indicators in Tier III. Distribution of 215 indicators included in OSP reveals that “SDG 3. Good Health and Well-being” with 20 indicators with the highest number of published indicators accounting for 24% of the total number of published indicators. Of the 20 indicators published under this goal, 17 indicators fully match the definitions of global metadata, and 3 are presented as proxy indicators. As a ranking of SDGs with respect to the number of indicators included, SDG 3 is followed by “SDG 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth” with 9 indicators and “SDG 9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure” with 8 indicators. 24 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Figure 1. Distribution of Indicators by SDGs 7% 7% 15% 63% 11% 38% 8% 18% 9% 60% 20% 35% 18% 11% 33% 10% 67% 40% 45% 86% 85% 26% 54% 73% 20% 47% 35% 65% 25% 75% 56% 90% 25% 75% 100% 100% 33% 60% 55% Produced Proxy Not produced 25 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” The substantially varying numbers of SDG indicators make the process of proportional monitoring of indicator availability all the more significant. The rates demonstrates that 80% of SDG 7 indicators are available in Turkey (Figure 1). SDG 3 has the second highest rate of indicator availability (75%) and SDG 9 has the third highest rate of indicator availability (67%). For SDG 12, 10% of indicators is produced. For SDG 1 and SDG 2, 86 and 85% of indicators respectively are not produced. No indicators are available in our country for SDG 13 and SDG 14. 3.3.2. Increasing Awareness and Ownership for SDG Indicators In the context of its responsibility to encourage production of unavailable SDG indicators, TURKSTAT engaged in various activities to raise awareness of SDG indicators for institutions included in OSP. Various meetings were held with institutions in charge of administrative records concerning SDG indicators, and with other actors involved in the process. SDG indicators are also discussed on a regular basis at technical level by the Working Groups formed under OSP. Information on SDG indicators is provided at events organised by the institutions. Despite significant gaps in awareness and ownership for SDG indicators among various institutions in OSP, these institutions have made considerable effort to develop new indicators during the 2017 data compilation process. It is believed that various factors have a bearing on their efforts: • Increased requests (as of 2018) by UN agencies (custodian agencies) in charge of submitting reports on global indicators to the UN Statistics Division concerning the compilation and verification of the indicators have actually contributed to increased ownership of indicators by institutions listed in OSP. • Expectations from institutions listed in OSP were clarified in a workshop held prior to data compilation by TURKSTAT. • A letter by the President, communicated by PSB to all institutions emphasising the importance and necessity of ownership by all institutions was another major contributor to increase ownership of the indicators. Thematic workshops are planned in the future under the coordination of TURKSTAT to focus on production of new SDG indicators that are needed but yet to be produced. It is intended during these workshops to discuss indicator metadata in detail, evaluate current and potential data sources for indicator production, and identify indicators that can be produced. It is planned that SDG indicators be published through a national reporting platform with powerful visual features that could be updated regularly. This platform, in addition to allowing monitoring changes on indicators over time via graphs, will also enable any indicator that has become producible to be incorporated into the system instantly without waiting for the next publishing date. 3.4. INTEGRATION OF THREE DIMENSIONS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Integration of three dimensions of SDGs could be discussed in two stages, namely inter-policy integration and applicable actions. Integration of SDGs into macro policies is ensured through NDPs and Annual Programmes. In terms of implementation, it involves legislation, strategic plans, action plans and SDG indicators that will support implementation. The following is a summary of the reflections of sustainable development on the multi-sectoral NDPs that determine main goals and priorities for Turkey’s development in economic, social and cultural spheres and constitutes a framework for institutional and structural arrangements. • The 6th NDP (1990-1994) adopted the prevention of waste in the use of natural resources and recognized that protection of environment as an essential factors for economic and social development. • The 7th NDP (1996-2000) included policies that prioritised integration of environment and economy in line with the sustainable development approach. • The 8th NDP (2001-2005) adopted a sustainable development approach that was essentially based on protecting human health, ecological balance, historical and aesthetic values while achieving economic and social progress. • The 9th NDP (2007-2013) integrated sustainable development principles into the national development goals to a large extent, and adopted an integrated perspective by defining main goals and development axes. Turkey’s country-specific priorities in line with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” of sustainable 26 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” development.were included in this plan and in Medium-Term Programmes which has beenprepared since 2006. • In the 10th NDP (2014-2018), the “green growth” approach with increased global importance for sustainable development was one of the main concepts that shaped the plan; and policies and strategies were developed to implement principles of sustainable development and internalise the green growth approach. Sustainable development approach is already mainstreamed in many sectoral and thematic policy and strategy documents in line with NDPs. PSB is the Turkish national focal point for sustainable development which, by its three dimensions, falls in the remit of various public institutions. Managing the process of multi- sectoral planning and programming, PSB coordinates, across the country, implementation, monitoring and reporting of SDGs, and ensures that NDPs are in line and consistent with SDGs. All relevant public institutions in charge of implementing SDGs reflect them into their thematic strategies, particularly on their own institutional strategic plans; and undertake activities to implement SDGs. One good example is a project implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF) in cooperation with FAO to integrate SDGs into the strategic plan (see SDG 15). 11 3.4.1. SDG Heat Map In the Stocktaking Analysis Project, analyses were conducted on the state of consistency with SDGs. Stakeholders’ inputs were assessed through Strength-Weaknesses-Opportunities- Threats (SWOT) and qualitative assessment tools. Based on the results, SDG heat map was created to demonstrate the compliance level by identifying baseline and gaps for each SDG in terms of policy-strategy, legislation institutional framework, project inventory and implementation. Consistency level in the heat map is evaluated over 5 scalar intervals. “Advanced level” is expressed in terms of 80-100% range, which denotes adequacy in more than two thirds of the targets; “medium-advanced level” in terms of 60-80% 11 See the Good Practices at SDG 15. range, which denotes adequacy in at least half of the targets; “medium level” in terms of 40-60% range, which denotes adequacy in less than half of the targets; “medium-low level” in terms of 20-40% range, which denotes that achievement on goals is inadequate to a large extent, and “low level” in terms of 0-20% range, which denotes that the development level in the goals is very low to a large extent. 27 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Table 4. SDG Heat Map Policy-Strategy Legislation Institutional Framework Project Inventory Implementation SDG 1 SDG 2 SDG 3 SDG 4 SDG 5 SDG 6 SDG 7 SDG 8 SDG 9 SDG 10 SDG 11 SDG 12 SDG 13 SDG 14 SDG 15 SDG 16 SDG 17 Colour Compliance Level % 0-20 % 20-40 % 40-60 % 60-80 % 80-100 Narrative Low Medium-low Medium Medium- advanced Advanced TA review of Turkey’s SDG heat map reveals that in terms of policy-strategy, more than half of SDGs reach the medium-advanced level and the rest is at medium level. A better outlook draws attention in the legislation, with the number of medium-advanced level SDGs reaching 10. Although the responsibilities on the public institutions level are foreseeable, as there is no institutional structure in place which is associated with SDGs and managed regularly, the institutional framework displays a worse outlook than policy-strategy and legislation, while almost all SDGs are at medium level in project inventory and it attracts attention that they again converge to medium level when realisation is reviewed. 28 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 3.4.2. Interlinkages between SDGs in the context of Turkey The Agenda 2030 involves interlinkages between goals; the themes have overlapping areas across 17 SDGs; and some of the targets under different SDGs also overlap. For this reason, it is important to consider the relationship between the targets in a holistic approach, to be able to prioritise for faster progress, and allocate resources accurately. Turkey conducted this SDG mapping to identify SDGs’ gravity centres which have the highest number of fore- and back- linkages for SDG implementation. In SDG mapping, the relations between SDGs, and direction and level of each relation were identified on the basis of SDG targets applicable to Turkey. When determining the direction of the relationship, whether a target impacted the associated target or was impacted by the associated target, was taken into consideration, and the relationship was categorized as “impacting” versus “impacted”. “Impacted” refers to the positive or negative impact of another target on the target being reviewed, and “impacting” refers to the effect and decisiveness of the target being reviewed on another target. Some targets both impact and are impacted by other targets. This is described as “mutual interaction”. The following table shows strength of interlinkages among targets for each SDG on the basis ofratio of number of impacted/impacting targets to the total number of targets. In the first column of the table, average ratio of number of SDG targets impacted by other goals is shown in the first row for each SDG. For example, on average 74% of SDG 1 targets are impacted by targets of other goals. In the second row of the first column, average ratio of number of targets belonging to other goals that SDG impacts is seen. For example, SDG 1 targets impact on average 40% of the targets of other SDGs. In the second and third columns of the table, number of goals that display high level of impacting and impacted are shown. For example, more than 40% of SDG 1 targets are impacted by targets of 15 goals, and more than 60% by targets of 12 goals. On the other hand, SDG 1 targets impact more than 40% of targets of 8 goals and more than 60% of targets of 5 goals. Figures in the table are intended to give an indicative idea rather than representing exact magnitudes. It should be taken into account when assessing the table that number of targets under each goal also impacts the ratios. The ratios of impacting and impacted in goals with high number of targets may look lower compared to goals with lower number of targets. In addition, each target in a goal does not conceptually have an equal weight, and some targets may have a more central role. 29 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Table 5. Interaction between SDGs Target Interaction Ratio (Average %) Number of Goals with Target Interaction Ratio of 40% or Higher Number of Goals with Target Interaction Ratio of 60% or Higher SDG 1 (7 targets) Impacted 74 15 12 Impacting 40 8 5 SDG 2 (8 targets) Impacted 41 8 5 Impacting 35 7 3 SDG 3 (13 targets) Impacted 38 3 1 Impacting 13 2 0 SDG 4 (10 targets) Impacted 20 3 2 Impacting 39 6 5 SDG 5 (9 targets) Impacted 57 10 7 Impacting 23 5 2 SDG 6 (8 targets) Impacted 27 4 2 Impacting 27 4 2 SDG 7 (5 targets) Impacted 53 11 7 Impacting 26 4 2 SDG 8 (12 targets) Impacted 45 9 4 Impacting 52 9 6 SDG 9 (8 targets) Impacted 36 9 2 Impacting 48 12 4 SDG 10 (10 targets) Impacted 25 4 0 Impacting 25 5 2 SDG 11 (10 targets) Impacted 34 5 3 Impacting 35 8 3 SDG 12 (11 targets) Impacted 26 3 2 Impacting 36 8 3 SDG 13 (5 targets) Impacted 55 15 8 Impacting 53 10 8 SDG 14 (10 targets) Impacted 28 4 3 Impacting 21 2 1 SDG 15 (12 targets) Impacted 34 8 3 Impacting 24 4 2 SDG 16 (12 targets) Impacted 6 1 1 Impacting 43 9 4 SDG 17 (19 targets) Impacted 8 1 1 Impacting 76 12 12 The map of the interaction between SDGs included in Table 5 and Annex-1 reveals the following findings in terms of interaction of SDGs in the case of Turkey: • Targets under SDG 1, SDG 3, SDG 5, SDG 10 come to the forefront as being strongly impacted by other SDG targets. As they are targets towards strengthening human and natural capital, they have indirect impact on other targets. In terms of direct impact, targets under education (SDG 4), economic growth, infrastructure, and industry (SDG 8 and 9), and climate change (SDG 13) are more decisive on these targets. • SDG 4, SDG 16 and SDG 17 contain targets that have lower level of being impacted but very high level of impact on other SDG targets. A large part of other SDG targets are impacted by SDG 4 targets. SDG 16 and 17 are associated in various levels of relationships with all targets as they include top structural targets such as legal infrastructure, development of institutional capacity, and global development cooperation. • SDG 8, SDG 9 and SDG 13 stand out as SDGs that have a high level of interlinkages with all other targets, and that have greater impact, while at the same time, have high mutual interaction. • Assessed together with Turkey’s economic, social and cultural development level, SDG 4, SDG 8, SDG 9, SDG 13, SDG 16 and SDG 17, which cover the themes of strengthening physical and human infrastructure, and development of legal-institutional superstructure are identified as priority goals. 30 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION POLICY COUNCIL /uni26AC EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY COUNCIL /uni26AC ECONOMIC POLICY COUNCIL /uni26AC SECURITY AND FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL /uni26AC LEGAL POLICY COUNCIL /uni26AC CULTURE AND ART POLICY COUNCIL /uni26AC HEALTHCARE AND FOOD POLICIES COUNCIL /uni26AC SOCIAL POLICIES COUNCIL /uni26AC LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLICIES COUNCIL /uni26AC STRATEGY AND POLICY BOARDS ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY /uni26AC MINISTRY OF JUSTICE /uni26AC MINISTRY OF FAMILY, LABOR AND SOCIAL SERVICES /uni26AC MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND URBANISATION /uni26AC MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS /uni26AC MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES /uni26AC MINISTRY OF YOUTH AND SPORTS /uni26AC MINISTRY OF TREASURY AND FINANCE /uni26AC MINISTRY OF INTERIOR /uni26AC MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND TOURISM /uni26AC MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION /uni26AC MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE /uni26AC MINISTRY OF HEALTH /uni26AC MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY /uni26AC MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY /uni26AC MINISTRY OF TRADE /uni26AC MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE /uni26AC OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF /uni26AC TH E D IR E C T O R A T E O F A D M IN IS TR ATIVE AFFAIRS /uni26AC VICE PRESIDENTS /uni2023.uc PRESIDENCY OF STATE ARCHIVES /uni2023.uc STATE SUPERVISORY COUNCIL /uni2023.uc PRESIDENCY OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS /uni2023.uc DIRECTORATE OF COMMUNICATIONS /uni2023.uc SECRETARIAT/hyphen.ucGENERAL OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL /uni2023.uc NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATION /uni2023.uc PRESIDENCY OF NATIONAL PALACES ADMINISTRATION /uni2023.uc PRESIDENCY OF DEFENSE INDUSTRIES /uni2023.uc PRESIDENCY OF STRATEGY AND BUDGET /uni2023.uc TURKEY WEALTH FUND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OFFICE /uni26AC FINANCE OFFICE /uni26AC HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE /uni26AC INVESTMENT OFFICE /uni26AC 3.5. INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS 3.5.1. Transition to Presidential Government System With the referendum of 16 April 2017, an amendment to the Turkish Constitution to switch to a “presidential government system” was approved by popular vote. Following the elections on 24 June 2018, parliamentary system ceased to exist in Turkey and the presidential government system commenced. In the new system, number of the members of parliament increased to 600; age of candidacy for MP reduced from 25 years to 18, and the Office of Prime Ministry has been abolished; the number of ministries reduced from 26 to 16, and a Presidential Cabinet as well as new directorates and offices to serve under the Presidential organisation were formed. The following nine policy boards were also formed to prepare proposals on policies, develop strategic and long-term visions in areas of health and food policies, monitor implementation of policies and conduct demand, need and impact analysis. Through these boards; it is aimed to create an institutional structure to represent common understanding of society by direct engagement of NGOs, representatives from academia and private sector to policy making process. Investment Office, Finance Office, Digital Transformation Office and Human Resources Office were formed for effective and efficient use of human resources, digital transformation and better quality in services, as well as to attract foreign investments and to develop new financial instruments. Figure 2. Structure of Presidential Government System 31 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” The new government model aims to ensure strong coordination and efficient administration through the aforementioned offices, including PSB, under the President’s Office. PSB is tasked with executing budgetary planning and administration effectively and efficiently, monitoring the budget performance closely, reinforcing budgetary discipline, developing strategies and accelerating structural reforms. Policy boards within the President’s Office, as part of the new government system, could play a role, as required by their structure and duties, in steering implementation of SDGs in Turkey at the highest level. 3.5.2. Institutional Mechanisms Established for SDGs following 1st VNR The Presidency of Strategy and Budget (PSB) under the T.R. Presidency is the national focal point for sustainable development in our country. Having prepared NDPs in a participatory manner for six decades and become the institutional repository of experience on development, PSB continues to coordinate policies and implementation of sustainable development in a participatory manner. The Department of Environment and Sustainable Development (DESD) under PSB coordinates actions that ensure that SDGs are reflected into national policies; and progress is monitored, evaluated and reported in implementation process. To this end, DESD formed a focal group of 7 individuals and a task force of 50 individuals that included in-house experts and administrators. Through all these processes, PSB collaborates with stakeholders that include a variety of actors such as public institutions, local governments, academic institutions, NGOs and individuals from the private sector. The Stocktaking Analysis Project implemented under the coordination of PSB served to identify coordinating institutions and responsible and relevant institutions for each SDG. 32 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Table 6. Distribution of Institutional Responsibility by SDGs SDG 1 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF FAMILY, LABOUR AND SOCIAL SERVICES Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services; Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of National Education; Ministry of Health; Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD); Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR); Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) TURKSTAT SDG 2 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services; Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Industry and Technology; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Ministry of Commerce; the Central Bank; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK); TIKA; Universities SDG 3 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF HEALTH Responsible or Relevant Institutions Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services; Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Youth and Sports; Ministry of National Education; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Ministry of Commerce; General Directorate of National Police; General Directorate of Highways; Social Security Institution; TIKA; TUBITAK; Universities; NGOs SDG 4 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Family, Labour and Socials Services; Ministry of Youth and Sports; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Interior; Council of Higher Education (YOK); ISKUR SDG 5 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF FAMILY, LABOUR AND SOCIAL SERVICES Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB, Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of National Education; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Industry and Technology; Department of Religious Affairs; Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey SDG 6 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB, Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI); Municipalities Bank (ILBANK); Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT); Turkish Water Institute SDG 7 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of National Education; Ministry of Industry and Technology; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Ministry of Commerce; Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure; DSI; Energy Market Regulatory Authority; TUBITAK; TIKA SDG 8 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF FAMILY, LABOUR AND SOCIAL SERVICES Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services; Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Culture and Tourism; Ministry of National Education; Ministry of Youth and Sports; Ministry of Industry and Technology; Ministry of Commerce; Directorate General of Migration Management; TUBITAK; Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA); SDG 9 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of National Education; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Industry and Technology; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure; Council of Higher Education (YOK); Science and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK); Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB); Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB); Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA); Institute of Information Technologies and Communication 33 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” SDG 10 Coordinator: HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUALITY INSTITUTION OF TURKEY Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of National Education; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Commerce; Directorate General of Migration Management; BRSA; Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey SDG 11 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND URBANISATION Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services; Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Culture and Tourism; Ministry of Industry and Technology; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; General Directorate of Highways; Prime Ministry Disaster & Emergency Management Authority (AFAD); TIKA; Housing Development Administration (TOKI); Bank of Provinces Inc.; Union of Municipalities of Turkey SDG 12 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND URBANISATION Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; All Ministries; Public Procurement Authority; Energy Market Regulatory Authority; BIST; Union of Municipalities of Turkey SDG 13 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND URBANISATION Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of National Education; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Ministry of Commerce; TIKA; AFAD; Turkish Natural Catastrophe Insurance Pool SDG 14 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND URBANISATION Responsible or Relevant Institutions Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Ministry of Commerce; Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure; TUBITAK SDG 15 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY Responsible or Relevant Institutions PSB; Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; Ministry Commerce; Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure; Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) SDG 16 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF JUSTICE Responsible or Relevant Institutions Presidency of the Republic of Turkey; PSB; Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (General Directorate of Communications); State Supervisory Council; Turkish Court of Accounts; Supreme Court; Council of Judges and Prosecutors; YOK; General Directorate of National Police; Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey; Institute of Information Technologies and Communication; Ombudsman Institution; Financial Crimes Investigation Board; TURKSTAT; Union of Turkish Bar Associations SDG 17 Coordinator: MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS-MINISTRY OF TREASURY AND FINANCE Responsible or Relevant Institutions TGNA; PSB; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Treasury and Finance; Ministry of Industry and Technology; Ministry of Commerce; Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure; TIKA; TURKSTAT; Universities; Development Banks; NGOs Table 6 shows that each SDG is under the responsibility of more than one institution. This setup under the general coordination of PSB demonstrates that the institutional structure in Turkey is adequate to implement SDGs. However, there is still a need for a national institutional structure to ensure inter-institutional communication and interaction between institutions concerning SDGs, systematic implementation, evaluation and steering. 34 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 3.5.3. Distribution of Institutional Roles in Monitoring SDGs Indicator production process, which isof critical importance for the monitoring of progress towards SDGs, is guided and managed by TURKSTAT. In this context, TURKSTAT is in charge of coordination of data procurement and consolidation process concerning SDG indicators. TURKSTAT executes its role to coordinate the Turkish Statistical System relying on a structure consisting of Turkish Statistical Law, Official Statistics Programme and Statistics Council. To determine the main principles and standards concerning production and publication of statistics, and to ensure that up-to-date, reliable, timely, transparent and unbiased data are produced in the areas needed at national and international levels, Official Statistics Programme (OSP) is prepared for every 5-year period. OSP is responsible to clear and approve data, institution in charge, method, publication period and time. “Official Statistics Programme Annual Monitoring Report” is prepared every year to evaluate the programme’s progress. The Statistics Council was formed to offer recommendations concerning development and function of official statistics, evaluate and identify needs for official statistics, and conduct studies covering projections and proposals for the future. Monitoring reports are evaluated during discussions held by the Statistics Council. 3.6. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES ENCOUNTERED IN THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS Higher number of trade barriers at global level, shrinking financial means, capital mobility, continuing geopolitical tensions and repercussions thereof on economy and trade have all affected Turkey, a country highly integrated with the global economy, and occasionally slowed its efforts to achieve SDGs. The abominable coup attempt in 2016 and emerging global uncertainties caused fluctuations in the Turkish economy, however the measures taken allowed the country to recover economically. Transition to the presidential government system brought a re-structuring process in public institutions, and required a re-distribution of functions. However, deep-rooted and well- established public administration system and expeditious implementation of necessary arrangements facilitated rapid adaptation. Policy documents have for years called for the re-vitalisation of the National Commission for Sustainable Development founded in 2004 in Turkey as in all other countries subsequent to the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. However, with the new government system, a re-configuration of coordination mechanisms is needed. As SDGs are interlinked and comprehensive goals, a culture of joint work is required to prevail. Efforts need to be intensified in Turkey to achieve such outcome. Activities to raise awareness being conducted for the 2030 development process, including VNR preparations, will reinforce these efforts. Achieving SDGs requires significant financial resources in Turkey, as in the rest of the world. To this end, contributions from the private sector, local actors and international financial institutions as well as efforts of NGOs should complement public resources. Another significant issue in monitoring SDGs at national level involves, quality, regularity and priority of indicators, as well as accessing them. While Turkey’s set of sustainable development indicators is comprehensive and renewed in line with SDG indicators, such indicators still fall short of covering all targets. In this regard, intensive work is needed in the future to monitor SDGs. It is further needed to enhance administrative records and capacity of institutions, in terms of producing statistics, in addition to TURKSTAT to monitor the implementation process based on quality, valid and regular indicators. Needs for financial resources should also be taken into account when prioritising response to such needs. The process that started in 2016 to identify the institutions in charge by indicators demonstrated that it might be challenging to determine the institutions in charge for the new set of indicators with uncertain metadata and/or using traditional methods. For example, “11.3.1. Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate” which should be compiled on the basis of satellite images could not be owned at national level. During the OSP Revision, it was raised that this indicator included in the 2017-2021 OSP be excluded from the list of responsibilities of institutions. 35 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” On the other hand, the inadequacy of disaggregated data poses difficulties in decision-making to formulate policies by various settlements and groups, monitoring and evaluating the implementation. The need remains in our country to enhance data-based analysis capacity and promote the use of suitable technologies for decision support mechanisms. This other challenge relates to the international monitoring system. It is rather time consuming to integrate data conveyed or verified through UN agencies in charge of global SDG indicators (custodian agencies) into the UN SDG database. This downgrades the accuracy of review reports that will be prepared based on the data retrieved from this database. It also adversely affects the willingness and motivation of national institutions to convey/verify data. It is highly important to accelerate the process administered by custodian agencies to enable countries to verify all data in the UN database, and ensure that requests for update, revision etc. be expeditiously entered in the database. Pre- and post-project evaluations are conducted frequently in Turkey to assess progress. However, there is no systematic evaluation process defined for SDGs. Considering the preference for integrating SDGs into NDPs, the need remains for strengthening evaluation mechanisms that are compatible with such preference and suitable for our national processes. There are many representatives of NGOs, chambers, private sector in a country as populous as Turkey. Considering the country’s size, comprehensive organisation, time management and financial resources are needed to bring together many stakeholders. Therefore, as stated in the previous chapters, inclusiveness was ensured during the VNR preparation process through working with the umbrella organisations of NGOs, business world, local administrations and private sector. Another challenge relates to reflecting a wide range of views from various stakeholders in the report on such a comprehensive agenda. To overcome this challenge, efforts were made to reflect the views of the external stakeholders in a balanced manner, and reach consensus through facilitators in the workshops prior to receiving their contributions. Since the inception of SDG negotiation process, Turkey has adopted the method of integrating SDGs in the national policies through NDPs. The preparations for the second VNR were initiated with the expectation that the 11th NDP would have been issued in 2018. However, due to the large-scale re-structuring in the public administration, the issue of 11th NDP was postponed by one year, causing an uncertainty at the beginning of the process. Following harmonisation of the public administration in the new system, coordination of SDGs was moved up to a higher level of hierarchy. The process of VNR preparation commenced upon the instructions from the highest political level, thereby minimising challenges of coordination. 36 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND 4. LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND 12 Calculating relative poverty rate, 60 percent of equivalised household disposable median income as the poverty threshold was used. The principle of leaving no one behind, which aims to ensure that sustainable development includes all segments of the society through empowerment, equality and inclusiveness, is a cornerstone of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The population of Turkey exceeds 82 million as of 2018 end with 50.2% men and 49.8% women. Children and youth of ages 0 to 24 constitute 39% of the population making Turkey a country with younger population. The ratio of elderly population is also increasing due to increased life expectancy at birth. The ratio of 64+ population which was 7.7% of the total population as of 2013 end, increased to 8.8% as of 2018 end. Such demographic composition highlights the importance of policies for leaving no one behind. Table 7. Population by sex and age group, 2018, TURKSTAT 2018 AGE GROUPS Male Female Total 82,003,882 41,139,980 40,863,902 0-14 19,184,329 9,846,565 9,337,764 15-24 12,823,598 6,646,746 6,324,650 25-64 42,661,953 21,476,537 21,185,416 64+ 7,186,204 3,170,132 4,016,072 Major developments in infrastructure investments in line with high growth in Turkey since the 2000s led to an increase in the prosperity enjoyed by all segments of the society. Policies for reducing infrastructural disparities among regions and extending technological means across the country created an inclusive development path. Increased prosperity was channelled to vulnerable segments of society by means of re-distribution mechanisms under macroeconomic policies, effectively contributing to their empowerment. As a result of economic and social policies, Turkey almost completely eradicated extreme poverty and food poverty and made substantial progress in relative poverty indicators in the last decade. As of 2015, proportion of people living on less than 2.15 USD per day to the total population was reduced to a minimum of 0.06%, and the relative poverty rate12 was reduced from 23.4% in 2007 to 20.1% in 2017. Key policy documents include equitable distribution of opportunities and prosperity to all segments of the society as a main goal. In this regard, significant increases in minimum wage, positive impact of reduced informal employment on the income of wage earners, and policies for increasing labour force participation rates, especially of women, diversification and improvement of effectiveness of social assistance were instrumental in reducing poverty and ameliorating income distribution. Furthermore, the Universal Health Insurance (GSS) system was introduced as part of the health reform in 2007 through which all segments of the society were provided health coverage. In 2012, the government started to cover GSS premiums for those who did not have the means to pay. In addition, facilitating policies are implemented to ensure that all segments of the society enter the labour market. Under the incentives implemented since 2016, there are active labour market programmes in practice and social security premium incentives are provided to programme beneficiaries who are employed. The following section gives a snapshot of policies and practices implemented in our country to ensure that all segments of the society benefit from the positive impacts of development and no one is left behind in the development process. 38 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 4.1. POLICIES FOR WOMEN Substantial progress has been achieved in terms of legislation for empowerment of women and ensuring equal opportunities for men and women in Turkey; various institutional mechanisms have been established, and necessary steps have been taken by relevant institutions to implement the legislation. Participation of women and girls in education: Increasing schooling rates of girls, increasing rates of transition to secondary education, leaving no girl out of education have been set as national goals in NDPs and other relevant/related policies. In this context, the Operation for Increasing the School Attendance Rate of Girls-1 (KEP-1) project was completed and implementation of KEP-2 is underway. Implemented in 15 pilot provinces in East and Southeast Anatolia, the project directly reached out to local opinion leaders, parents and children, and organised training for trainers, conferences and festivals. Within the Development Programme for Young Women, Mother and Child Education Foundation (ACEV) implemented comprehensive capacity building programmes under 16 themes including women’s rights, gender equality, participation in decision-making mechanisms, educational attendance, child protection and prevention of violence against women. Women’s Health: With the Health Transformation Programme, the importance and priority of women’s health increased. To reduce women’s risk of cancer, women are offered screening for breast and cervical at Cancer Early Detection, Screening and Training Centres, and awareness is raised on the importance of early diagnosis. Rate of access to services reached 99.7% as of 2017 by mainstreaming antenatal care services, which are important for maternal health. Accordingly, the maternal mortality rate receded to 14.6 per 100,000 live childbirths. As a result of efforts to prevent early-age pregnancy, the rate of adolescent fertility decreased from 31 per thousand in 2012 to 21 per thousand in 2017. Women’s participation in social life: Many projects are implemented at local and regional levels for promoting women’s participation in social life. 29 Multi-Purpose Community Centres (CATOM) operating in 9 provinces in the Southeast Anatolia Project (GAP) Region is an example of such projects. CATOMs organise literacy, preschool education, mothers’ education, computer and health education, healthcare programmes such as partial and mobile polyclinic services, income-generating workshops and programmes promoting women’s entrepreneurship. In addition, women who participate in these programmes are provided guidance on benefiting from various services such as civil marriage, scholarship and aid in kind. Through this project, 1.4 million women were outreached in the 1995-2018 period. Women’s employment: To increase rate of women’s labour force participation, active labour market programmes have been implemented and vocational counselling and vocational guidance services have expanded since the early 2000s. Tax and insurance premium incentives have been introduced for employers to support these programmes. Further, with an amendment to the Labour Law in 2016, women were granted the right to work part-time in their full-time jobs for some period after childbirth. With the regulation in 2018, it was made obligatory to provide nursery or daycare services in workplaces where women worked, or tax exemptions were accorded for the expenses of daycare provided that such expense be paid directly to the service providers where these services were not available. Public education and vocational education centres provide vocational training for women to equip them with income- generating vocational skills. Role of the private sector: Success of policies for women depends on ensuring harmony and cooperation across sectors and institutions. In addition to public resources, various projects for disadvantaged groups are implemented with the support of the private sector. Under the project My Mom’s Job is My Future implemented through public-private cooperation, efforts are underway to set up day-care centres in 10 Organised Industrial Zones (OIZs) out of which 4 already entered into service. 39 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Another example for women’s employment is the project Turkey’s Engineer Girls jointly implemented in cooperation with the private sector, NGOs, UN and public sector. Under the project, opportunities for scholarships, internship and employment are provided to university students; and English language training, social engineering certification programmes and mentoring support are delivered. The project reached a total of 21,400 women by the of 2018. To ensure women’s active participation in economy and increase their employment, training is provided on conscious and safe use of information technologies and internet. In addition, “Digital Literacy” training programmes are organised in collaboration with private sector to ensure effective use of opportunities and resources provided by digital technologies. To date, approximately 2000 women have benefited from such training. Women’s entrepreneurship: To contribute to women’s increased role in economic life, privileged support is provided. In the context of supporting new entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs were granted 20% more loans/grants in the 2010-2018 period. With the New Entrepreneur Programme that started in 2019, privileged support is accorded to those entrepreneurs who are young, with disabilities or next of martyrs, in addition to women. Women entrepreneurs who will operate in traditional sectors receive more support than previously (up to 60,000 TL equivalent to 10,900 USD). Further, support is provided up to 370,000 TL (67,400 USD) to women entrepreneurs, depending on technology level, who operate in areas such as manufacturing and software that contribute to increased competitiveness of our country, increase exports and employment, and have the potential to become brands. Women’s cooperatives: There are ongoing projects to support women’s empowerment through enabling particularly the poor women to engage in production through a culture of solidarity and generating income. In this context, Public Education Centres (PECs) across the country implement the Cooperative Development and Adaptation Training Programme under which 2,782 women who successfully completed training were awarded certificates in the 2014-2017 period. Gender Budgeting: The Sub-committee for Gender-Responsive Budgeting under the Equal Opportunities Commission of TGNA implemented a project based on gender-responsive budgeting to set an example for other administrations, and executed a series of activities. It is planned to start a “Gender-Sensitive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” Project to create awareness and ownership among politicians and bureaucrats on public policies, plans, programmes and budget processes for promoting gender equality in central and local governments; enhance institutional capacities and ensure sustainability. 4.2. POLICIES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH As of 2017 end, children (ages 0-17) constitute approximately 28% and youth (ages 15-24) constitute 16% of the population. In addition, there are 1.6 million children out of 3.6 million Syrians population under temporary protection in our country. Based on the principle of the “best interest of the child”, significant public policies are pursued to improve the well- being of children, to increase opportunities and means to develop and actualise their potential, and increase their access to basic public services including particularly education, healthcare, justice and social services. Child and Youth Health: Healthcare services for children are provided free of charge in our country. In the context of early childhood development, there are monitoring systems which are provided to parents free of charge to ensure that children are born and continue their lives healthily, evaluate their nutritional status and development, and meet their needs in this regard. In this context, Baby and Child Tracking Programme, Nutrition Programmes, National Screening Programmes and Reducing Baby and Child Mortality Programme, Breast-feeding Incentive, Mainstreaming Baby-Friendly Health Institutions as well as the programs for Vaccination, Preventing Iron and Vitamin D Deficiency in Babies, Improving Bone Health are implemented to anticipate and eliminate the circumstances that lead to illnesses. As a result of such programmes and measures, vaccination rate reached 96%, rate of receiving prenatal care services reached 99.7%, rate of delivery at a healthcare institution reached 98%, and infant mortality rate was 9.1 per thousand in 2017. 40 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” In our country, all expectant mothers could benefit from healthcare services free of charge during pregnancy. In the framework of the Conditional Cash Transfer for Health Programme in effect since 2002, poor expectant mothers receive payments on the condition that they go through medical examinations during pregnancy and deliver their babies at a healthcare institution. As part of the same programme, mothers in poor families receive payment per child under 6 years old on the condition that the child regularly undergoes a medical examination and is vaccinated. In 2018, a total of 1,225,402 mothers and children received a total health support of 382.23 million TL (79 million USD) in 2018. Work is undertaken to ensure that especially adolescents and young people are informed on adolescent health in an appropriate way for the age group and to improve the services provided by psychological advisors and counsellors at schools. Youth-friendly healthcare services are provided at Youth Counselling and Healthcare Service Centres; work is undertaken for awareness of professionals who work with youth; and training programmes on sexual and reproductive rights are delivered to various groups of youth including particularly those vulnerable through peer and role-based training. Access to education: Education as the key to minimising inequalities between social segments and genders, as a precondition to productive and quality life, as well as an agent for social and individual change, is recognised as a fundamental right in the Constitution which prohibits depriving individuals of this right. Education services at all education levels, including higher education, are provided free of charge in our country. Various projects and incentive systems are implemented to ensure access to school of all children in socio-economically or culturally disadvantaged groups, as well as those under temporary protection, with special needs or in other disadvantaged groups. Some of these projects focus on integrating children with disabilities into social life through quality inclusive education from early childhood, and facilitating their access to social life in the long term. Conditional Education Assistance (CEA) has been provided since 2003 to those families in the poorest segment of the society to enable them to send children to school. The amount of aid is set higher for girls to increase the schooling rates and attendance of girls. Under CEA, 641.1 million TL (117 million USD) has been disbursed for over 2.5 million children until today. Early childhood education: Importance accorded to early childhood education is gradually increasing in the context of reducing poverty through generations and increasing equality of opportunities. Within this scope, the objective is to ensure that every child attends preschool education minimum one year before primary education and to increase the schooling rate at age 5 from 75% to 100%. Further, it is obligatory for nurseries, daycare centres and children clubs operated by the private sector to allocate 3% of their current capacities for disadvantaged and poor children. Besides, children with disabilities who need special education benefit from education services free of charge. In the framework of our country’s 2023 Education Vision, it is planned to provide children living in poor households with key educational materials that will support their development, and mainstream alternative and community- based early childhood education services for children in low density settlement areas. In this context, various centres, workshops and mobile bus classrooms are created. In addition, programmes are prepared to meet the nutrition needs of children in unfavourable conditions, and special curricula are created for schools with seasonal agricultural worker children, children under temporary protection and children in villages. With the “Mobile Nursery Class Teaching” pilot application, preschool education is provided to children at preschool age in the areas where it is not possible to open classes due to the insufficient number of students. In the framework of the Summer Nursery Classes Programme which is conducted since 2003 with an ever-broadening scope; a 10-week accelerated preschool education programme is implemented for children in 4 to 6 age group. Further, Mother Support Programme training is provided to the mothers of these children. For school adaptation problems faced by Syrian children, the programme is also implemented as a short-term intervention programme to increase their readiness for school. Access to primary and secondary education: A “transported education programme” is implemented across the country to prevent deprivation of children of education rights due to geographic and economic conditions in accessing primary and secondary education. Under the program, children are provided free lunch and transport to the nearest school. Further, free accommodation is provided to children in villages and rural settlements smaller than villages without school and for poor families to ensure access to primary and secondary education services. According to the data of 2017-2018 academic year, 49.5% of boarders are girls. 41 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Another practice for children to benefit from free and quality education is the distribution of all schoolbooks free of charge. In addition, ad hoc education assistance is provided to cover transportation, stationary etc. needs of the children of poor families at the age of primary or secondary school. An Elementary School Remedial Education Programme is implemented for primary school students who lag peers in academic achievement, basic literacy and numeracy skills for various reasons. An Adaptation to Secondary Education Programme is also underway to curb absence and dropout tendencies of students at higher grades of secondary education. Steps have been taken to facilitate access of children with special education needs to special rehabilitation and education services. Government provides such services free of charge, and also covers the meal and transportation costs of such children receiving education and rehabilitation services provided in private educational institutions. Access to higher education: Education scholarships and loans are provided for young people who continue university education considering their economic situation, and dormitories are provided for their accommodation. Dormitories provide quality living conditions, free internet, meal etc. services. Cultural and sportive training is also provided to dorm residents. Care services for disadvantaged children: Services for the protection, care and education of children are provided in accordance with the principles of “best interest of the child” and “family care, by own family in priority”. To ensure that they can live with their children the Social and Economic Support Service (SED) is provided only to families who cannot take care of their children for economic reasons, to ensure that they can live with their children. Under SED, the amount of assistance to families varies by age and educational level of the child. In addition, the School Support Project was launched in 2017 to raise awareness on the development and needs of children of these families, increase their participation in social life and provide children with means and opportunities for social, cultural, artistic and sportive activities. Syrian children under temporary protection and foreign children under international protection may also benefit from SED. For children who cannot stay with their own family, services of institutional care, foster family and adoption are provided. In the context of institutional care, children who cannot stay with their own families or with other families benefit from care services under state protection. These children live in Child Homes and Child Home Complexes which are home-style care institutions as models most approximating a family life, and benefit from equal educational opportunities as from early childhood like other children. Various mentorship services are offered to the resident children until they complete university education or reach the age of majority to provide support in relation to risks and problems that they may face after leaving the institution. In addition, these children are also accorded the right to be employed in public institutions. While the primary objective is to protect all children against situations that might endanger their physical, mental, moral, social and emotional development and personal safety, such services as institutional care, psycho-social support and economic support are provided to children who have been neglected, abused or are victims of crime, as well as to their families. Children driven to crime, victims of crime, living on the street, abusing substance and unaccompanied foreign children benefit from services provided in specialised child support centres. Combating child labour: Prevention of child labour, including worst forms, was set as a national goal, and the National Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour entered into force in 2018. Further, 2018 was declared as the “Year against Child Labour” demonstrating our country’s commitment to the purpose; and it was decided to establish units to fight child labour in all provinces across the country. Work was started to protect the children forced to work or beg on streets, and to ensure fast public intervention in such cases. To that end, mobile teams of police and social workers were formed across Turkey and many children were returned to education. The project on the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Seasonal Agriculture in Hazelnut Harvesting in Turkey, piloted in three provinces is an example of the work to eliminate child labour. The children of seasonal agriculture working families are encouraged to attend school where their families migrate, programmes are being implemented to reduce school dropout rates and increase academic success and improve their social skills of the children. Children are provided healthcare services as well. Academic achievements and social-cognitive development of children are supported through summer schools and day-care centres, art and sports activities undertaken in public areas. The project is scheduled to continue till the 2020 end. 42 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Participation of young people in social life: A total of 292 youth centres engage in cultural, sportive and artistic activities across the country to increase the participation of young people in social life and contribute to the development of life skills. These centres provide spaces for the integration of children and young people from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. On the other hand, camping activities are organised at certain times of the year with different themes for all children and young people including sportive, cultural and social activities. Separate camps are organised for disadvantaged or gifted young people and for the ones under temporary or international protection in our country. All services at youth centres and camps are free of charge. A Young Volunteers Platform was founded to increase participation of young people in voluntary activities, disseminate the culture of volunteering and serve as a bridge between volunteers and organisations seeking volunteers. Operating on the basis of membership, the platform brings together volunteers and institutions looking for volunteers at www.gencgonulluler.gov.tr. 4.3. POLICIES FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND ELDERLY Participation of the elderly in social life: Care models based on the idea of “active ageing” and aiming to enable the elderly to live a happy life in interaction with the social environment have been developed and more public resources have been allocated accordingly over the years. Under the Elderly Support Programme (YADES) launched in 2016, funds are transferred from the central budget to local governments for projects undertaken for the care of the elderly who need psycho-social support either at their own spaces or day centres. Social assistance to persons with disabilities and elderly: Most regular and long-standing support for the persons with disabilities and the elderly in Turkey is the monthly cash assistance implemented since 1976 based on the income criteria and not registered with any social security institution. Health insurance premiums and healthcare expenses of these individuals are also covered by the state. In addition to the elderly, poor families having an individual with at least 50% or more severe disability are provided home care assistance. Public aids for persons with disabilities are also augmented by voluntary activities. In this context, Solidarity Association for the Physically Disabled has provided approximately 35,000 wheelchairs to the persons with disabilities since 1993. Care services for persons with disabilities and elderly: The number of nursing homes affiliated with the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services increased to 146 in 2018 from 132 in 2015, with a resident population of 13,883 elderly people. In addition, home care and day-care services offered by public, private and NGO facilities support the care of elderly in family environment. As of 2018, there were 104 public care centres for persons with disabilities for providing care and rehabilitation services; and any person with disabilities who files a request may benefit from such service without waiting. Employment of persons with disabilities: Under the Programme of Quota for Persons with disabilities in Public Institutions to promote their participation in the labour market, the number of civil servants which stood at 5,777 in 2002 increased to 53,017 as of 2018. In line with the “Accessible Workplaces for All” strategy, such special measures as quota/punishment method, assisted employment, subsidised employment and sheltered employment are used to integrate persons with disabilities into working life. Under the quota rule, private sector employers who employ 50 or more workers are obliged to recruit 3% persons with disabilities, and public sector 4%. For every person with disabilities who is employed under the quota, all social security premiums are covered from public funds. Under subsidised employment, on-the-job training programmes are undertaken to enable persons with disabilities to have career development in the same conditions as all employees. The costs of transportation, subsistence allowance and social security premiums of the trainees are covered from public funds during the course. As part of the “Sheltered Workplace Model” launched in 2013, workplaces employing at least eight persons with disabilities and workplaces whose ratio of employees to the total number of workers is not less than 75% may obtain sheltered workplace status. In addition to wage, income tax and premium support, employers who fall in this category may receive grants for projects which they undertake for the necessary workplace arrangements for employees with disabilities. 43 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Activities for capacity development of persons with disabilities: Various NGOs engage in activities of occupational skill- building and training for persons with disabilities. To enable visually impaired individuals to become self-sufficient and integrate into the society, voluntary activities such as volunteer trainers, volunteer assistants, office volunteers, audio book reading, consultancy (law, psychology, etc.), event support and organisation, sponsorship and donation services are delivered in the Six Points Association of the Blind in cooperation with public education centers in cities. Necessary software and hardware are provided to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal opportunities in education and employment, and remove barriers in information technologies. With the Third Hand Project, persons with manual disabilities are encouraged to use all features of tablet computers by the hardware provided. In this context, accessibility devices and tablet computers are distributed in 80 provinces and works are continuing. In addition, the training of trainers was delivered to those who would provide training and support to persons with disabilities to use these devices. 4.4. POLICIES FOR REFUGEES UNDER TEMPORARY PROTECTION Turkey has long been affected by migration and refugee movements due to its location on main migration routes, increasing political and economic problems in the neighbouring countries and rising global trends of migration. Turkey has opened its borders to a large number of Syrians who started to flee Syria after 2011. Turkey has pursued a humanitarian and inclusive open-door policy regardless of religion, sect or ethnicity and admitted millions of Syrians to the country under “temporary protection status”. Since 2015, Turkey has been the country hosting highest number of refugees in the world. According to the current data, there are approximately 4 million people under international protection in our country, 3.6 million of whom are Syrians. Turkey has responded effectively and rapidly to the Syrian humanitarian crisis and prevented possible large-scale humanitarian tragedies by developing timely and accurate policies. At the beginning of the crisis, such urgent needs as accommodation, nutrition, healthcare and social assistance of the Syrians who migrated to our country in mass numbers were met in a short time in cooperation with the relevant international organisations where necessary. Due to the fact that the number of people who migrated was much higher than expected, Temporary Accommodation Centres (TACs) simply did not have adequate capacity to accommodate all, therefore most people settled in cities. Accommodation and nutrition needs of Syrians under temporary protection in our country were addressed primarily; then, identification and registration procedures were completed in a short time. This population was required to register to benefit from public services in a wider context, such as social assistance, healthcare and education. In this way, migration management has become more systematic and orderly. Temporary protection identity cards were issued to these individuals. As a result of the prolonged crisis in Syria and an increase in the tendency of immigrant population to stay for a longer period, necessary measures were taken for adapting migrants to economic and social life in Turkey. The size of the Syrian population living in TACs which constituted the majority of the immigrants at first decreased over time and the size of the urban immigrant population has increased. Rental aid for accommodation in the framework of internationally recognised criteria was provided to those moving to cities after leaving TACs, to assist their livelihood. The size of Syrian population living in TACs was around 250,000 in 2016, and decreased to 116,000 as of May 2019. The Law on Foreigners and International Protection entered into force in 2013 with the aim of effective and coordinated implementation of migration management. This Law lays down the procedures and principles regarding the entry, stay and exit of foreigners in Turkey and the protection to be provided to foreigners requesting protection from Turkey. In addition, the General Directorate of Migration Management was established within the Ministry of Interior to undertake the activities and procedures related to foreigners. In addition, the Migration Board was established in 2013 to determine migration policies and strategies, monitor implementation, identify methods and measures to be implemented in case of a mass influx, lay down procedures and principles related to the foreigners to be admitted in mass to Turkey and regarding their entry and stay in the country. Turkey, instead of creating a separate public service area for the population under temporary or international protection, developed a comprehensive and holistic strategy based on the approach that they could benefit from the current public services along with Turkish citizens. 44 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” International cooperation and projects: In the framework of the global initiative to respond to the Syrian humanitarian crisis, which emerged as an international problem, Turkey aimed to act by establishing high level of cooperation and coordination with international organisations. However, expected level of contribution were not received from the international community and/or from other countries. Turkey’s expenditures only for Syrians under temporary protection out of its own resources have exceeded 37 billion USD to date. An agreement was reached in March 2016 with the European Union (EU) to provide financial support to the migrant movement and to share responsibility. With this agreement, EU pledged to provide an aid of 3+3 billion EUR for Syrians in our country. Under the first tranche of 3 billion EUR, 72 projects were undertaken. Project development and implementation efforts are underway under the second tranche of 3 billion EUR marked for the second phase. This resource under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT), is used via UN agencies and international financial institutions as well as direct grants to our relevant institutions. Under projects, activities were undertaken including humanitarian aid programme, conditional cash transfer for education, development of school, hospital and municipal infrastructure in cities with high refugee populations, and training programmes to increase their employability, integrating Syrian children into the Turkish education system and providing healthcare services to Syrians. Some of these projects are designed in way that the host community may also benefit, aiming to serve the needs of Turkish citizens who have similar problems as refugees. Humanitarian and social assistance for persons under temporary and international protection: Assistance activities for persons under temporary protection are managed through the Integrated Social Assistance Information System, which enables all social assistance provided by the state in Turkey to be managed and monitored from a single centre, and payment lists for Syrians are generated from this system. The Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) Programme, launched in 2016 to meet the basic needs of the people under temporary and international protection in our country, 13 This resource is used in cooperation with the General Directorate of Social Assistance of MoFLSS, World Food Program (WFP), Turkish Red Crescent and European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Operations (ECHO). 14 KIZILAYKART was first used for Turkish citizens in 2011. 15 Minimum wage is 373 USD (1 USD=5.49 TL) in Turkey. is financed with 1 billion EUR allocated in the first phase of FRIT. Families in need who are under temporary and international protection may benefit from ESSN13 Programme. Programme beneficiaries are identified through the extent of vulnerability and demographic criteria such as household size, woman living alone, single parent family, old age, disability. A KIZILAYKART14 is issued to every family eligible for the assistance. 120 TL (22 USD)15 is loaded on the card monthly per registered person in the family who may use it to meet their own needs such as rent, foodor withdraw cash. Given the fact that Syrians have large families, this amount of assistance provided per capita, reaches a significant sum. Additional contributions are provided to small families who cannot benefit from economies of scale and to families having persons with disabilities in need of care. Additional monthly assistance of 600 TL (109 USD) is provided to approximately 6,000 beneficiaries with severe disabilities. As of the beginning of 2019, a total of 3.2 billion TL (533 million USD) cash assistance was provided to approximately 1.5 million people in need under ESSN Programme. It was observed that food insecurity, indebtedness and utilization of negative coping strategies were reduced among ESSN beneficiaries. Another assistance programme for refugees under temporary and international protection is the Food Card Project being implemented to meet the nutrition needs of refugees living in TACs. Through Food Cards containing a monthly allowance of 100 TL (18.2 USD) per person, families may meet such basic needs as food, cleaning products from grocery stores in TACs. Approximately 91,000 TAC residents currently benefit from this programme. It is observed that 91% of families living in TACs have acceptable food consumption through the programme. Access to education by refugees under temporary protection: It is a matter of major importance for Turkey that Syrian children access to education and attend school, realise their potential, develop skills, adapt to the country and contribute to the development of their country when they return, so that a whole generation would not be lost. 45 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” The number of Syrian children under temporary protection in Turkey is approximately 1.6 million. About 700,000 of these children are under 6 years of age and 1.1 million are at school age (5-17). By our laws, all children living in Turkey, including those who are not Turkish citizens, have the right to access basic education free of charge. Temporary Education Centres (TECs) were established to meet educational needs of Syrian children in Turkey to ensure that they learn Turkish upon arrival or soon after, and because school capacities in locations where they lived were inadequate. At the initial phase, intensive Turkish language courses are provided in TECs where volunteer Syrian trainers also work. Syrian children, whose integration is thus supported, are gradually transferred to public schools under the Ministry of National Education (MoNE). Currently 222,000 students are educated in TECs and the remaining 388,000 students are educated in MoNE schools. Approximately 13,000 volunteer Syrian trainers are employed in TECs and receive financial support on monthly basis. Turkish trainers, psychological guides and counsellors also work in TECs. A separate curriculum and textbooks were created for TECs. In addition, an Information System for Foreign Students (YÖBIS) was created to monitor the registration, achievement and absence of Syrian students under temporary protection. The schooling rates of Syrian students vary according to their education levels. School dropouts increase as the level of education increases. Schooling rates are close to 100% in primary level, but fall to 50% in secondary schools and to 24% in high schools. The Conditional Education Assistance (CEA) programme implemented to ensure the attendance of the children and girls of poor families in our country was expanded to include students under temporary protection and students of foreign nationality. As of March 2017, the families of approximately 500,000 children are supported under the programme. Beneficiaries are entitled to CEA payment varying from 35 to 60 TL (6.5 to 11 USD) per month per child depending on the educational level, provided that the subject student not be absent from school more than 4 days a month. In addition, an additional payment of 100 TL (18.2 USD) per beneficiary is made at January and September. Migrant children registered in our country may benefit from regular healthcare, education and social protection services provided to all children in addition to those offered specifically to them. Although at limited scale, other practices are ongoing such as providing early childhood development education to Syrian children and mothers at household level through home-based education, providing pre-school education to Syrian children through summer day-care centres to ensure their integration into the education system in Turkey. The language problem poses a major barrier for the integration of Syrians under temporary protection and for other foreigners into education and to their participation in social life. To alleviate this problem, programmes for teaching Turkish are implemented for foreigners at different age levels. Students aged 6 to 12 and 13 to 17 may benefit from Turkish courses provided by the PECs through teaching modules designed in line with their level. Access to healthcare services by refugees under temporary protection: Meeting healthcare needs of the Syrian population is a top priority of the migration policy. Syrians who are registered and hold a temporary ID number in Turkey may receive all healthcare services including emergency, preventive, primary, and therapeutic services free of charge. And those without a temporary ID number are provided with services for communicable disease control, immunisation, and emergency healthcare. Syrians may directly go to the healthcare facilities operated by the Ministry of Health. Migrant Health Centres (MHCs) are established in areas with large Syrian refugee populations to provide them with healthcare services more effectively and efficiently, and overcome problems arising from language and cultural barriers. There are 688 migrant health units currently in service opened in 178 MHCs located in 29 provinces. Foreign National Outpatient Clinics (FNOC) are opened to provide primary healthcare services in such areas with large refugee populations in case an MHC has not been opened. It is planned to open at least one FNOC in each province, and there are 88 outpatient clinics currently in service in 70 provinces. The Project for Improving Health Status of Syrian Refugees Under Temporary Protection in Turkey and Relevant Services Provided by the Republic of Turkey (SIHHAT) is implemented to improve and support primary and secondary healthcare ~1.66 MILLION ~600,000 ~1.05 MILLION NUMBER OF SYRIAN CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 6 IN THE AGE OF EDUCATION (5-17) 46 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” services currently provided by the Ministry of Health for Syrians under temporary protection. The project aims at expanding the scope of healthcare services and improving the capacity and quality of delivery of these services in 28 provinces with large Syrian populations. The Project for Improving the Delivery of Home Healthcare, Care and Social Services to Syrian Refugees16 supports home healthcare services delivered to elder Syrians and Syrians with disabilities in 7 provinces with the support of the Migrant Health Training Centres. Under the project, 300 people most of whom were Syrian women, received theoretical and practical training, and successful candidates were employed for 19 months. Also, healthcare personnel working in MHCs were trained on home healthcare services provided in our country, and such centres were supported logistically. Services targeting migrant groups at risk17 (women’s health, adolescent health, education on violence based on gender, etc.) are provided in Women’s Healthcare Consultation Centres within MHCs or operating stand-alone. There are currently 34 Women’s Healthcare Consultation Centres18 in MHCs. Under the project, 382,469 persons received services in women’s health and reproductive health including safe motherhood, prenatal and postnatal care, sexually transmitted infections, healthcare and nutrition education. During the same period, 392,930 individuals were provided awareness training on combating gender-based violence and psychosocial support. Social integration of refugees under temporary protection: Child friendly zones are established to provide children of different age groups under temporary protection living in and outside camps with psychosocial support and enable their access to participatory and inclusive education and formative activities and environments. In such zones, children receive education and participate in recreational and cultural activities. A “Social Adaptation Programme” is implemented to help Syrian children who live outside the camps adapt to the society and build a platform that will facilitate dialogue and information exchange between Turkish and Syrian children. To date, 51,000 children have benefited from the programme. 16 Implemented with technical assistance from the World Health Organization. 17 Implemented under the “Memorandum of Understanding” signed with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on 16.12.2016 and valid through 31.12.2020. 18 Of these centres, 25 are financed by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), 4 by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and 5 by the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey through the agency of UNHCR. 19 Implemented in cooperation with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Through the “Support to Social Service Centres Project”19 under Protective and Preventive Services which will be scaled up in the upcoming years, psycho-social support is provided to Syrians to help them live on their own. International organisations, the government, and local governments work in collaboration to empower Syrian women. For instance, SADA Women Development and Solidarity Centre was established in Gaziantep in 2017 which holistically combined livelihoods, protection and social inclusion specific to women. The centre provides vocational counselling, psychosocial support, language and vocational training. Employment of refugees under temporary protection: Syrians living in our country under temporary protection have been granted the right to participate in the labour force. However, it is known that the majority of this population work informally, avoiding registered work with the fear of losing their benefits as most of them are registered in the social assistance system. Therefore, only around 68 thousands Syrians Under Temporary Protection have obtained work permits to date. The number of Syrians benefiting from ESSN reached nearly 1.6 million. Policies are being developed in this context to integrate Syrians who benefit from social aid programmes into the labour force. It was announced that the second phase of FRIT would finance those projects which would facilitate the transition of Syrian population who benefits from ESSN to labour force. A fund of 465 million EUR was allocated for this purpose in the context of socio-economic support. While children and young people constitute the majority of ESSN beneficiaries, only 460,000 of them are in the 18 – 59 age group. Creating employment opportunities for both the Syrian and growing Turkish population will be critical for Turkey’s sustainable development. Our key priorities for the future is to encourage Syrians under temporary protection in our country to integrate into social and economic life and promote their registered work with a view to replacing the short-term humanitarian and subsistence aid 47 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” with a sustainable system whereby they will be self-sufficient. It is important that such population be equipped with basic skills to enhance their employability. In this context, actions will continue to scale up Turkish language training to equip Syrians with language proficiency, provide special purpose courses for occupational and technical skills, encourage Syrians to participate in on-the-job training programmes, and provide vocational and legal guidance/counselling services. On the other hand, recognizing that the refugee crisis cannot be resolved merely by the efforts of our country and humanitarian aid at national level, our country will continue its efforts to increase awareness of the international community regarding irregular migration flows triggered by the Syrian crisis. It will continue to lead international initiatives to improve the situation of refugees, including Syrians under temporary protection in our country, and eliminate factors that trigger irregular migration to avoid new humanitarian crises, and globally share the burden and responsibilities for refugees. In this context, our country will continue implement the Global Compact on Refugees adopted in 2018 by the UN General Assembly, and will participate and co-chair the first Global Refugee Forum in 2019. Accordingly, we call on all stakeholders to implement the Compact and invite them to participate in the Forum at the highest level and to declare significant pledges for refugees at this Forum. 48 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” PROGRESS TOWARDS SDGs AND NEXT STEPS 5. PROGRESS TOWARDS SDGs AND NEXT STEPS Significant progress was achieved in our country on many targets related to reduction of poverty, elimination of inequalities, implementation of effective social policies, increasing access to basic services including particularly healthcare, energy and clean water. This chapter reviews the implementation performance of Turkey for each SDG with highlights on policies, legislation, prominent developments and areas needing improvement. Prominent developments on each SDG are reviewed by defining certain focus areas and associating the goals with such areas. The focus areas as listed below also lay down the framework for aligning the national policy priorities of Turkey with the Agenda 2030. Table 8. SDG Focus Areas Poverty reduction Empowerment of vulnerable groups Access to adequate food and meeting nutrition needs Increasing agricultural productivity and resilient agricultural practices Conservation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge Programmes for protective healthcare services Improving healthcare service provision and infrastructure Access to quality education Equal opportunities for education Vocational education and lifelong learning Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women Prevention of violence and abuse against women Promotion of opportunities for women to participate in social, political and economic life Reproductive health and rights Access to drinking water and sanitation services Effective management of water resources Preventing water pollution and improving water quantity and quality Access to energy for all Increasing renewable energy share in total supply Improving energy efficiency Development of clean energy technologies and infrastructure Economic growth Employment Reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure Inclusive and sustainable industrialisation Innovation Strengthening economic and social equality Global mobility Cooperation with international economic and financial institutions Inclusive and sustainable urbanisation Safe and affordable transport Spatial planning and regional development Protection of natural and cultural heritage Sustainable management of resources and waste Sustainability reporting Sustainable tourism Adaptation to climate change Mainstreaming climate action into policies Awareness raising and capacity increase Climate finance 50 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Prevention of marine pollution and protection of ecosystem Sustainable production and stock management of aquaculture products Conservation and sustainable management of terrestrial ecosystems Conservation of biodiversity and genetic resources Prevention of crime and violence Equal access to justice Effective governance Capacity-building Finance Technology Trade International partnerships Public-private partnership 5.1. SDG 1. END POVERTY IN ALL ITS FORMS EVERYWHERE Substantial progress was achieved in the last 20 years concerning the goal of eradicating poverty. Turkey is among the countries that made most progress in eradicating poverty. Both economic growth and improvement in the social protection system contributed to this outcome. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 1 include the National Employment Strategy, National Youth Employment Strategy, Productivity Strategy and Action Plan, Climate Change Strategy, and International Development Cooperation Programme. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 1 are as follows: • Improving the quality and quantity of protective and preventive services to avoid the risk of poverty, • Alleviating destructive effects of poverty, improving social assistance and social service system, • Increasing the participation of disadvantaged groups, notably women and young people, to economic activities and implementing employment policies targeting these groups, • Facilitating the access to opportunities for groups at risk of poverty and social exclusion, • Increasing the participation of civil society and enhancing the role of local administrations in combating poverty, • Ensuring the coordination between the information systems of social assistance and social service, • Conducting social adaptation analyses, • Increasing the impact of taxes and social transfers that reduce income inequality and poverty. LEGISLATION A series of legal and institutional regulations that helped to reduce poverty were issued between 2000 and 2018 in Turkey. Some of the significant developments include the restructuring of the social protection system, introduction of the Social Assistance and Solidarity Incentive Fund for this purpose and bringing together other units concerning vulnerable groups under the Ministry 51 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” of Family, Labour and Social Services (MoFLSS). In addition to the restructuring of the social protection system, important legal regulations were issued such as consolidation of social security institutions and provision of health insurance to the whole population by means of the implementation of Universal Health Insurance. Significant progress was achieved in the legal infrastructure concerning the extension of social assistance and services targeting poor and disadvantaged groups by means of the Regulation on Social Service Centres and the Regulation on Social and Economic Support Services. These regulations aim at reducing and even eradicating poverty with the help of services and assistance offered to citizens in need. In addition, the international conventions and social security conventions to which our country is a signatory support the efforts for eradicating everywhere for all. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 1 is assessed on two focus areas: i. Poverty Reduction and ii. Empowerment of vulnerable groups. With respect to poverty reduction; a significant improvement was achieved in reducing the rate of national population living in absolute poverty with the help of achieving of macroeconomic stability, economic growth, and the increase in social transfer. According to the data by Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), the rate of individuals living on less than $1.25 per day is 0.06 (6 in ten thousand) as of 2015, which is negligible. Therefore, Target 1.1 “to eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere”20, has been achieved in Turkey (for $1.25).20 Another limit specified for absolute poverty is living on less than $4.3 per day, and the rate of such poor population was 2.6% in total with 0.6% in cities and 5.1%21 in rural areas in 2013. As of 2017, the rate of population living on less than $4.3 per day receded to 1.58%. Regarding the rate of those living on less than 60% of the median income (relative poverty), progress was made in the last decade. The rate of relative poverty dropped from 23.4% in 2007 to 20.1% in 2017. Thus, the policies that target vulnerable groups, being formulated according to the differences between rural vs. urban, child vs. adult, and women vs. men, are 20 Since the indicator which is used in measuring extreme poverty and represents the segment of population who live on less than $1.25 a day dropped under 0.01%, TURKSTAT has not measured since 2005. 21 TURKSTAT has not produced any absolute poverty data concerning urban vs rural difference since 2013. continued to be developed with the perspective of the Agenda 2030. Figure 3. Poverty Gap Diversifying and increasing the amount of social aids and the steps taken to improve the social assistance system have contributed to poverty eradication. In addition, pro- poor policies followed in sectors such as employment, social security, education, healthcare, and housing have significantly contributed to this achievement. The total public assistance expenses was 0.83% of 2006 GDP, and 1.15% of 2018 GDP respectively. Projects aiming to improve employment, facilitate the access to education for girls and persons with disabilities, create new job opportunities in rural areas, and encourage social beneficiaries to join the labour force are implemented to reduce absolute and relative poverty. An example for local practices could be Multipurpose Community Centres (CATOMs) that are located in poor neighbourhoods inhabited by rural- urban migrants and in provinces in the GAP region. Activities are undertaken in these centres to improve social and financial status of women and children. Social assistance and support provided by various institutions and organisations were brought together under the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services as the focal body that executes relevant programmes. The poor segments are provided aid for food, fuel, education, childbirth, and family expenses to raise their living standards. The number and variety of social assistance and support have been gradually Poverty Gap by Equivalised Household Disposeable Income 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 33.6% 28.4% 27.9% 29.6% 28.7% 29.2% 29.2% 26.7% 27.2% 26.8% 26.5% 25.8% Poverty Gap (60%), % 52 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” increasing since 2003. The increase in aid for education and food aimed to prevent the intergenerational transmission of poverty particularly during this process is remarkable. In addition, assistance programmes started to help various groups in society such as military families in need, individuals with chronic illnesses, and orphans. Evaluation and monitoring processes of social assistance are operated through an online system, namely, the Integrated Social Assistance Information System. The system facilitates the application processes and improves to reach people really in need. Irregular migration and internal migration increase the risk of poverty particularly in urban areas where poverty concentrates. Social assistance and support programmes are implemented to eliminate the risk in question and meet the needs of poor foreign nationals, particularly Syrians, which are under temporary protection and living outside the camps, in collaboration with national and international organisations.22 In the context of empowerment of vulnerable groups, their integration into the labour force is considered important to combat poverty. As enhancing the labour force participation of women needs special focus, an amendment to the Labour Law in 2016 that allowed working women/men to work part-time following the end of statutory leave until the start of month following the start of mandatory primary education age was made. In addition, part-time work was allowed for 60 to 360 days following the birth; and it was decided to make payments of part-time work from the Unemployment Insurance Fund for the non-work time during the part-time work to those who meet the criteria for premium. Many projects targeting disadvantaged groups are implemented in Turkey. In this respect, policies to improve social protection systems and measures have been further developed. 22 See Chapter 4.4. EMERGENCY SOCIAL SAFETY NET (ESSN) PROGRAMME SDG Targets 1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4; 1.5; 1.a; 1.b; 2.1; 2.2; 17.1; 17.3; 17.6; 17.9; 17.13; 17.14; 17.15; 17.16; 17.17; 17.18; 17.19 Executing Entity Turkish Red Crescent, World Food Programme (WFP) Start & End Dates 2016-Ongoing ESSN Programme aims to present an off-camp solution to the refugee influx and enable refugees to access public services. Under ESSN, monthly aid is paid through “Kizilay Card” from the national social assistance system to the most vulnerable refugees in Turkey to meet their basic needs. The card is loaded 120 TL (22 USD) every month per registered person in the family who may use it to meet their own needs such as rent, food, medicine or withdraw cash. Additional monthly assistance of 600 TL (109 USD) is provided to approximately 6,000 beneficiaries with severe disabilities. As of January 2019, with a total budget of approximately 1 billion EUR and 1.53 million beneficiaries, it is the largest humanitarian cash aid programme. It is funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Operations (ECHO). 53 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Environmental disasters related risks that may negatively affect vulnerable groups are addressed in the Climate Change Strategy covering 2010-2023. In this framework, the vulnerability of groups living below the poverty line to environmental disasters will be minimised by combating agricultural drought, developing risk maps and implementation plans related to the impact of climate change on infrastructure, health, and urbanisation. The elderly and persons with disabilities are among the groups of special focus in terms of the policies for vulnerable groups of the society. Various policies are implemented to integrate persons with disabilities into the labour force as well as remove the elderly from poverty or ease the burden on their families by means of social security and assistance services. Aimed at increasing the number of home healthcare services to the elderly without having to leave their environment and improving institutional healthcare services, YADES provides local administrations with financial support funded by the state. The number of persons with disabilities were employed in public institutions was 5,777 in 2002 and increased to 53,017 as of 2018. A quota system is in place in our country for the employment of persons with disabilities. There is an incentive scheme of insurance premiums for employers who employ persons with disabilities. Care services for persons with disabilities are delivered in various forms such as home care or care provided by public institutions as well as private healthcare institutions. In this context, 6.7 billion TL (1.39 billion USD) was spent for 500,000 people through home care services as of 2018. Care and rehabilitation services are provided at residential care institutions to persons with disabilities who have no families or cannot be cared at family home. As of March 2019, 7,017 persons with disabilities are provided with care services at 99 Barrier-Free Life Centres. For the institutional care services for persons with disabilities, transition started through the so called “home of hope” model where persons with disabilities would live in small groups at homes within the society. As of March 2019, 149 homes of hope and 99 care and rehabilitation centres were institutionalized. The number of special care centres is 249. In addition, daytime care services are provided to persons with disabilities in 48 institutions including 8 independent ones. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 1: • Analysing various types of social assistance and making the social assistance more effective, • Conducting programmes that will improve the capacities of social policy developers and implementers, • Preparing more data disaggregation concerning the poorest groups and designing policy tools based on the data in question to enable to reach out to these groups, • Developing new types of social security services and encourage adoption of flexible work to reduce shadow economy and integrate social beneficiaries into the labour force, • Creating an effective system to monitor social assistance policies and practices of local administrations and make these compatible with those of the central government. 54 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.2. SDG 2. END HUNGER, ACHIEVE FOOD SECURITY AND IMPROVED NUTRITION AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE With regard to achieving the targets listed under SDG 2, Turkey attained levels better compared to the international averages on eliminating poverty, improving income distribution, increasing agricultural production, and ending child malnutrition through the instrumentality of economic and social policies, and by the effects of the structural initiatives taken and implemented countrywide. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 2 include the National Rural Development Strategy and Action Plan, Biotechnology Strategy and Action Plan, Strategy and Action Plan for Combating Agricultural Drought in Turkey, Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 2 are as follows: • Building an agricultural sector that uses natural resources in a sustainable manner, • Ensuring reduced poverty, improved income distribution and social inclusion, • Achieving broader participation in economic activities, • Revisiting agricultural supports in terms of sustainable production, • Formulating mutually supportive healthcare and nutrition policies, • Eliminating poverty-induced food deprivation among children and support early childhood development, • Collecting periodic and interrelated data on food, healthcare and nutrition, and improving data quality, • Supporting access to food through social policies, • Improving efficiency in agricultural production, • Improving living conditions in rural areas, • Increasing effectiveness in product stock management so as to ensure food security, • Ensuring effective inspection for the safety agricultural and food products, • Addressing the size and efficiency-related problems of agricultural enterprises, • Improving agricultural insurance schemes based on risk management, • Conserving genetic resources and establishing gene banks, • Supporting agricultural research and technology development activities, • Facilitating access to the market by producers’ organisations, • Ensuring sustainable supply of domestic raw material in the food industry at competitive prices and quality. LEGISLATION Our legislation, particularly the Law on Agriculture, covers the matters of increasing income levels in rural areas, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, introducing practices to improve animal and plant health, preventing rural migration, and promoting good practices in agriculture as well as regulating and improving organic agricultural production and marketing in the framework of ensuring increased agricultural productivity and more use of resilient agricultural practices. Furthermore, promoting investment in agriculture and guaranteeing the sustainability of agricultural activities of farmers affected by natural disasters are regulated in the relevant legislation. The current legislation in Turkey also addresses maintaining ecological balance, increasing agricultural productivity through higher soil and water quality, and strengthening the structure of agricultural enterprises. Actions in connection with collection, storage, production, characterisation, evaluation, documentation and exchange of plant, animal and aquatic genetic resources to safeguard the genetic diversity of plans and animals, which is essential for agriculture are also outlined in the legislation. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 2 is assessed on three focus areas: i. Access to adequate food and meeting nutrition needs; ii. Increasing agricultural productivity and resilient agricultural practices; and iii. Conservation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. With regard to access to adequate food and meeting nutrition needs, Turkey is faced with the same problems as developing and developed countries. Since eating habits in the country tend to vary depending on regional, seasonal, socio-economic factors and differences between urban and rural areas, Turkey’s major problem areas stand out as malnutrition, nutritional quality, and over nutrition. In Turkey, only a small portion of families are inadequately nourished in terms of energy-rich nutrients. Although the total consumption of proteins per person is sufficient, most of these proteins are plant-based, whereas consumption of animal protein is rather limited. 55 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Remarkable progress was achieved in the field of improving child nutrition by virtue of practices aimed at promoting breastfeeding, supplementary feeding micronutrient supplement programmes (iron and vitamin D supplements, iodised salt). Through these programmes, the prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia in children dropped from around 30% to 6.3%, and compared to mothers, a 50% decline was achieved in the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in children.23 However, there is room for improvement to achieve lower rates of children who suffer from or are at risk for micronutrient deficiencies. In Turkey, 96% of children receive breast milk at some point during infancy (2013 TNSA). 41.6% of infants are exclusively fed breast milk in the first six months of their lives. This is above the global average of 37%.24 Significant steps were taken to protect and improve health, including healthy eating habits and regular physical activity, through the programmes on nutrition and physical activities (Nutrition-Friendly Schools Programme, regulations on school canteens, school nutrition and physical activity education, Physical Fitness and Health Scorecard etc.) The Nutrition-Friendly Schools Programme aims to promote healthy eating habits and active living, and improve school environment and student health by supporting the good practices. The number of schools holding a Nutrition-Friendly School Certificate increased steadily from 1,225 in 2016 to 3,949 in 2017, 5,730 in 2018 and 11,866 as of the first quarter of 2019. Agricultural policies and support policies in this regard have been driven by demographic changes, economic development, and targets associated with rural poverty reduction and ensuring the necessary level of dietary diversity for good nutrition as well as the EU negotiation process and Word Trade Organization (WTO) commitments. To increase the effectiveness of the support policy, a basin- based support model was adopted; a number of actions were taken to gather sound agricultural statistics and improve the agricultural inventory; and comprehensive policy documents were drawn up to create the necessary infrastructure for rural development policies. 23 MoH-Research for Identifying the Current Situation with Iron and Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants and Children between 6 to 17 Months of Age and Developing New Intervention Programmes, 2011. 24 UNICEF State of the World’s Children Report, 2012. Based on the policies outlined in the Law on Agriculture issued in 2006, support funds provided in 2018 was as high as 14.5 billion TL (3 billion USD) and increased by 13.9% annually. For 2019, the figure for agricultural support funds is expected to reach 16.1 billion TL (2.9 billion USD). Further, ongoing campaigns on food banks and prevention of food waste and loss are expected to positively contribute to achieve improved food security. With regards to increasing agricultural productivity and resilient agricultural practices, Turkey has policies in place with special focus on research, development activities to improve agriculture employment, enterprise and size efficiency. Through structural changes in agriculture and regulations on food safety, remarkable progress was achieved in the sector compared to previous periods. Of the 23.4 million hectares of agricultural lands in Turkey, only around 5 million hectares accommodate irrigated farming while the rest depends on rain fed production. Therefore, the amount of yield is heavily affected by potential decrease in rainfall. On the other hand, 70 to 75% of yearly water consumption takes place on irrigated arable lands. Therefore, the threat posed by climate change to the agricultural sector needs to be addressed. Areas where there is room for improvement include increasing agricultural production to meet the needs of the growing population. These needs associated with dietary diversity, which are satisfied through domestic production. Additionally, action are also taken to mitigate drought and other disasters related to climate change, utilization of idle arable lands to further resolve rural poverty and dissemination of technological practices that would also foster productivity. 56 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” ZERO FOOD LOSS FROM FIELD TO TABLE SDG Targets 2.1; 2.3; 2.a; 12.2; 12.3; 12.5 Executing Entity Kerevitaş Gıda San. ve Tic. A.Ş. Start & End Dates 2013-Ongoing The project aims to minimise waste of vegetables and fruits from field to table. It ensures planned production by setting the production amount and price in advance through supply and demand optimization based on contract agriculture model.Food loss is reduced through: Increasing resistance to diseases by executing the full production process from seed planting to harvesting under the control of agricultural engineers, Supplying the farmers with certified sees appropriate for the region, Harvesting the crops at the appropriate time using harvest timers, Using modern harvesting machinery to harvest the crop speedily and transport to factories, Shortening the wait and storage times at factories, Taking measures to prevent product waste during classification, sorting, washing, freezing and packaging of the products at processing plants.Further, by milling the plant leftovers arising from the production, animal fodder is produced in the quantity to feed 3,480 cattle annually. Potato leftovers are used in renewable energy generation at biogas facilities to generate 7.3 million kWh of electricity annually. Agricultural enterprises in Turkey have an average size of 59 decares, representing smaller and more fragmented land holding than many countries. In an attempt to increase operational efficiency, efforts were undertaken to increase the average size of agricultural lost through land consolidation. Additionally, legislation was introduced to prevent fragmentation of agricultural enterprises as a result of inheritance. In this context, land consolidation efforts for 6.1 million hectares of land were finalised by the end of 2018, and land registration procedures were completed for a portion of 3.6 million hectares of these lands. Apart from the lands that have been consolidated, consolidation efforts are currently underway for an additional land of 2.1 million hectares. Further, improving the social security conditions of agricultural workers, and strengthening the practices associated with land ownership and transfers to ensure higher efficiency of agricultural land utilisation stand out as priority issues. The Regulation on Good Agricultural Practices (ITU) is aimed at promoting agricultural production that is not harmful to the environment, human and animal health, preserves natural resources, and ensure reliable supply of products through traceable and sustainable agriculture. In Turkey, enterprises have been receiving ITU certificates since 2007; and production is underway in 63 provinces across a total land of 616,000 hectares as of 2018. In addition, the Environmentally-based Agricultural Land Protection Program (ÇATAK) is designed as a scheme where farmers who prefer to use environmentally friendly techniques and cultural practices are provided with land- based support payments. Implemented in 58 provinces and across a total land of 626,000 decares, the project supports the farmers for a controlled period of 3 years. The introduction of the Law on Agricultural Insurance gave momentum and a new dimension to risk management in agriculture, and paved the way for remarkable progress in practices aiming to provide insurance premium support to indemnify for farmers’ losses. Food and Agricultural Product Markets Monitoring and Evaluation Committee was established to oversee food price increases. The role of the Committee is to identify the root causes of prices increases and develop measures to address them. It contributes to the efforts to achieve and limit price volatility as part of developing policies to address the structural issues facing agricultural production. In addition, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market Registration System was introduced in 2012 to ensure that vegetable and fruit trade be centrally monitored, transactions registered, and an electronic database of sound and up-to-date information on the sector created. With regards to conservation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, in addition to the arrangements introduced by the Environment Law, a set of deterrent sanctions have been imposed, and social awareness campaigns were implemented to raise awareness in the society. Through technical, scientific and economic partnership protocols signed with many countries in the field of agriculture, the capacity of agricultural production was strengthened, and a wide range of actions were taken for the conservation of food and agricultural gene resources. In addition to the existing mechanisms, the National Gene Bank and Herbarium was established in 2010 as Turkey’s second seed gene bank. While National Starter Culture Gene Bank was established in 2017 to protect biodiversity and guarantee food security for future generations. Furthermore, work is underway to improve animal genetic resources and more studies are conducted on medicinal and aromatic plants. 57 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Registration system of all plant species and genetic resources, especially those of field crops and horticultural crops as well as authorisation and supervision of private research organisations was established. In line with scientific and technological advances, the Biosafety Law incorporates a set of principles and procedures for addressing the risks associated with genetically modified organisms, products grown using modern biotechnology, operationalising a system of biosafety to ensure sustainability, inspecting and monitoring these activities. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 2: • Increasing production and productivity to enhance self- sufficiency, enlarging enterprise sizes, • Increasing food aids for the target groups by reducing food waste and loss, • Supporting local employment of those living in rural areas to promote the continuity of agricultural production, • Increasing the efficiency of agricultural R&D services and supports, • Developing legislation to preserve genetic resources and biodiversity, • Employing agricultural production methods adapting to new technologies and changing climatic conditions, • Taking account of agricultural production cost-income balance in support payments, • Helping producers thriving in the sector and increasing their productivity through agricultural training and extension activities, • Facilitating organisation of small agricultural enterprises in particular to ensure more efficient production and better access to the market, • Meeting basic nutrition requirements of vulnerable segments, • Fostering the sustainability of agricultural labour force by supporting youth and women, • Enhancing coordination and cooperation on food-healthcare- nutrition policies, • Improving the infrastructure for agricultural statistics. 58 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.3. SDG 3. ENSURE HEALTHY LIVES AND PROMOTE WELL-BEING FOR ALL AT ALL AGES In the framework of the Health Transformation Programme implemented in Turkey since the early 2000s, major changes and reforms have been achieved in terms of physical infrastructure, service quality, access to services and financial support in the field of healthcare. Through these developments, there has been substantial progress in all indicators under each target, and SDG 3 stands out as one of the goals on which Turkey has made most progress. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 3 include the Obesity Prevention and Control Programme and National Action Plan, National Cancer Control Programme, National Action Plan on Mental Health, Rational Medicinal Drug Use Action Plan, Turkish Pharmaceutical Sector Strategy and Action Plan, National Tobacco Control Strategy and Action Plan, National Anti-Drug Strategy and Action Plan, Non-Communicable Diseases Multi-Stakeholder Action Plan, Healthy Ageing Action Plan and Implementation Programme, Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan, and Road Safety Implementation Policy Document. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 3 are as follows: • Improving mental health, • Protecting and improving maternal, child and adolescent health, • Improving reproductive health and awareness, • Combating communicable diseases and risk factors, • Promoting healthy lifestyles to prevent non-communicable diseases, • Strengthening preventive healthcare services, • Increasing awareness, facilitating access to treatment and rehabilitation services, scaling up social integration mechanisms, in the context of combating drug addiction, • Focusing the policies and practices particularly on children and youth to reduce the use of tobacco and tobacco products, • Ensuring rational use of medicinal drugs, • Increasing the quality of healthcare services, • Ensuring accessible, quality, cost-effective and sustainable provision of healthcare services, • Enhancing the physical infrastructure for healthcare services in terms of quality and quantity, • Strengthening healthcare human resources and improving their qualifications, • Developing data and evidence-based healthcare policies, and to this end, generating quality and standardised data that would allow for international comparative studies. LEGISLATION The current legislation involves regulations aimed at preventing health risks, and equal, accessible, quality, rapid and efficient provision of healthcare services across the country. In this context, preventive, protective, treatment and rehabilitating mechanisms are addressed holistically to improve health, with protective and preventive measures in priority. Further, the legislation includes restrictions, prohibitions and sanctions regarding the production, transport, use and sale of potentially addictive substances as part of the efforts to combat substance abuse. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 3 is addressed under three main themes: i. Programmes for preventive healthcare services and ii. Improving healthcare service provision and infrastructure. With regard to programs for preventive healthcare services and promoting healthy lifestyles, comprehensive policies are in place in Turkey in the fields of maternal-child health; combating communicable and non-communicable diseases; mental health; alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse; and reproductive health. 59 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” There are many ongoing projects including particularly those implemented under the Health Transformation Programme. A significant portion of these projects eventually became permanent components of the overall structure after being integrated as major reforms. Programmes for immunisation, antenatal care, reproductive health, school milk, nutrition- friendly school, cancer control and combating communicable and non-communicable diseases may be listed as examples of these projects. Through the improvements in neonatal screening-care programme implemented as part of antenatal and postnatal care services, neonatal mortality rate decreased to 5.8 per 1,000 live births, infant mortality rate to 9.2 per thousand, and under-5 mortality rate to 11.2 per thousand in 2017. Maternal mortality ratio is 14.6 per 100,000 live births. On all these targets, the global goal for 2030 has already been exceeded. Designed to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates, Mother-Friendly Hospital Programme and Guest Mother Project were launched to monitor pregnant and puerperant women, and ensure that all births take place at hospitals, and under safe conditions. Hospitals fulfilling 10 specific criteria are granted the title of “Mother-Friendly Hospital”. In addition, the Guest Mother Project involves hosting women going through a high-risk pregnancy in safe places. As of January 2019, 54 hospitals were named as “Mother-Friendly Hospital”. The Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) is aimed at combating Pertussis, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Measles, Rubella, Mumps, Tuberculosis, Poliomyelitis, Hepatitis-B, Hepatitis-A, Pneumococcus, Chickenpox, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and preventing infant and child deaths and related disabilities caused by these diseases. All infants are given free vaccines in accordance with the immunisation schedule. The term “expanded” refers to administering vaccines to unvaccinated or partially vaccinated infants and children as soon as they are identified by also underlining the importance of homogenously disseminating this practice across the country. Significant efforts are undertaken jointly with local administrations to combat communicable diseases. As an example, Metropolitan Municipality of Mersin as well as District Municipalities of Besiktas, Konak, Nilüfer, Sisli and Çankaya have created voluntary testing and counselling centres. Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are becoming the main cause of death, as opposed to communicable diseases, not only in Turkey, but also globally. In Turkey, the share of NCDs in total disease burden was 69.7% in 2002, and rose to 82% in 2017. Activities aimed at reducing the risk factors of NCDs are undertaken as part of the Healthy Life and Activity Priority Transformation Programme. Work is undertaken to assess risks of cardio-vascular conditions, and monitor hypertension and diabetes at primary healthcare level in respect of NCD early diagnosis, treatment and process management. The Healthy Nutrition and Active Life Programme, Diabetics Programme and Reduction of Excessive Salt Consumption Programme are underway to promote healthy lifestyles, nutrition and active life habits, and to prevent obesity. Counselling services on healthy nutrition and obesity treatment are also provided at Healthy Life Centres and some Public Health Centres. In 2018, 235,000 persons received such counselling services. The Health Risk Screening Programme launched in 2018 involves personal health screening practices for specific age, sex and risk groups to prevent potential diseases before they arise. In this context, the Programme includes tests on blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and fat levels, ECG (electrocardiogram), urinalysis as well as liver and kidney function tests. While there were 155 Cancer Early Diagnosis, Screening and Training Centres back in 2015, the number of these centres rose to 166 in 2017. Efforts are underway to further increase the number of these centres. Implemented since 2010 aiming to prevent malnutrition among children, the Nutrition-Friendly Schools Programme became permanent in 2016. Following the introduction of this programme, the sale of unhealthy foods in school canteens were prohibited. Community Mental Health Centres were opened for the first time in 2014 to ensure that psychological counselling services were available to patients with psychological disorders as part of primary healthcare services. Currently there are 163 centres operating across the country. A range of actions were taken to prevent drug and tobacco addiction, and reduce deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents. As a growing issue, drug addiction is not only a social problem but also a major health threat. In this context, the National Anti-Drug Urgent Action Plan was launched in 2015 to keep the society away from all forms of substance abuse, and then the National Anti-Drug Strategy and Action Plans were introduced for the period through 2023. 60 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” There are ongoing efforts to increase the number and enhance the quality of treatment centres where drug addicts are rehabilitated through medical and psychosocial interventions. There were 3 Addiction Treatment Centres for Children and Adolescents (ÇEMATEM) in 2014 and rose to 9 in 2019; 24 Residential Alcohol and Substance Addiction Treatment Centres (AMATEM) were functional in 2014, this number rose to 39 in 2018, with a total residential bed capacity increasing from 710 to 1,158. In addition to residential treatment centres, 66 outpatient centres also provide addiction treatment services. The project Anti-Addiction Training being implemented since 2014 undertakes education and instruction activities to raise awareness in the society particularly including students on tobacco, alcohol, substance and technology addictions. Local administrations are also involved in anti-drug efforts. For example, Metropolitan Municipality of Sakarya developed a Provincial Anti-Drug Action Plan, and provided training to 3,198 individuals. Municipality of Edirne is implementing an Anti-Drug Project in partnership with the Provincial Police Department. As part of the project “No to Drug Addition in Tuzla” led by the Municipality and District Governorate of Tuzla, and supported by non-governmental initiatives, voluntary awareness campaigns were undertaken and, 198 training programmes were organised where 311 volunteers trained 7,326 people. Turkey was one the first countries to sign the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2004. In this regard, through the legislation introduced in 2008, the number of places where consuming tobacco products were prohibited were increased and “all closed public spaces” were covered under the prohibition. Further, the National Tobacco Control Programme (2008-2012), National Tobacco Control Action Plan (2015-2018) and Tobacco Control Strategy and Action Plan (2018-2023) is under implementation. In addition, through a new legislative action, the standards on the packaging of tobacco products were revised, and a number of additional restrictions were imposed on the places of sale as well as domains of printed, visual and social media. The political will, notably the President of the Republic, central and local governments, NGOs and press are strongly committed to and engaged in combating tobacco. In addition to the preventive activities, Helpline 171 for Smokers offers support to tobacco users and free services are offered in clinics to help people to quit smoking. With its efforts, Turkey sets an example for the rest of the world. Despite all these achievements in the field of health, there is still room for improvement in preventing non-communicable diseases, provision of preventive healthcare services and addressing the health problems of growing elderly population in Turkey as in other countries. There are ongoing efforts to take measures to reduce loss of lives and property due to road accidents, a major socio-economic issue that needs addressing. In spite of the improvements in highway standards and the positive impact of the rapid progress in the construction of divided highways, mortality rate is higher than the average figure of developed countries. With regard to improving healthcare service provision and infrastructure, there have been major strides in the field of healthcare labour force, funding of investments and services, universal health coverage, and access to medicines. Through the positive outcomes achieved as part of the Health Transformation Programme, remarkable progress was made in terms of physical infrastructure and human resources. Although the number of hospital beds per ten thousand patients was 26.6 in 2015, this number rose to 27.9 in 2017. In addition, the share of quality beds in the total number of hospital beds was 67.7 in 2017, representing an increase from 59.7% in 2015. Through the surge in the number of physicians, nurses and other healthcare staff across the country, the number of medical professionals per person is now close to that of developed countries. Although total number of physicians and nurses/midwives per 100,000 people were 179 and 261 respectively in 2015, these figures rose to 186 and 272 in 2017. The number of primary healthcare institutions increased and the infrastructure of emergency services was substantially enhanced compared to 2015 when 21,696 Family Practice Units and 6,902 Family Health Centres existed which increased to 25,198 and 7,774 respectively. As of 2017, there was one family practitioner per 3,481 persons. However, the desired level in terms of average number of patients per family practitioner has yet to be achieved, and there is still need for a balanced distribution among provinces. 61 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” HOME DELIVERY OF HEALTHCARE SERVICES SDG Targets 3.8 Executing Entity Ministry of Health Start & End Dates 2010-Ongoing Medical examination, analyses, treatment, care, monitoring and rehabilitation services, including social and psychological counselling services, are provided at own living spaces of individuals who are restricted to bed and/or home due to physical or mental conditions. In addition, patients’ relatives are trained on care. Such services ensure that patients receive quality services, reduce risk of infection, accelerate recovery, and increase the quality of life, satisfaction and comfort of both patients and families. The programme ensures sustainability of services in cooperation with the central and local governments. As of 2018 end, 1,600 service teams reached out 1.25 million patients. The target is to reach 1,800 service teams and 1.35 million patients in 2019. To guarantee access to healthcare services as a fundamental human right, Universal Health Insurance Scheme (GSS) was introduced in 2006. Universal Health Coverage implementation started in 2012 with the payments of the GSS premiums by the state for those who could not afford it. Major progress was made in the preventive and therapeutic healthcare services to refugees and migrants with the same quality and access conditions as Turkish nationals. In this regard, improvements are made for the provision of primary and secondary healthcare services, TACs are established and MHCs as well in the places densely populated by migrants. In 29 provinces, a total of 688 migrant health units opened in 178 MHCs which also employ foreign healthcare staff. “Regulation on Work Permits of Foreigners under Temporary Protection” and “Regulation Amending the Working Principles and Procedures for Foreign Professionals Employed in Private Healthcare Institutions” were issued to allow healthcare staff from the same nationalities as the refugees to work in these centres. The e-Pulse application, launched in 2015, is a personal medical record system that provides citizens with access to their medical histories through online and mobile devices. Through the e-Pulse system, medical professionals may access the medical records of patients, which helps increase the quality and rapidness of diagnosis and treatment processes, once authorization granted by the respective patient. Rational Medicinal Drug Use Action Plan, implemented in 2014-2017, aimed to raise awareness among healthcare staff and the public, to monitor the quality and the use of drugs and medical devices as well as the effectiveness of spending on them. One of the key objectives of the Action Plan was to reduce the use of antibiotics. During the implementation of the Action Plan, the daily dosage of antibiotic use per 1000 persons decreased from 40.5 in 2015 to 35.3 in 2017, respectively. The Health Institutes of Turkey was established in 2014 to strengthen and drive R&D activities in the field of health. Tasked with coordination of pricing, public procurement, public support funds, commercial and medical technology policies, data management and dialogue with the private sector, the Healthcare Industries Steering Committee was set up in 2015. In line with the holistic approach taken towards basic healthcare services, the Programme for Promoting Multi- Stakeholder Engagement in Health was launched in 2014. It adopted a multi-stakeholder approach to engage all relevant actors in healthcare. The first phase of the programme focused on preventive healthcare and services for improving well-being while the second phase was designed to mobilise therapeutic and rehabilitative healthcare services. Metropolitan Municipalities of Istanbul, Kahramanmaras and many other municipalities offer home-based healthcare services and elderly support programmes. In addition, Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul provided 1,200,985 times home-based nursing care services until today. As part of healthcare funding, efforts are underway to increase the share of the private sector in the field of healthcare. As of 2017, 37% of all hospitals were privately owned; and the number of private hospitals rose from 47,143 in 2016 to 49,200 in 2017. Health-Disaster Coordination Centre (SAKOM) was established to mitigate and manage risks related to external factors associated with disasters on health. SAKOM made a major progress achieved in this field. National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE), composed of specialised volunteer medical professionals, offers emergency medical care and rescue services in times of extraordinary circumstances and natural disasters. The number of volunteer medical professionals and the quality of its medical teams specialising in different branches that makes UMKE one of the world’s leading medical rescue organisations. 62 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 3: • Keeping up the valuable efforts undertaken in the field of maternal, child and adolescent health, • Scaling up training programmes aimed at improving reproductive health and raise awareness, • Combating communicable diseases and risk factors, increasing the number of partnerships with local administrations in this field, • Developing programmes and expanding services to promote preventive healthcare services and healthy lifestyles, • Increasing awareness, facilitating access to treatment and rehabilitation services, and scaling up social integration mechanisms in the context of combating drug addiction, • Developing projects to reduce the use of tobacco and tobacco products, • Improving the quality of healthcare service provision, scaling up services such as family practice, • Enhancing the physical infrastructure for healthcare services in terms of quality and quantity, • Generating data at international standards and quality to develop data and evidence-based healthcare policies, • Effectively maintaining the efforts in multiple sectors to combat non-communicable diseases, • Increasing the employment and qualifications of healthcare professions considering demand and supply, • Raising awareness among healthcare staff and the public on rational medicinal drug use, and reducing the use of antibiotics. 63 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.4. SDG 4. ENSURE INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE QUALITY EDUCATION AND PROMOTE LIFELONG LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL Turkey has in recent years made significant progress in access to education and increase in the quality of education via improved teachers’ qualifications. In the education system, a transformational programme is implemented to develop personalities and abilities of individuals through equal opportunities. Ensuring access to inclusive and quality education based on equal opportunities and lifelong learning facilities is one of the most important policies in achieving all SDGs, namely reducing poverty, qualified employment, and realising economic growth. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 4 include MoNE Strategy and Action Plan, Lifelong Learning Strategy, Vocational and Technical Education Strategy and Action Plan, Vision 2023, Teacher Strategy, and National Employment Strategy and Action Plan. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 4 are as follows: • Increasing the schooling rate at all levels of education, • Ensuring access to school and equal opportunities in education for all children, particularly for those with disabilities and girls, • Enhancing the quality in education, especially in the fields of teacher qualifications, educational environment, curricula, and institutional capacity, • Ensuring the integration of technology with education, • Expanding and implementing preschool education with a holistic approach, • Meeting physical infrastructure and teacher needs in preschool education, • Developing vocational education programmes of such quality and type as needed by the labour market, and adjust the content of secondary and higher education accordingly, • Focusing on applied training in raising skilled labour force, • Increasing skill-building and vocational activities, • Maintaining a quality-focused transformation process based on equal opportunities that strengthens the coherence with the labour market in the framework of lifelong learning approach, • Increasing lifelong learning opportunities for vulnerable segments, • Preventing early dropouts in education, reduce absenteeism, and ensure individuals out of education return to education, • Strengthening human and physical infrastructure to ensure that persons with disabilities in need of special education and gifted individuals receive education in suitable settings in line with inclusive education, • Increasing the share of private sector in education financing, • Ensuring continuous personal and professional development of teachers. LEGISLATION Our legislation includes regulations in place to ensure the right to access free and quality education based on equal opportunities. As per the Basic Law on National Education, each individual, regardless of gender, has equal right to access to quality education in educational institutions. Our legislation provides facilities including free boarding, scholarship, education fee and loan aids to students with financial limitations, to receive education up to the highest education levels. Our legislation also has regulations in place to ensure that individuals, who have significant differences in their individual and developmental characteristics and educational capacities from the expected level from their peers, have equal access to education with specifically trained personnel, as well as enhanced education programmes and methods in suitable settings. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 4 is assessed on three focus areas: i. Access to quality education; ii. Equal opportunities for education; and iii. Vocational education and lifelong learning. To ensure quality education, schooling rates were increased, human and physical infrastructure improved and the number of students per classroom reduced, the curriculum updated, special attention was given for in-service training of teachers, and funds increased for all levels of education. The number of students and net schooling rates were improved through the increased duration of compulsory education first to 8 years, then to 12 years between 2000-2016. Additionally, students were enabled to attend open education in secondary school. 64 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” As a result of the increase in access opportunities, the average education duration increased to 7.6 years while expected years of schooling increased to 17.7 years. With the impact of the efforts, practices and projects undertaken for purposes of the access to education, the net schooling rate which was 91% in primary education and 50.6% in secondary education in the academic year of 2002- 2003 was increased to 96.1% and 83.6% respectively in the academic year of 2017-2018. The access to higher education also increased and the net schooling rate in formal education for age 18-22 increased to 45.6% as of the academic year of 2017-2018. With 16 public and 4 foundation universities founded in 2018, the total number of universities increased to 207 and that of higher education students exceeded 8 million. Thus, it became the second country with the highest number of students in higher education in Europe. As a result of the efforts to expand early childhood education, there was significant progress in the access to preschool education. The net pre-schooling rate which was 11.7% for ages 4 and 5 in the academic year of 2002-2003 increased to 50.4% in the academic year of 2017-2018. The transition is in progress from double-shift instruction to full-day instruction to increase the quality in education. The rates of primary school, lower secondary school, and secondary school students who were in full-day instruction in 2013-2014 were 43%, 49%, and 76.5%, respectively and increased to 58.7%, 66.4%, and 93.2% respectively in 2017- 2018. With new classrooms commissioned recently, there has been significant improvement in terms of the quantity of learning settings. The number of students per classroom which was 39 in primary education and 27 in secondary education in the academic year of 2002-2003 decreased to 24 and 21 respectively in the academic year of 2017-2018. Steps were taken to increase the access and continuously improve the quality in all schools regardless of school type to reduce the quality difference between schools. The Education Vision 2023 involving a transition from quantity to quality in education was published. The Higher Education Quality Board was founded in 2018 as an administratively and financially autonomous body to internalise and expand the culture of quality across higher educational institutions. For purposes of improving the education processes, the number of teachers was increased, the Teacher Strategy and Teacher Competences Framework published, performance system efforts initiated, and education programmes updated at all levels in line with needs. All schools across the country have access to basic utilities including water, hygiene, electricity, internet etc. White Flag Certificate was institutionalised to encourage sanitation and hygiene at formal and non-formal educational institutions as well as to improve overall school health. The White Flag Certification was awarded to 5,943 schools in 2016, 10,810 schools in 2017 and 9,340 schools in 2018. In 2017, the System of Standards for Preschool and Primary Educational Institutions was formed to assess service offered in pre-schools and primary schools based on minimum specified criteria, collect data, and use findings in rehabilitative efforts. School administrators, teachers, parents and children assess the quality of educational services provided through this system. The education programmes were renewed to convey values including justice, peace, friendship, respect and love to students under relevant disciplines in 2016 by MoNE. Strengthening Democratic Culture in Primary Education project initiated in 2018 aims to incorporate a democratic school culture involving the universal fundamental values concerning students, school personnel and families as well as fundamental rights and freedoms into the education system, and to strengthen democratic culture practices across society. In September 2018, a cooperation protocol was signed between the Ministries of National Education, of Interior, and of Family, Labour and Social Services to enhance safety in schools and surroundings. “Come Out, Let’s Play” project launched in 2010 by MoNE in cooperation with NGOs. Within the framework of the project playgrounds at school premises were constructed that allowed children to improve their creativity and communication skills. During the implementation period of the project, that took place between 2010-2014, playgrounds were established in 500 schools located in 50 provinces. Starting from 2014, annual education financial support was allocated to students attending private schools for all levels of 65 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” education. During the academic calendar year 2017-2018, 8.3% of the educational services were provided by private sector. Such contribution increased by 13% compared to the previous period. Turkey implements mobility in education under bilateral agreements and cooperation with international organisations. Under the EU Education and Youth Programmes, more than 27,000 projects and more than 427,000 participants benefited from Erasmus programmes in 2004-2016. Erasmus+ Programme being implemented in 2014-2020 period offers aids for school education, higher education, vocational education, adult education, and youth as well as grants for projects on sports. Students with scholarships are sent abroad for master’s and doctorate degrees in return for compulsory service with the aim of supplying skilled human resource to universities and public institutions under the International Postgraduate Scholarship Programme. Under Mevlana Exchange Programme, students and instructors are benefiting from the domestic and foreign higher educational institutions exchange programme. Turkey provides international scholarships to student to gain from and contribute to global knowledge, establish networks and build mutual relationships. The program received a total of approximately 10,000 applications in 2012 when it was launched and exceeded 100,000 applications in 2018. About 4000 students annually were awarded with scholarship, while the number of applicant countries also almost doubled in the same period of time. Regarding equal opportunities for education; our legislation guarantees the right to education of all individuals regardless of gender, language, race, disability or religion and without privileging any individual or class. The net schooling rate in secondary education level which was 39.2% for girls and 48.5% for boys in the academic year of 2000-2001 increased to 83.4% for girls and 83.8% for boys in the 2017- 2018 academic year. Private sector and NGOs’ projects and campaigns significantly contributed to this progress while also supported the extention of the compulsory education’s duration. Efforts are underway to strengthen human, physical infrastructure adapted for students with disabilities. Reading and writing devices enable the translation of written documents into Braille alphabet are now in practice to enable visually impaired people to access to the educational materials. As of 2018, 40% of the schools (1,200 in number) were adapted for students with disabilities; it is aimed to increase this number to 2,000 by 2023. Free transport and lunch services are offered to students with special needs to ensure their educational continuity. Special educational programs delivered in 22 potential employment fields in the vocational schools ensures that the graduated student gain a profession which allows them an easy integrations into the working community. Since 2003, course books have been distributed free of charge at the primary and secondary education levels. Additionally, approximately 365,000 students were provided with accommodation at 3,053 boarding facilities in 2017-2018. It is aimed to expand the boarding facilities across the country for all children in need is expanded to reduce transportation needs to schools and to minimize students’ dropout living under unfavourable conditions. Transportation services are provided for students living in remoted areas to ease their access to primary and secondary education. 1.4 million students benefited from the said practice during the 2017-2018 academic year. Satellite-based internet connections in 15,103 schools and 432,288 blackboards were provided to ensure access technology for all students. In addition, satellite-based internet connections are provided to 2,600 schools to enable particularly the vulnerable segments to access technology. In line with the principle of equal opportunities for all, several projects are implemented by public, private sector and NGOs to ensure compulsory education age group benefits from free and quality primary and secondary education and support individuals who drop out of education early to continue their education. The Inclusive Early Childhood Education Project for Children with Disabilities was launched in 2017 to support children with disabilities in participating in social life with children who do not have disabilities, by means of quality and inclusive education from early childhood till the end of 1st grade. Efforts are made to enable children of school age who are under temporary protection in our country to benefit from education services. The schooling rate of Syrian children of 66 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” school age which was 37% in February 2016 increased to 60% in December 2016. As of April 2019, approximately 545,000 Syrian students were receiving quality education with equal opportunities as their Turkish peers from preschool till the 12th grade. Under a specifically designed programme, education delivered in their native language in cities intensively and collectively habited by Syrians and in TACs.25 HELLO HOPE SDG Targets 4.5 - 4.6 - 4.7 -10.2 Executing Entity Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. Start & End Dates 2015-Ongoing The project Hello Hope aims to enable those whose mother tongue is Arabic including particularly Syrians in Turkey to learn basic Turkish. The language course content was developed in cooperation with the Turkish Red Crescent. Hello Hope is a mobile application that helps to learn Turkish, establish contact, access news in Arabic and location information of important places nearby. A tab of Useful Information is also included with contribution from the Turkish Red Crescent on questions and answers on life in Turkey, access to public services, education and healthcare. With contributions from Daily Sabah Arabic newspaper, the application also allows access to Arabic news of the recent 2 days. Hello Hope technology centre was commissioned at K.Maras Temporary Accommodation Centre in cooperation with AFAD and Prodea, where children were also trained on technology. Hello Hope digital application has been downloaded by approximately 1 million people to date, and is being used actively by approximately 30,000 people weekly. The project gives Syrian children and adults opportunities to learn Turkish and adapt to life in Turkey. For purposes of vocational education and lifelong learning, focus is placed on improving the education-employment-production relation and increasing employability of individuals of various educational backgrounds and age groups by improving their knowledge, skills and competences. In this framework, practices are developed for vocational education and lifelong learning. Increasing the quality of vocational education to raise qualified labour force that is demanded by businesses is one of the main priorities of Education Vision 2023. In the academic year of 2017-2018, 35% of students in secondary education studied in vocational and technical secondary educational institutions. Of those students, 43.8% were girls and 56.2% were boys. The number of teachers provided educational support was 145,511. In the academic year of 2018-2019, educational activities continue with 134,870 teachers and 1,538,019 students in 3,753 vocational and technical secondary education schools. Skill-building training and internships for students in real work environment is key for qualified vocational education. State incentive financially compensate businesses for payment of students’ internships. It is also ensured that vocational and technical secondary education students are insured against work accidents and occupational diseases during their internships. The project 300 Vocational High Schools for 300 OIZs was launched in 2017 to develop human resources needed in line with science, technology and industry policies. The project’s aim is to establish minimum 300 technical high schools in 300 OIZs and educate qualified sub-professionals through theoretical and practical training programmes applied in those technical high schools. Lifelong learning programmes and campaigns are implemented to enable individuals to make up their educational shortages, adapt to scientific, technological, social, and cultural developments, and acquire necessary knowledge and skills for purposes of 25 See Chapter 4.4. 67 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” in-service and professional development. As of 2017, 34% of women and 14.6% of men of age 15-24 have neither education nor employment in Turkey. For the purposes of lifelong learning, 7 million people participated in approximately 340,000 courses opened, advanced technical schools for girls opened and PECs provided by MoNE in 2017. Of those courses, 57% is for general purposes while 43% is for vocational and technical purposes. 59% of participants were women. Concerning lifelong education, local administrations which closely follow the needs of citizens undertake extensive and effective activities. Easily accessible training programmes are organised by all segments of the society particularly including the disadvantaged. In 2017, approximately 1.8 million people with 56.5% women participated in 24,822 courses that was opened by municipalities. 2019 was declared as the Year of Volunteering and the Volunteering Strategy was launched to contribute to personal, vocational and social development of youth to enable them to become self-confident, entrepreneurial, active and participatory citizens in all aspects of social life. Vocational education programmes are implemented for arrested, convicted ones, people released under probations and former convicts referred by the protection committees in the penal institutions. More than 4,000 students in 25 countries received training on vocational knowledge and new technologies with the support of 272 teachers in 20 different vocations as part of international collaboration. Industries digital transformation should go hand by hand with the improved educational program to properly respond and align the labor market needs. Additionally, special focus should be given to basic sciences including science and technology, engineering and mathematics while also assessing the potential competitive sectors, which will ensure the decrease of unemployment rate. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 4: • Improving the career guidance system to make vocational counselling more effective, • Cooperating more effectively with the business world to create vocational education programmes in secondary education, • Strengthening the interaction between vocational education and the labour market, develop collaboration between schools and businesses, • Diversifying the early childhood education service with alternative and flexible programmes with the aim to include disadvantaged groups, especially rural and low-population settlements, • Promoting education approaches such as “STEM+A” across all education levels to strengthen the research sprit, innovation, and creativity, • Adapting higher education and vocational education programmes so as to enhance digital technologies-related skills and innovation competences of the labour force and strengthening entrepreneurial approaches, • Providing free access up to a certain monthly quota to the Educational Cyber Network (EBA) to enable all citizens to benefit free of charge from digital educational content, • Providing satellite-based internet connections to 5,100 schools to enable particularly the vulnerable segments to access technology, • Organising awareness-raising and skill-building training regarding literacies which are among the 21st century skills such as digital, finance, health, ecology and social media for all segments of the society and business world. 68 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.5. SDG 5. ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS In Turkey, empowering women in its all dimensions including economic, social and cultural aspects and ensuring their active contribution to development is considered an essential component of our human-centred development approach. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 5 include Women’s Empowerment Strategy and its Action Plan for empowering all women and girls, National Action Plan on Combating Violence against Women, National Action Plan for the Empowerment of Rural Women. Further, measures for empowering women were also incorporated to the policy documents on employment, information society, healthcare and entrepreneurship. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 5 are as follows: • Achieving 100% schooling and graduation rates by eliminating the differences between girls and boys varying by provinces and regions, • Increasing employment rates of women and ensuring that they are employed in safe and good jobs with equal wages for work of equal value and without any form of discrimination, • Harmonising work and domestic life and developing accessible, widespread and high-quality care service infrastructure to increase women’s participation in economic life, • Promoting women’s entrepreneurship, • Increasing digital literacy rates of women and girls, • Increasing the ratio of women represented in politics and decision-making mechanisms, • Addressing and preventing violence in its all dimensions and increasing the institutional capacity of units providing services in this field, • Implementing deterring penal sanctions to prevent early and forced marriages and mainstreaming family education services and increasing their efficiency, • Raising awareness of the media on their responsibility regarding violence. LEGISLATION Comprehensive regulations were enacted in The Constitution, Turkish Criminal Code, Turkish Civil Code, Labour Law, and Law on Family Protection and Preventing Violence Against Women in the context of ensuring gender equality on marriage and family life, work life, preventing abuse and violence against women, early and forced marriages, empowering women and their acquisition of property and inheritance. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 5 is assessed on four focus areas: i. Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women; ii. Prevention of violence and abuse against women; iii. Promotion of opportunities for women to participate in social, political and economic spheres; and iv. Reproductive health and rights. In the context of eliminating all forms of discrimination against women substantial progress was made in terms of eliminating gender inequality in the last two decades in Turkey. In 2009, the Equal Opportunities Commission was established in TGNA to improve equal opportunities for women and men at the level of legal implementation and ensure efficient parliamentary supervision. In Turkey, the principle of gender equality was strengthened with the amendments made in the Constitution in 2001, 2004 and 2010. These amendments covered the provisions for ensuring equal rights for women and men, the government’s obligation to ensure this equality and family union based on equality between the spouses. Other regulations and particularly amendments in the Turkish Civil Code safeguard gender equality without any gender discrimination in terms of women’s property rights and their access to economic resources. The amendments of the Turkish Civil Code stipulated a regime of participation in acquired properties, where each spouse has equal rights on each property which is acquired during the marriage instead of the property division regime which means, upon divorce, each spouse would receive the property registered under her/his sole name. 69 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Further work is underway to improve the legislation with provisions in the Labour Law for preventing gender discrimination including the prohibition of discriminative actions directly or indirectly due to gender or pregnancy when signing, implementing and terminating labour contracts and prohibition of offering women lower pay for the same jobs due to their gender. In Turkey, current laws safeguard women’s access to economic resources, acquire and control land and other types of property, financial services, inheritance and access to natural resources. In this respect, practices need improvement. The preparatory work is underway for the project “Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” to mainstream gender equality in all stages of budget processes of the central and local governments. In the context of preventing abuse and violence against women, Turkey was the first country to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). The Law on Family Protection and Preventing Violence Against Women, which was adopted in 2012, elaborated the preventive and protective measures that could be taken with regard to the protected person and the perpetrator or potential perpetrator of violence. The protected person may benefit from the services including identification of accommodation, temporary financial aid, psychological, occupational, legal and social support, direct temporary protection and access to nurseries. In urgent situations, law enforcement chiefs may take protective measures without searching for any evidence and document. A number of amendments were made in 2014 with an aim to increase the penalties for sexual crimes. The number of Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centres (SONIM), which provided support and monitoring services to prevent violence and ensure efficient implementation of protective and preventive measures since 2012, reached 80 as of June 2019. The project Women Guesthouses for Combating Domestic Violence implemented between 2014-2016, strengthened the efforts to combat violence against women in 26 provinces through improved support services to victims of violence. Under the project, training programmes were organised for the staff of units which served women exposed to violence, and efforts were made to ensure standardization of the services to be provided. The number and capacity of Women’s Shelters have also been increased to ensure easy and quick access of female victims of violence and their children. Specialisation efforts continued in order to provide more efficient services to the different groups of needs. Currently, there are 114 women’s shelters (with 3,454-person capacity in total) which work with the central and local governments and NGOs to provide services. Models for more specialised women’s shelters were developed; the guide for service standards was prepared and piloted in Ankara. Activities are continued to mainstream these practices across the country. In the context of promoting opportunities for women’s participation in social, political and economic life, the legislation adopted in 1934 provided the right to vote and stand for election to women. In our country, it is of major importance for political parties to give more space to women in their decision-making bodies as part of their gender-responsiveness policies. Since 1935, when female candidates stood for election for the first time, 712 members of parliament have been women out of 12,416 members (5.7%). In the 2018 General Elections, the number of female deputies was 104 and the ratio of female deputies in the parliament was 17.45%. This number and ratio for the male deputies were 492 and 82.55% respectively. As of February 2019, the women’s participation rate in the labour force was 34% and in employment was 28.3% for the age group 15+ in Turkey, and these rates varied by level of education. The highest participation rate of labour was 73% for university graduates. Although the ratio of women in management increased to 16.7% in 2019 from 12.2% in 2012, this is still smaller than one-fourth of male managers. Projects are undertaken to empower rural women socio- economically, increase diversity of activities and generate income. Rural women are also supported to establish cooperatives. Women entrepreneurship is promoted in agriculture-based businesses. Training programmes are delivered to increase the knowledge and skills of female farmers and the volume of quality products. In 2018, 95,185 female farmers received socio-economic development training programme and 2,881 female farmers received cooperative system training in the scope of 12,273 activities conducted to empower rural women in terms of their social and economic status and ensure that they are no longer unpaid family workers. As of January 2019, there are 49 Agricultural Development Cooperatives established by women with predominantly female partners. 70 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” In this context, the “Programme for Strengthening Women Entrepreneurship in Agriculture” launched in 2015 is an example. Under this programme, certified and practical entrepreneurship training programmes were delivered to rural women with potential to be entrepreneurs in cooperation with ISKUR/KOGSEB and help them develop project with a business idea. A total of 4,211 female farmers received training on farming in 63 provinces in 2014-2018 with 2,060 female farmers in 29 provinces. It is of major importance to support women entrepreneurship in these fields, providing necessary incentives in terms of technology and mechanisation depending on the size of business and developing special training programmes for women. INNOVATIONS FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN THE SOUTHEAST ANATOLIA SDG Targets 5.1 – 5.4 – 5.5 – 5.a -1.4 – 1.5 – 1.a – 1.b -8.2 – 8.3 – 8.5 – 8.8 – 17.13 – 17.14 – 17.16 – 17.17 Executing Entity GAP Regional Development Administration, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and UNDP Start & End Dates 2008 – 2017 The project aims to empower women through building personal and social capacities, and management skills at enterprise level, increasing opportunities for entrepreneurship, employment and income while creating and sustaining a regional brand. Support was provided to 44 CATOMs and 10 local enterprises on capacity-building, market connection, procurement of equipment and raw materials etc. Training was delivered to 1,012 women and 391 workshops organized drew 422 women under the project. The factory built in Kilis employs 3,000 women workers hired through CATOMs, and provides daycare services to working women. Koton Handicraft Collection was created through which 6,500 women manufactured products and earned income. Argande products are on sale at Mudo stores and online. The project is an example of inclusive business model and was included in the G20 Inclusive Business Models Update Report (2018) as one of the projects from Turkey. Through Argande initiative, Batman become a significant centre for the apparel industry. The project particularly contributed to the vulnerable segments in terms of eradication of poverty and women’s empowerment with future expansion. The use and production of technology contribute to economy, support women’s active participation in life by facilitating their access to information in their lives and increase the safety of women in regions at risk. As of 2018, while the rates of computer and internet use among men in the age group of 16- 74 were 68.6% and 80.4% respectively, these rates were 50.6 and 65.5% for women. In terms of use and production of technology, there are also differences among women based on their living conditions, place of residence, age and education. It is necessary to develop policies considering these differences and training programmes should be mainstreamed with digital literacy. In the context of reproductive health and rights, legal regulations on sexual health and reproductive health were included in various laws and regulations including the 71 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Constitution and international agreements and penal clauses provided against the breach of these rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was also adopted by Turkey, safeguarded all individuals’ right to decide on whether and when they would have a child and parallel regulations ensured that it was incorporated into our domestic law. Legislative arrangements were made for the institutions which would provide such services to the married couples who could not have children and while also outlining the means of these services. In our country, the share of marriage among girls at the age of 16 and 17 was 7.2% in total official marriages in 2008, and this rate decreased to 3.8% in 2018. One of the most important outcomes of the early marriage is childbirth at early age. The birth rates among the 15-17 age groups have been declining over years. While the adolescent fertility rate was 0.31% in 2012, it decreased to 0.19% in 2018. Service policies including “mobile healthcare services” will be developed for women, who require special policies/ services such as women living in the rural areas with limited transportation opportunities, seasonal agricultural workers, refugees, women under international protection or female applicants for international protection to ensure monitoring of 15-49 years old females, providing prenatal care services, delivery in healthcare institutions and postnatal care services. Further, cancer screening services will be mainstreamed to ensure the access of women, who need special policies/ services, to mobile healthcare services. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 5: • Mainstreaming the principle of equal opportunities for women and men into the in-service training programmes of public institutions and organisations, • Structuring the budgets of all institutions and organisations in a way that they will support equal opportunities for women and men, • Mainstreaming activities and studies for raising awareness to prevent all forms of violence against women, • Revising the current legislation for women and girls in the context of prevention of early and forced marriages, • Generating detailed data on early and forced marriages at regional and local levels, • Mainstreaming and increasing the efficiency of activities conducted to facilitate equal participation of women in politics and decision-making processes and ensuring that women may benefit from the opportunities and rights on equal basis. • Stepping up work to strengthen women’s cooperatives. 72 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.6. SDG 6. ENSURE AVAILABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WATER AND SANITATION FOR ALL Turkey has been placed on the list of water scarce countries with an estimated 1,400 m3/p/y (cubic meter per person per year) of water resources. The predicted effects of growing water demand, driven by drought, urbanization, industrialization, and climate change, are likely to aggravate water scarcity even further in Turkey. Sustainable management of water policies through the long term protection of water resources and the development of alternative sources of freshwater is critical to address the growing water scarcity problem. POLICIES In addition to NDP and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, SDG 6 is supported by the other key policy documents including the Basin Protection Action Plans, River Basin Management Plans, Basin Master Plans, Water Quality Action Plans, Drinking Water Basins Protection Action Plans, Climate Change Action Plan (2011-2023), Turkey’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan, Flood Management Action Plans, Drought Management Action Plans, Sectoral Water Allocation Plans, National Basin Management Strategy, Wastewater Action Plan, Drinking Water Conservation Plans, Action Plan For The Program on Enhancing Efficiency of Water Use in Agriculture. The main policies in line with SDG 6 are as follows: • Establishing an integrated water resource management model, • Developing a national basin-based classification system in a way that allows for the conservation and sustainable use of water resources, • Identifying and monitoring the quantity and quality of water bodies (both the groundwater and surface water) as well as the protection and improvement of water resources, the prevention and control of water pollution, • Securing the water supply system from source to tap for the entire urban and rural population, improve the water distribution networks to prevent water losses/leaks. • Ensuring financial sustainability in the provision of drinking water and sanitation investment and services, • Mainstreaming water treatment facilities and operate them in line with the standards based on the required environmental protection level and classification of water basins, • Promoting the reuse of treated wastewater, • Water savings in the basins by assessing the effects of climate change and all activities on water quality and quantity in basins. LEGISLATION Measures for the sustainable management of water resources in order to protect and develop the potential of groundwater and surface water, prevent pollution as well as access to safe drinking water and sanitation services are regulated in detail in our legislation. In general, legislative standards regarding water pollution and water quality are in line with the EU standards. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS With the integrated water management approach, SDG 6 is assessed on three focus areas: i. Access to drinking water and sanitation services; ii. Effective management of water resources; and iii. Preventing water pollution and improving water quantity and quality. In terms of access to drinking water and sanitation services, a very large portion of the population is served through the central and local governments’ investments. While the population using safely managed drinking water services was 95% in 2002, this rate reached 99% in 2018. In the same period, the rate of municipality population using safely managed wastewater and sanitation systems increased from 83% to 90%, the number of domestic wastewater treatment facility reached from 126 to 881 and the rate of municipality population using the services increased from 35% to 75%. Water and sanitation infrastructure projects are carried out by local administrations with the contribution of central government across Turkey. Under the Water and Sewer Infrastructure Project (SUKAP) launched in 2011, investments by local administrations are supported with the funds transferred from the central budget. Water and sanitation infrastructure projects are outlined below. 73 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” WATER AND SEWER INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT (SUKAP) SDG Targets 6.1 - 6.2 – 6.3 – 6.4 Executing Entity ILBANK Start & End Dates 2011-Ongoing The Project provides grants covering the half of project cost from the central budget to the municipalities with a population of 25,000 or less for drinking water and sanitation services. The Project also ensures the improvement of the quality of drinking water, which directly affects human health in the municipalities and commissioning of new water resources. Further, effective, efficient, and environmentally sensitive city infrastructure facilities are established by addressing the need for sewer infrastructure and wastewater treatment plants. To date, 1,289 works have been initiated with a total project amounted of 8.6 billion TL (at current prices) (3.14 billion USD). For these projects, 3.4 billion TL (at current prices) (1.24 billion USD) in grants and 5.2 billion TL (1.9 billion USD) loan financing were allocated. 892 projects were completed and 397 projects are underway. To minimise the development disparities between provinces and regions, the project Supporting Village Infrastructure (KÖYDES) was launched. Under this project, 49,259 facilities were built in 2005-2017 to provide clean water to a rural population of 16,746,473 with no or with limited access to clean water. Further, 1,377 septic tanks or treatment facilities were built serving 132,158 people. Besides, 2,079 small-scale irrigation facilities were commissioned under this project. Additional investments were required as municipal infrastructure facilities such as provision of clean water capacity especially in the provinces affected by the Syrian refugees living under temporary protection due to the Syrian Crisis that started in 2011. Box 1 covers the investments made in this context. Box 1. Clean Water Investments for Syrians In order to meet the drinking water demand, which doubled due to the migration to Kilis, water was urgently supplied from a new source. However, due to its insufficiency, the construction of the Afrin Dam initiated in 2013 was completed in 2018. While drinking water in Gaziantep is predicted to be sufficient until 2023, due to the increased population, the construction of Düzbag Dam with a cost of 2.2 billion TL (400 million USD) was moved to an earlier date and thus the project was launched in 2016. Due to the insufficient water resources in all districts of Sanlıurfa province, drinking water projects with a total portfolio of 530.7 million TL (96.5 million USD) were launched in the districts of Siverek, Suruç, Hilvan, Birecik-Halfeti, and Viransehir. Since the available drinking water supply capacity of Hatay was not sufficient to meet the demand, the construction of the ongoing Büyük Karaçaya Dam was accelerated and the dam construction completed. The municipalities used approximately 2.9 billion TL (521 million USD) loans from JICA for drinking water and sanitation infrastructure through ILBANK. In the context of international cooperation to increase access to clean drinking water and sanitation, projects have recently been undertaken in Mauritania, Djibouti, Niger, Ethiopia, Sudan, Mali, Somalia, Burkina Faso, and Syria. Turkey provides approximately 5 million USD development aids on the average annually. In the context of effective management of water resources master plans for 25 basins were completed; and work is underway for river basin management plans. These action plans are currently being transformed into River Basin Management Plans to ensure the full provision of basin management in line with the EU Water Framework Directive. Works were completed in 6 basins and is underway for 5 basins. With the River Basin Management Plans, which will be completed and put into practice by 2023, the integrated water resources management is planned with protection and use principle. The Central Board of Basin Management was formed to formulate strategies and plans, take measures to ensure coordination and cooperation among sectors, adopt an integrated basin management approach, achieve national objectives and fulfill international commitments. As for the 74 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” sectoral distribution of water use, approximately 74% is consumed for agricultural irrigation, leaving industrial and domestic use at relatively low levels of 13%. Figure 4. Sectoral Water Use for Turkey With the sectoral water allocation plans, water needs of each sector, allocation plans at the basin and sectoral sub-basin are analysed in terms of economic, social and environment by also taking into account drought factor. To date, water allocation plans have been completed for 3 basins, and work is underway for 2 basins and planned to complete for all basins by 2023. Under the Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources and Adaptation Project, temperature, precipitation, water potential, water deficit/surplus projections were prepared for each basin up to 2100; groundwater potential and surface water level changes were identified, water budget was modelled and the impact of water for human consumption, agriculture and industry main sectors were analysed. Considering the quantities of water distributed and drawn from source by municipalities in 2016, the rate of theft and loss, or non-charged water, was estimated at 36% as of 2017. Some municipalities implemented several practices to reduce water theft and loss, yet the theft and loss rate has not improved to the desired levels, and the reduction of this rate is still important. Accordingly, with the regulation made in 2014, standards and measures regarding the control of water loss in the supply and distribution systems have been determined in order to effectively use drinking water and to prevent waste. With this regulation, municipalities and water administrations aim to reduce the rate of water loss, averaging 25% by 2023. Priority Transformation Program on Enhancing Efficiency of Water Use in Agriculture improved modernization of irrigation infrastructure, efficiency of institutional structures, strengthened the links between irrigation investments and agricultural production and improved the cooperation between institutions and efficient water usage. Due to water scarcity, agriculture production is planned through water-basin model. In addition, efficient irrigation system for efficient use of water is promoted through subsidies. With regard to prevent pollution, preventing water pollution and improving water quality and quantity legal regulations, policies, and practices are developed to preserve and improve groundwater and surface water resources in terms of quality and quantity. In line with the work on developing the National Monitoring Network, Basin Monitoring Programs were established for each basin. The said programs allow monitoring general chemical and physico-chemical parameters, priority substances, known contaminants, biological quality components and hydro-morphological quality components at 2,877 monitoring points in rivers, lakes, passage, and coastal waters. The Wastewater Treatment Action Plan that encompasses the necessary investments and improvements for wastewater treatment facilities and sanitation systems were updated for 2017-2023. To preserve water resources basin basis, pollution prevention action plans were prepared for 8 river basins, along with the treatment sludge management plan for Ergene and Gediz River Basins. Work is underway to scale up these plans across the country. To manage the wastewater treatment facilities in an environmentally-sensitive manner, energy incentive payments are offered up to 50% of the energy expenses of these facilities. The basic policy objective is to reduce water quantity per production unit and prevent pollution. In this context, there are sector-specific works in progress. For example, Clean Production Plans were approved for 136 textile facilities in 2017 to promote clean production in the textile sector. These practices provided savings of approximately 2695 m3/day in water and 7035 kWh/ton-fabric in energy. 13% 13% 74% Agricultural Irrigation Industry Domestic Use 75 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” An inventory was made of all existing hazardous chemicals at water resources for all sectors for monitoring purposes. The work was completed in 2014, and Environmental Quality Standards were defined for 250 substances. In all water basins, vulnerable areas in terms of urban water pollution in surface waters as well as zones vulnerable to nitrates were identified; water quality objectives and measures to improve water quality were defined. Reducing human settlement pressure at river basins, treatment of urban and industrial wastewaters, the control of the agricultural pesticides and manure use still maintain their importance for the sustainability of water resources. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 6: • Preparing a National Water Plan that ensures sustainable management of water resources, in terms of both quality and quantity, as well as with an approach in which a balance is sought between conservation and development. • Continuously developing safe and clean drinking water services across all urban and rural populations. • Combating water violations/losses more effectively through the enforceable penalties and incentive system. • Developing affordable and sustainable financing models, including a public-private partnership in investment and management of drinking water and sanitation services. • Continuing to support efficient irrigation methods in agriculture. • Modernizing irrigation infrastructure to reduce water loss, • Strengthening coordination among public agencies for effective management of water resources. • Improving the monitoring and control of marine pollution and increase sanctioning efforts. • Raising awareness of agricultural producers to effectively use water. 76 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.7. SDG 7. ENSURE ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE, RELIABLE, SUSTAINABLE AND MODERN ENERGY FOR ALL 26 Due to its calculation methodology, these are different from SDG TURKSTAT indicators (Indicator 7.2.1). These are calculated using the general energy balance table of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. Access to energy is one of the basic needs and important component of reducing poverty. As of 2010, 100% of the population access to electricity in Turkey. In 2017, the share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption was about 12%.26 Substantial investment and finance are required to achieve SDG 7. It is impossible for public sources to cover all of the investments. Investments by private sector in such areas as renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings and clean energy resources will make significant contributions to achieve SDG 7. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 7 include the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, Electrical Energy Market and Supply Security Strategy, Turkey National Renewable Energy Action Plan, Energy Efficiency Strategy, National Climate Response Strategy, Climate Action Plan, Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 7 are as follows: • Maximising use of domestic and renewable energy resources, and regain these resources in a secure, economic and qualified manner to economy, • Minimising wastage and environmental effect of energy, • Increasing the share of renewable energy in power generation through resource diversification. • Making efforts towards energy generation through resources such as hydroelectricity, along with solar, wind, geothermal, biomass. • Subsidising domestic equipment use in renewable energy generation • Reducing energy intensity of industry, • Providing supports for energy efficiency in buildings, • Easing the burden of energy costs on economy, • Scaling up high efficiency motors in industry, • Increasing electrical vehicles in transport. LEGISLATION Amendments are made to the existing legislations to ensure access to affordable, secure and modern energy. Electric Market legislations aim at providing electricity in a sufficient, quality, continuous, low cost and environmentally friendly manner to the consumers; form a financially strong, stable and transparent electrical energy market; and ensure autonomous regulations and audits in this market. At the same time, electricity market legislation promotes small scaled power plant to contribute to the economy effectively and ensures that losses in electricity grids are minimized to provide universal access to power. Legislation offers a framework that is encouraging electricity generation from renewable energy resources. In the field of energy efficiency, there are various regulations that offers incentives for increasing energy efficiency in industry, buildings and transport. According to the regulations of European Energy Charter Treaty, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol to which Turkey is a party, to increase energy supply security, there are regulations that seek to enhance the international cooperation in reforming efficiency of the processes from the production to the distribution of energy and promoting investments regarding clean energy technology. 77 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 7 is assessed on four focus areas: i. Access to energy for all; ii. Increasing renewable energy share in total supply; iii. Improving energy efficiency; and iv. Development of clean energy technologies and infrastructure. In the context of access to energy for all, the liberalization in energy sector gained importance since the early 2000s. In this context, many of the state owned power plants were privatised, and new power plants were built by the private sector. Therefore, the share of private sector in the total installed power increased substantially, and liberalization in electricity and commerce has been completed to a large extent. Natural gas distribution was also transferred to the private sector. Significant progress was achieved in the fields of technical and nontechnical loss performance, supply quality and customer satisfaction. The integration of newly installed renewable energy power plants to the electricity distribution system was accelerated; similarly, energy efficiency policies came to the forefront. In addition, electricity consumption subsidy programme was offered to low-income citizens to meet their electric consumption needs since February 2019. Houses under the electricity consumption subsidy are offered subsidies up to 150 kWh/month considering the household population. Continuous energy supply requires an optimisation of supply, demand, transmission, distribution and storage systems. Turkey made a rapid progress especially in electricity access. Also, to meet the increasing electricity need and to expand/ enhance electricity transmission service, investments continue in lines and power distribution units so as to expand, renew and modernise electricity transmission and distribution grid. Legislative work on electricity storage system is initiated. In addition, defining Turkey Smart Grid Roadmap and long-term electricity infrastructure planning are important. In 2018, the construction began for the first nuclear power plant of Turkey. Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant will have 4 units with 1200 MW of power and with a total capacity of 4800 MW. The commissioning of the first unit of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is scheduled for 2023, and each of the other units will also be commissioned subsequently every year. In July 2018, for secure and safe operations in the nuclear field, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority was established to form an autonomous, strong and competent nuclear supervision and regulation system. In the context of increasing renewable energy share in total supply, Turkey attaches major importance to energy generation via renewable energy resources to diversify Turkey’s energy resources, reduce import dependency, develop domestic manufacturing industry and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the impact of enhanced legislation and incentive mechanisms, a significant increase has been achieved in the share of non-hydro resources such as wind and solar in total supply. The 2009 Electricity Market and Security of Supply Strategy aimed to increase the share of renewable energy in electricity generation to at least 30%. In 2018, the share of renewable energy increased to 32.5% achieving the set target. In addition, when compared with other OECD countries, important progress was achieved in our country in the generation of electricity via renewable energy resources. Source Generation 2013 Generation 2017 Ranking 2017 Ranking 2017 Comparison Group Hydroelectricity 59.4 TWh 58.2 TWh 7 6 OECD Geothermal 1.4 TWh 6.1 TWh 7 4 OECD Solar 0.017 TWh 2.9 TWh 27 14 OECD Wind 7.6 TWh 17.9 TWh 12 7 OECD 78 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” In 2005, legal framework for renewable energy resources in Turkey enacted tariff supports (Feed-In Tariffs, FIT) for purchase guarantee to use renewable energy resources in electrical energy generation; however, since the technology cost was high, tariffs proved insufficient and investments were not realised at the expected level. With an amendment in 2011, the Renewable Energy Resources Support Mechanism (YEKDEM) that defined guaranteed purchase tariff prices according to the facility type in generation based on renewable energy resources was established. Purchase guarantee tariff is 7.3 USD cents/kWh for generation based on hydroelectricity and wind energies, 10.5 USD cents/kWh for generation based on geothermal energy and 13.3 USD cents/ kWh for generation based on biomass (including landfill gas) and solar energies. The generation licensees, whose facilities having operated or to be operated by the end of 2020, will benefit FIT support mechanism for a 10-year period. Purchase-guarantee is crucial for domestic and foreign investors. Therefore, uncertainties are cleared and investors are protected from market risks for 10 years. At the same time, this is an additional assurance for project financing. 13.9 billion TL (3.81 billion USD) was paid to facilities with installed power of 17,400 MW generating 70 billion kWh electricity under YEKDEM by the end of 2017. Accordingly, in recent years, YEKDEM become very attractive for renewable energy investors. Along with the support mechanism arranged on the basis of resource, an additional incentive mechanism was established for domestic machinery and equipment to be used in facilities generating electricity based on renewable energy resources. If domestically manufactured mechanical and/or electro- mechanical equipment is used in the installation of renewable energy facility, then additional price subsidy for each piece is offered for 5-year period. Similarly, there are incentives intended on R&D activities that are crucial for the development of renewable energy and on enhancement of domestic generation. In 2016, to increase the use of renewable energy resources, an incentive mechanism for Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA) was implemented. State, treasury-owned and privately-owned immovable properties with high potential for at least one renewable energy resource began to be defined as large-scale YEKAs. YEKAs would contribute to effective and efficient renewable energy generation at economy of scale. The prospective burdens for the bidding processes are reduced for investors receiving licenses. By an integrated approach of YEKAs, it is expected to promote R&D capacities, support domestic equipment use and create additional employment. RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCE AREAS (YEKA) SDG Targets 7.2 - 7.a Executing Entity Ministry of Energy and National Resources Start & End Dates 2017 - Ongoing The project aims to install 2 solar and wind plants and promote renewable energy. Other components of the project involve manufacturing domestic equipment in Turkey and establishing R&D specialisation zones for renewable energy. A tender was completed for the construction of a solar power plant with installed power of 1,000 MW in Karapınar, Konya and a solar panel factory with an annual production capacity of 500 MW photovoltaic modules. The tender concluded with a purchase guarantee of power generated at the plant for 15 years at the price support of 6.99 USD cents/kWh. For wind YEKA, a manufacturing and R&D centre will be established with a wind power capacity of 1,000 MW and an annual wind turbine manufacturing capacity of 400 MW. In the wind YEKA tender held in 2017, it was decided that the power generated in the plant for 15 years would be delivered to system at the price of 3.48 USD cents/kWh. In the context of the mentioned developments, the installed power of Turkey’s renewable energy rose to 42.5 GW by the end of 2018. It is expected that the installed power of Turkey’s renewable energy power plants will increase by 34% compared 2018 levels. 79 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” In addition, as part of the Renewable Energy Action Plan, steps taken towards increasing the share of renewable energy in energy consumed at transport, industry and houses will also contribute towards increasing the share of renewable energy. After the completion of YEKDEM in 2020, the support for renewable energy resources without interfering with market operation, development of domestic manufacturing capabilities and capacities are deemed important. In addition, the required transmission infrastructure investment plans must be set according to the integration of the increased renewable energy generation to the transmission system. In the context of improving energy efficiency, by National Energy Efficiency Action Plan , a cumulative 23.9 Mtoe of primary energy consumption reduction was targeted in the period of 2017-2023. There are several ongoing efforts in fields of process/ structure/system renewal, awareness-raising activities, energy efficiency consultancy services and energy management developments to increase energy efficiency at industry, public and service buildings. An obligation of conducting energy efficiency audits and forming energy management systems were introduced for industrial enterprises of certain size. Various support mechanisms are introduced such as Efficiency Improvement Projects and Voluntary Agreements. Work is proceeding to improve energy efficiency classes of new and existing buildings, improve public buildings through Energy Performance Contracts, and promote the use of on-site generation and renewable energy in buildings. In Turkey, the annual primary energy intensity index decreased by 1.3%, and the final energy intensity index by 1.4% in 2000-2017. Another factor that contributed to the reduction of energy intensity was the reduction of the energy intense manufacturing industry’s share in GDP, while there was an increase in the share of the service sectors. Also, despite its limited impact, transition from low and medium-low technologies to medium-high technologies with lower energy consumption seems to have impact on reducing the energy intensity. The activities in energy efficiency, enhancement investments especially in the manufacturing industry, new houses that are added to the stock with better thermal insulation and the extensive use of high-efficiency electrical appliances were also effective in this development. In the context of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, approximately 1 million TOE of energy saved through 1.2 billion USD investment up to date. The loss in the grid recently reduced to 12% through energy efficiency efforts and expanding distributed generation. A total of 23.1 million TL was granted by MENR through 210 efficiency improvement projects which ultimately resulted in annual savings of 84 million TL up to date. Under the Support for Individual Irrigation Systems in the 2002 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 2018 Share of Renewable Energy Resources in Electricity Generation (%) 0 22.500 45.000 67.500 90.000 Installed Power of Renewable Energy (MW) Share of Renewable Energy Resources in Electricity Generation (%) 26.3% 24.6% 26.4% 32.2% 33.2% 29.6% 32.5% Installed Electricity Power (MW) 88,551 85,200 78,497 73,147 49,524 38,820 31,846 42,453 38,908 34,574 31,606 17,342 12,977 12,305 80 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” context of Rural Development Support, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry granted approximately 200 million TL to 9,093 projects providing the installation of energy-efficient irrigation systems on 865,000 decares of land. By a regulation issued in February 2019, the threshold of 80% specified against value of a home offered as security against a home mortgage was raised to 90% for class A energy-efficient homes, and 85% for class B energy-efficient. In the context of developing clean energy technologies and infrastructure, seeking international energy collaboration via YEKAs, bringing Turkish energy industry together with foreign technologies and regulations towards transfer of accumulated knowledge are in line with the target of developing international collaboration regarding clean energy technologies. Establishment of R&D facilities and the planning of technology transfer developed by these technologies are improvements for Turkey that imports renewable energy technologies substantially. Increased clean energy resources usage and energy efficient solutions in the heating and transport sectors beside to electricity generation, will decrease rate of energy consumption increase, which will significantly contribute to achieving the goals. In this context, work is underway to provide natural gas for administrative districts and OIZs without natural gas distribution network. To achieve targets in the context of accessible and clean energy, it is important to raise awareness in all segments of the society. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 7: • Developing the required grid structure for continuous energy supply concerning efficiency and technology, • Increasing practices towards smart grid development, • Creating long-term grid infrastructure plans, • Defining long-term national energy and climate strategy roadmap, • Establishing legal infrastructure regarding energy storage systems, • Evaluating alternative finance mechanisms for domestic equipment incentives, • Establishing market infrastructure to increase public awareness regarding energy efficiency and to practice demand-side participation, • Scaling up energy efficiency practices in public buildings through Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) model, • Providing incentives for fuel efficient vehicles, • Increasing the share of district heating and cooling systems with high energy efficiency in the total inventory of heating and cooling systems, • Defining energy efficiency targets for public buildings, • Introducing incentives to scale up the use of efficient vehicles in transport and agriculture. 81 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.8. SDG 8. PROMOTE SUSTAINED, INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH, FULL AND PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT AND DECENT WORK FOR ALL Economic growth as the key component for development levels of countries impacts three dimensions of sustainable development directly or indirectly. Strong, inclusive and sustainable growth is dependent on long-term strategies, growth models appropriate to the country’s economic structure and policies that are implemented accordingly. Reducing the need for external finance by ensuring stability in the current accounts balance, strengthening internal finance by increasing domestic savings and increasing the share of direct foreign investments in primary deficit financing have positive impact on macroeconomic outlook. In a growing economy, it is essential to reduce unemployment through an increase in employment and decent work. Increasing the diversity of markets independently of cyclical developments in global trade that catapult protectionism to the forefront and the exports by quantity and quality will, on one hand, reduce the need for external resources in the economy to support macroeconomic stability, and lead the economy to a sustainable path of high growth on the other. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 8 include the Enhancing Productivity In Manufacturing Programme, Turkish Industrial Strategy Document , Productivity Strategy and Action Plan, SME Strategy Document, National Employment Strategy, Female Employment Action Plan, National Youth Employment Action Plan, National Programme on Combating Child Labour, Labour Market Efficiency Programme, 2023 Export Strategy and Istanbul International Finance Centre Programme Action Plan and Financial Access, Financial Education, Financial Protection of the Consumers Strategy and Action Plan, Tourism Strategy 2023 and Action Plan. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 8 are as follows: • Maintaining macroeconomic stability, • Increasing the share of private sector in the economy, • Strengthening the regulatory and supervisory functions of the state on economy, • Developing an outward oriented and competitive production structure, • Increasing the value-added and content of industrial technology in industry and increase the contribution of total factor productivity (TFP) in growth, • Transforming the manufacturing industry into a structure that employs highly qualified workforce, is responsive to the environment, accords importance to R&D, produces technology, creates design and brands, and provide subsidies towards these objectives, • Increasing productive investments, • Increasing capital productivity, • Increasing the production technology level and productivity of SMEs and their share in the industry value-added and facilitate their access to finance, • Making environmental management efficient, conserve the environment and use resources in a sustainable manner, • Increasing the efficiency of banking sector’s financial intermediation activities, • Developing capital markets and scale up insurance activities, • Increasing university-industry cooperation, • Supporting the establishment of technology development centres and technoparks, and increase R&D supports, • Increasing the tourism capacity of the country considering the social, cultural and environmental impacts of tourism, • Increasing labour quality and productivity, • Increasing decent work opportunities, • Increasing compatibility with occupational safety and health standards, develop inspection and incentive practices, • Strengthening the relationship between education and labour market, • Increasing the employment of all vulnerable groups especially women, youth and disabled people, • Combating child labour, -particularly the worst forms, • Promoting formal employment, • Increasing the efficiency of employment incentives and active labour market programmes, • Ensuring flexicurity in the labour market, 82 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” • Increasing the number and quality of job and vocational counsellors, • Easing the conditions of eligibility for unemployment insurance. LEGISLATION In 2016 and 2017, secondary legislation to R&D and Design Law, and Technology Development Zone (TDZ) Law and its secondary legislation were updated. In addition, there is legislation to promote the growth of SMEs and their access to finance. In Turkey, regulations on employment, wage equality between men and women, rights and professional rehabilitation of persons with disabilities taking sex, age and disability into account are at an advanced level with regard to the achievement of targets under SDG 8. Young people below a certain age are prohibited from employment and regulations are introduced on the safety and health of young workers to prevent negative effects on the development of young people who start the early working life, not to jeopardise their education and prevent economic exploitation. Turkey ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention Concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, Convention Concerning Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and put relevant regulations into effect. The regulations in our legislation are sufficient regarding all domestic and foreign migrant workers including women workers, those who are pregnant, nursing and having a new- born, and those workers at places which keep hazardous materials and/or doing heavy work. In the context of SDG 8.10, the banking legislation was passed in line with international regulations with a strong structure. There are many regulations that facilitate the strengthening of the capacities of domestic financial institutions to promote access to banking, insurance and financial services. The new Capital Market Law that entered into force in 2012 aims at creating alternative finance resources for companies building on post-global crisis experience and providing opportunities for financial intermediation sector to compete globally. With the purpose of increasing domestic savings rate, a state subsidy scheme was introduced at the beginning of 2013 for all participants benefiting from the Private Pension System (PPS). In addition to PPS, the automatic participation system in which participation was voluntary but encouraged by the state was put into practice on 1 January 2017. Accordingly, wage workers below age 45 are included in a pension plan by a pension contract. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 8 is assessed on two focus areas: i. Economic growth and ii. Employment. In the context of economic growth, following the 2001 crisis of Turkey, the banking sector was strengthened to augment financial liberalisation, and the state withdrew from production to concentrate on supervisory and regulatory roles. Areas such as energy, communications, education and healthcare were opened to private sector and competition, and structural transformation was achieved in agriculture as well. As a result of these financial, economic and legal transformations, important progress was achieved towards strong economic growth. There is regulation passed for more effective taxation, the main component of revenues of the public budget, used to finance sustainable development in Turkey. With a taxpayer-driven approach in the taxation system, practices that promoted production and growth were realised. Public revenues increased through facilities to those who had difficulties in paying tax obligations. It is necessary to increase productive investments and share of domestic resources in investment finance to increase the medium and long-term quality and quantity of growth. In the last period, external savings were used to finance the growing investment needs which eventually became an element of vulnerability for the national economy because this caused permanent current deficit. Therefore, new policies were developed to increase domestic savings. As a result of arrangements on PPS, 6.9 billion participants were in PPS as of 2018 end accumulating a total fund size (including state subsidy) of 87.9 billion TL (16.6 billion USD) at current prices. In the previous period, there were 5 million workers in the automatic participation system, and their fund size was 4.6 billion TL (0.9 billion USD) at current prices. 83 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Starting from the early 2000s, on account of the structural reforms and global liquidity available, the ratio of current deficits to GDP and inflation decreased, and direct foreign investments increased resulting in an annual economic growth of 4.9% in the lead of private sector in 2000-2018. Following the global crisis, average GDP growth realized as 6.33% annually in 2010-2018. As a result of the positive effect of structural reforms, the national income per capita which was at 3,084 USD in 2001, reached to 9,632 USD in 2018. As a general productivity indicator, it can be observed that Turkey has achieved faster development in comparison with the world average in real GDP rate of increase per worker. When global development indicator levels were taken as a basis, the global economy achieved 2.25% average increase in GDP with adjusted fixed prices according to the purchasing power parity in 2000-2017, whereas this increase rate in Turkey was 3.01% on average.27 As of 2018 end, SMEs used 26% of the bank credits. However, the share of SMEs in R&D spending was 17.4% in 2014, and increased to 17.7% in 2015. There is need to strengthen SMEs to have stronger capacity to cope with globalization, benefit from qualified workforce, have sufficient capital, create innovative projects, develope partnerships and projects; and increase entrepreneurial capabilities and number of entrepreneurs. In the post-global crisis period, financial polices with strengthened efficiency were expanded to support employment, goods and services markets. In this context, measures and incentives were introduced in 2017 to increase the new labour. Financial support was provided to SMEs with credits secured by Credit Guarantee Fund (CGF), as well as tax discounts to construction and consumer durable goods sectors. With the new regulations of 2017, the technological content of the manufacturing industry was enhanced, and a series of additional measures and incentives were offered to support design and innovative activities. In addition, to facilitate the access of SMEs to finance, the scope of Credit Guarantee Fund’s guarantees was expanded, along with additional supports for export and employment. In 2013, the number of enterprises supported by Treasury-supported CGF was 1,263 and increased to 316,000. 27 http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=2&series=SL.GDP.PCAP.EM.KD&country=# In the period when the impact of globalisation was further felt, our country was able to increase its shares in the world manufacturing industry, rising to 16th rank in the world and 6th in Europe compared to 20th and 10th in 2002. With the objectives of improving the competitiveness, innovation and productivity in the industry, increase shares from global exports, producing predominantly high technology products, transforming the industry to one that has qualified labour force and is environmentally and socially sensitive; there are projects and programmes to increase domestic input rate that aim at cooperation between the businesses in the supply chain and increased value-added production. An example is the Clustering Support Programme that was introduced in 2012. There is still a need to strengthen the cooperation and clustering between manufacturing industry sectors to maximise benefits from the production capacities of sectors and increase the share of the domestic production in total value created. In 2018, with the objective of accelerating the digital transformation of industry, the Digital Transformation in Manufacturing Industry Roadmap was published. The roadmap specifies actions towards components such as development of technology and innovation capacity through education infrastructure, developing qualified labour force, strengthening data communication infrastructure and institutional governance, supporting national technology suppliers and encouraging users towards digital transformation. In 2016, comprehensive incentives were offered to investments that ensured supply security for products with insufficient production capacity, which developed technology capacity in areas with technology gap, reduced dependency to imports, had high value-added, ensured production with new generation technologies, were innovative and dependent on R&D, and were above 100 million USD. 84 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” With the objective of developing entrepreneurship, start- up entrepreneurs are supported at 19 Business Incubators (ISGEM). Also, to foster the entrepreneurship culture and broaden its base, entrepreneurship training is offered at several levels and related supports are offered. The share of the revenues derived from tourism in Turkey in the global tourism revenues increased to 6% in 2014 from 1.3% in 2000. Tourism being a labor intensive sector it has high employment generation capacity. There are ongoing efforts to diversify Turkey’s tourism products and extend the tourism season over the entire year, raise awareness in private sector and NGOs in eco-tourism, rural tourism and agro-tourism, and solve the infrastructure and environmental problems at locations with high-intensity tourism with the contributions from local administrations and private sector. In line with SDG 8.a, Turkey contributed 1 million USD in 2010 to Enhanced Integrated Framework that was provided for LDCs to play a more active role in global commerce. In addition, it organised training programmes on WTO for public officials from Tajikistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Palestine and Iraq. In the context of employment as a focus area, employment incentives were diversified in 2014-2018 supporting employers to create more jobs. Regulations were implemented for flexible working conditions, resources allocated for active labour market programmes, and people benefitting from these programmes were significantly increased. In 2014-2017, the total employment increased from 25.9 million to 28.2 million. The service sector was decisive in employment rate increase. 85 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 1,000 2,500 4,000 5,500 7,000 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 5,297 5,464 5,305 5,483 5,470 6,015 6,097 6,143 5,683 0 1,500 3,000 4,500 6,000 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 5,675 5,383 5,297 5,331 5,315 4,955 4,751 4,704 4,496 0 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 15,777 15,247 14,616 13,892 13,234 12,771 12,266 11,586 10,986 0 525 1,050 1,575 2,100 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 1,992 2,095 1,987 1,914 1,912 1,782 1,709 1,676 1,431 0 7,500 15,000 22,500 30,000 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 15,777 15,247 14,616 13,892 13,234 12,771 12,266 11,586 10,986 1,992 2,095 1,987 1,914 1,912 1,782 1,709 1,676 1,431 5,675 5,383 5,297 5,331 5,315 4,955 4,751 4,704 4,496 5,297 5,464 5,305 5,483 5,470 6,015 6,097 6,143 5,683 28,738 28,189 27,205 26,621 25,933 25,524 24,821 24,110 22,594 Employment Agriculture Industry Construction Services 12% 12% 11% 11% 11% 11% 11% 11% 10% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 13% 12% 12% 12% 11% 10% 10% 10% 9% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Employment Distribution (Thousand People) Employment Distribution (Thousand People) Services Distribution (Thousand People) Agriculture Distribution (Thousand People) Construction Distribution (Thousand People) Women Emp. Rate (%) Male Emp. Rate (%) Agriculture Industry Services Construction Table 10. Employment Data 86 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” With the objectives of increasing employers’ competitiveness, promoting registered employment, and especially reducing the costs of SMEs, and thereby achieving an increase employment, the scope of Minimum Wage Support that was implemented in 2016 was extended in 2019. With amendments to the Law on Unemployment Insurance, additional employment incentives were introduced to lower the burden on employers and increase employment. With this incentive, employers received premium, wage or tax subsidies for each personnel to be employed in addition to the number of workers in the previous year. The public sub-contractor practice was terminated which imposed limitations on individual and collective bargaining rights of public workers such as wages, annual leave and severance payments. The incentive called “One from Me and One from You” introduced in 2018 in the manufacturing industry offers wage, premium and tax subsidies for each worker that employers who have master’s certificates in the manufacturing industry will employ in addition to the average number of workers. Private employment offices provide intermediary services using the means of communication between employers and employees. In 2016, private employment offices were authorised to establish temporary working relationships, representing an important step to make labour market flexible. The ongoing need is still important to define occupations that will meet the need for sub-professionals, and re-organise the vocational education in line with the needs of labour market needs. In line with the objectives of utilizing the qualified human resource and make use of international labour force, necessary adjustments were made to the Law on International Labour. The e-permit application was operationalised to receive, evaluate and finalise the working permit applications online in fast, efficient and secure manner. The Turquoise Card system was introduced in 2017 offering work and residence permits to foreigners with indefinite term, possibility of acquiring Turkish citizenship, along with indefinite residence permits to the foreigners’ partner and dependent children. One of the biggest problems of employment in Turkey is female and youth unemployment. The youth unemployment rate in 2018 was 26.1% for females and 17.8% for males. For the overall working population of ages 15 to 64, female unemployment rate was 14.2% and male unemployment rate was 9.6% in 2018. The National Employment Strategy issued in 2014 had four main axes: to strengthen the relation of education and employment in the context of full and productive employment and development of decent work; provide security and flexibility in the labour markets; increase employment for vulnerable segments; and strengthen the relationship between employment and social protection. In recent years, labour force participation rate have increased especially for women. The rate of unregistered employment has decreased and that of decent works increased. However, since the increase in employment rates fell behind the increase in labour force, the expected reduction in unemployment rate has not been achieved. Extensive regulations were implemented regarding unregistered employment in the framework of Social Security Reform. In 2000, the rate of informal employment was 53.3%, and receded to 33.4% by the 2017 end. Informal employment in non-agricultural sectors between paid workers decreased to 16.4% in 2017 from the level of 17.5% in 2014. In line with the objective of increasing female and youth employment, policies were adopted to make regulations that offered employers insurance premium incentives who employ female and young workers. The Action Plan on Female Employment (2016-2018) focuses on enabling women to acquire vocational skills to increase their employment, directing them to work, and increasing the opportunities for women to access the labour market. In this context, it is observed that the policies introduced in the field of education have been effective. In 2018, only 16.1% of women who were illiterate participated in the labour force while 71.6% of women who were higher education graduates entered the labour market. The project Promoting Formal Female Employment through Home-Based Child Care aims to reduce the cost of employing babysitters, thus increasing the formal employment of babysitters who usually work informally, and facilitate the return to the labour market of women who have given birth and are under the risk of staying away from the labour market. Under the project, 11,360 mothers benefited directly and 15,232 babysitters benefited indirectly. Additionally, to increase the female participation into the labour force, incentives were introduced in 2018 for employers to offer day- care services. 87 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” PROMOTING REGISTERED EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN THROUGH INSTITUTIONAL CHILD CARE SERVICES SDG Targets 8.5 – 4.2 – 10.2 Executing Entity Social Security Institution Start & End Dates 2019 – 2021 The project aims to encourage women to participate in or return to registered employment or remain in the labour market by providing support on institutional child care to women who have young children and are under the risk of leaving employment. Accordingly, 10,250 mothers and children will be paid 100 EUR of institutional child care support, and 13,000 mothers will be paid 100 EUR of one-off fixed cost support. Of the project beneficiaries, those who lose jobs during the project period, the grant will continue to be paid for 3 months provided that the child remains in preschool and/or attend the care institution. In addition, unemployed women who apply to the project will be accorded certain flexibility on final registration dates to boost their motivation to find jobs. The rate of those who were neither in employment nor in education or training in Turkey decreased from 40% in 2003 to 24.5% in 2018. The National Youth Employment Action Plan issued in 2011 was an important step to produce specific policies on reducing youth unemployment. The Basic and Vocational Skills Building Programme also contributed to the progress in terms of policy development. A total of 6,778 sessions of Applied Entrepreneurship Training was delivered in 2018 to identify the youth entrepreneurial capacities, 90,176 young people benefited from free of charge training and 520 young people started their businesses. It is important to improve youth employment to raise the qualified workforce needed especially in the field of high value-added production and innovation, and ensure that education matches the needs of the labour market. Considering the findings from the Child Labour Surveys conducted in 1994, 1999, 2006 and 2012, there was significant decrease in the number of child labour of age 6-17 despite the population increase in the same age group. The employment rate in children of age 6-17 was 15.2% in 1994, and decreased to 5.9% in 2012. Considering the number of employed children by gender, the number of employed boys was twice the number of girls although the number of both working boys and girls decreased in 1994-2012. Migration from rural areas and small towns to big and industrialised urban areas results in the unemployment of parents from lower educational backgrounds while financial difficulties may lead families to remove their children from school and put them to work. This is particularly observed to affect boys. The year 2018 was declared as the Year against Child Labour to increase public awareness on combating child labour. In the National Programme against Child Labour (2017- 2023), priority target groups were identified as “working on the street”, “heavy and hazardous works in small- and medium-scale businesses” and “mobile and temporary agricultural works in return for wage other than family work in agriculture”. This programme aims to undertake activities related to the elimination of child labour through a holistic and participatory national programme. The “Joint Declaration against Child Labour” was signed by the relevant ministries and NGOs to protect all children from child labour, especially from its worst forms, and prevent child labour. Anti-Child Labour Units were formed in all provinces to ensure cooperation and coordination among all relevant entities in line with the objective of prevention of child labour including particularly worst forms. Box 2. Technical Support Project on Coordination and Training for Employment (ISKEP) Under ISKEP, in cooperation with 12 municipalities, activities were planned to identify and address the problems of disadvantaged people in accessing the labour force, registering disadvantaged people and groups, and improving the employment and social protection services provided to them. Upon the completion of the project, there were Social Service Support desks established in 12 municipalities, 2,778 people directed to active labour market programmes, 8,249 disadvantaged individuals registered in the databank created, and 4,000 disadvantaged individuals and 3,500 Municipality personnel trained. Under the Programme on Improving the Social Integration and Employability of Disadvantaged People, activities were supported to remove the barriers to entering and facilitate access to labour market, expand relevant opportunities, and fight against discrimination. According to the Demographic and Residence Survey conducted in 2011, there were 4.5 million people with at least one disability in the age group of 15 and above. The number of women with disabilities was 2.6 million while the number of men with disabilities was 1.9 million. The labour force participation rates of men and female with disabilities were 35.4% and 12.45% respectively. Preventive and incentivising legal regulations were introduced on occupational safety and health in 2014-2016. The scope of the vocational qualification certification was expanded, particularly in highly hazardous sectors, and progress was made on measuring knowledge, skills and competences in the 88 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” labour market. However, 359,653 insured people had work accidents with 1,633 fatalities in 2017 despite the measures taken for purposes of occupational safety and health. The National Occupational Safety and Health Policy (2014- 2018) laid down seven main objectives: increasing the quality of and standardising activities in the field of occupational safety and health; improving the statistics and record system on work accidents and occupational diseases; reducing the work accident rate in all sectors including metal, mining and construction; identifying and collecting early diagnosis data for potential occupational diseases; increasing the activities to improve occupational safety and health in public and agriculture sectors; promoting the culture of occupational safety and health across society; and making Vocational Qualification Certificates (VQC) compulsory for highly hazardous works. Significant steps were taken towards the objectives set by the Occupational Safety and Health Council to improve the existing conditions in working life concerning occupational safety and health according to national and international standards, principles, and promote the safety culture across the country. An occupational safety and health management system was established to improve occupational safety and health conditions in the pilot sectors and provinces chosen under the project Improving Occupational Safety and Health to reduce work accidents and occupational diseases, and increase the safety awareness in society. In this context, activities were undertaken including risk assessment, performance monitoring, emergency planning etc. The Occupational Safety and Health Management System Guide, Management System Implementation Guide, Guide for Health Monitoring in Working Life, and Guide for Diagnosing Occupational and Work-Related Diseases were issued for relevant sectors. Although significant progress was made in the labour market, labour force participation, high unemployment rates especially among young people, low skilled labour, and informal employment remain as important issues. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 8: • Ensuring improvement in vocational and technical education issues through labour market needs analyses and with the contributions of the private sector, • Maintaining structural reforms and increase the growth potential, • Developing an ecosystem which is supportive of financial technologies and make necessary arrangements accordingly, • Expanding day-care and preschool education services to increase the female participation in the labour market, • Consolidating employment incentives under a single law and practice, simplify the implementation, and ensure that incentives can be seen online as a whole, • Establishing a more efficient organisation in the triangle of employer-state-employee for purposes of occupational safety and health efforts, make improvement in the distribution of duties, powers and responsibilities, • Developing legislation for the university-industry cooperation and facilitate the economic growth and R&D- focused use of university facilities by the private sector, • Undertaking effective monitoring work through Anti-Child Labour Units, • Developing practices such as additional social benefits for critical working groups including farmer families to remain in the relevant sector. 89 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.9. SDG 9. BUILD RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE, PROMOTE INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIALIZATION AND FOSTER INNOVATION Important steps have been taken on physical infrastructure and innovation to increase international competitiveness of Turkey, achieve transformation in the manufacturing industry and switch to a high value-added structure. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 9 include 2023 Turkey Export Strategy and Action Plan, Information Society Strategy and Action Plan, National Broadband Strategy and Action Plan, Energy Efficiency Strategy, SME Strategy and Action Plans, Combined Transportation Strategy, Turkey Public-University-Industry Collaboration (PUIC) Strategy and Action Plan, Turkey Industry Strategy, Transportation and Communication Strategy, National Energy R&D and Innovation Strategy, Efficiency Strategy and Action Plan, Turkey Nanotechnology Strategy and Action Plan, Turkey Biotechnology Strategy and Action Plan and Digital Turkey Roadmap (2018). The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 9 are as follows: • Ensuring balance between transport modes; switching from road transport to rail and sea transport particularly in freight transport and ensuring integration among different transport modes, • Strengthening railway and maritime infrastructure, enhancing the effectiveness of airway infrastructure, • Ensuring integration with international transportation networks, • Developing high value-added domestic production based on information and technology, • Ensuring transformation into a greener and more competitive industry structure where resources are used effectively, • Developing the industry in a way that contributes to social and regional development and contains qualified labour force, • Increasing the share of medium and high technology products in the manufacturing industry, • Enhancing efficiency, corporate competence, innovation and the share in the industrial value-added of SMEs, • Facilitating the easy access of SMEs and entrepreneurs to funding, • Improving and supporting entrepreneurship, • Ensuring an increase in Total Factor Productivity (TFP), • Increasing energy efficiency, • Popularising eco-friendly technologies, • Increasing the share of R&D expenses in GDP, • Increasing R&D activities and employment of R&D personnel in the private sector, • Improving the quality and quantity of the labour force in the field of research, • Creating an ecosystem based approach on innovation, commercialising R&D activities, producing competitive and high value-added products and brands, • Ensuring cooperation among the public sector, universities and private sector in R&D and innovation, • Increasing the number and effectiveness of structures such as Technology Development Centres, Technopolises and OIZs to support firms in the field of R&D and technology development, • Enhancing the service quality by popularising the use of information and communication technologies, • Strengthening the competitive environment in the telecommunication services sector, • Increasing the prevalence of broadband internet access and service quality. LEGISLATION Enhancement infrastructures’ resilience to disasters, effective, efficient and proper management of practices and construction of infrastructures that promote rural development are all overseen by legislation and laws. The objective is to support the construction and industrial zones’; institutionalise the cooperation between universities and the industry and; provide the industry with an export-oriented structure by enhancing its competitiveness. To this end, there are regulations in place to produce technological information, develop innovation in products and production methods, enhance product quality or standard, increase efficiency, reduce production costs, commercialise technological information and provide the necessary technological infrastructure. Regulations have been developed to easily access funding including alternative non-bank financing solutions for SMEs. 90 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” There are many items of legislation that aim to mitigate, prevent and counteract the possible negative impact of production facilities on the environment such as the Law on Environment, Law on Energy Efficiency and Regulation on the Control of Industrial Air Pollution in particular. There are regulations for more effective use of research infrastructures and ensuring sustainability in different sectors, namely the Law on Supporting Research and Development and Design Activities and Law on Technology Development Zones (TDZ) in particular. There are also laws and regulations governing the access to internet services and technological infrastructure and electronic communications sector broadly. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 9 is assessed under three focus areas: i. Reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure; ii. Inclusive and sustainable industrialisation; and, iii. Innovation. In terms of reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure; it is important to improve social and physical infrastructure to increase the quality of life, enhance competitiveness and ensure sustainable growth. In our country, between 2009-2018, the share of fixed capital investments made by the central government accounted for nearly 4% of GDP whereas the fixed capital investments undertaken by local administrations was around 1.3%. While these rates are similar to those observed in many developed countries, considering the size of our country’s GDP as well as its level of development, surface area, population and existing infrastructure, it is evaluated that there is still a need to continue the investments. In the Public Investment Programme of 2019, transportation and communications sector was ranked 1st with a 31.1% share followed by education with 16.5%, energy with 11.8%, healthcare with 7.6% and agriculture with 7.5%. Table 11. Sectoral Distribution of GDP at Current Prices (2000-2017), with 2009 Reference Year SECTORS 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 Agriculture 10.1 9.3 9.0 6.9 6.2 6.1 Mining 0.9 1.0 1.1 0.8 0.8 Manufacturing 18.8 16.9 15.1 16.7 16.6 17.5 Construction 5.3 5.6 6.1 8.2 8.6 8.6 Wholesale and Retail Trade 12.1 12.2 11.1 11.5 11.4 Transportation and Storage 8.8 9.5 7.9 7.9 7.6 Finance and Insurance 5.0 2.5 2.9 3.0 3.3 3.2 Real Estate 8.4 8.5 9.9 7.7 7.7 7.2 Public Administration and Defence, Mandatory Social Security 5.2 4.7 4.8 4.3 4.6 Education 2.7 3.2 3.9 4.1 4.4 Tax-Subsidy 10.5 12.7 12.1 11.9 11.9 11.4 There was significant progress in the transportation infrastructure and public access to services in 2000-2018 and a large amount of resources were allocated for the transportation infrastructure. In this context, considerable investments were made for road transport in particular, as well as air, sea and rail transport. 2019 Public Investment Program 0 10 20 30 40 2019 7.5% 7.6% 11.8% 16.5% 31.1% Transportation-Communication Education Energy Health Agriculture 2000-2017 Mode-share of transportation 2000 2017 0.6% 0.1% 1.0% 2.2% 9.6% 1.0% 89.3% 95.9% Road transportation Air transportation Rail transportation Sea transportation 91 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” The majority of passenger transport is carried by road transport in Turkey. In 2000-2017, the share of road transport decreased from 95.9% to 89.3% due to the increase in the share of air transport. Deregulation in the sector was effective in increasing the share of air transport from nearly 1% to 9.46% in the same period. The share of rail transport decreased from 2.2% to 1% whereas the share of sea transport increased from negligible levels to 0.6%. Freight transport consisted of 4.3% by rail, 89.2% by road, 6.4% by sea and inland water transport in 2017. The railway network length in EU-28 countries is 44 km per 100,000 people and 51 km per 1,000 km2 whereas it is 13 km for both in Turkey. Approximately 8 million passengers were transported in 2018 on the operationalised high-speed train routes. Works for improving the railway network are underway to eliminate the bottlenecks in freight and passenger transport. Increase in the high-speed train passenger transportation is expected to be accelerated after the completion of ongoing infrastructure and superstructure production. In addition to the works on increasing the capacities and length of high-speed trains on railways, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was completed in the context of regional integration. In parallel with the privatisation policies, ports have mostly been privatised and port investments of the private sector have increased. Green Port Project aims to enhance the business standards of port facilities operating in Turkey and maximise the environmental consciousness and in this context, the Green Port/Eco Port Certificate is issued. There are 56 airports in Turkey which are open to civil air traffic and operated by public and private sectors. The four- stage construction of Istanbul Airport with a capacity of 90 million passengers to contribute to our country’s efforts to become an important interchange centre, was completed and fully commissioned in April 2019. When all stages are completed, it will be the largest airport in the world with a yearly capacity of 150 to 200 million passengers. The balanced distribution of transport modes in terms of transportation structure, increased effectiveness of freight and passenger transport and achieving a balance that will contribute to international competitiveness are our priority. Of the 21 planned logistics centres, which were launched in 2006 with the aim to advance combined transportation and logistics and reduce the density in urban centres by relocating cargo and storage centres located in town centres, 11 were commissioned. This project will contribute to the integration of transport modes. In terms of inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, there were insignificant changes in the share of industrial value- added in GDP between 2000-2017, where it was 21.6% in 2000 and 20.6% in 2017, with the share in employment increasing from 18% to 19.1%. In 2000-2017, the share of manufacturing industry’s value- added in GDP accounted for 16.6% and share in employment for 18%. These figures were 16.6% and 17.6% respectively in 2017. One of the key factors that limit the share of manufacturing industry’s value-added in GDP is the level of technology utilised in manufacturing. To increase the share of medium and high technology products in value creation, it is important to ensure manufacturing industry’s technological transformation and implement policies accordingly. A new investment support system, which took into account regional disparities in levels of development and prioritises medium-high and high technology sectors was introduced with the investment incentive system which had its scope substantially modified in 2009. This support system was comprehensively renewed in 2012 and implemented with updates in line with the economic developments. Further, the Law on Supporting Research and Development and Design Activities, the Production Reform Package and the Decision to Support the Investments on a Project-Basis have contributed to the industrial advancement, technological transformation and inclusive development. In the industrial sector, projects mostly aim to increase industrial production, improve the level of technology, promote Freight Transportation 2017 2017 89.2% 6.4% 4.3% Rail transportation Sea transportation Road transportation 92 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” innovative practices and enhance competitiveness. In this regard, works and pilot applications which aim to increase the total factor efficiency are very important. Box.3 Support to Develop a Policy Framework for Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in Turkey This project aims to find solutions by identifying barriers to the efficiency of the manufacturing industry in Turkey and draft a policy framework for increasing TFP. Under the project which focuses on the sectors that will contribute the most in an TFP increase such as automotive, food, apparel and electrical equipment sectors, public policies were systematically reviewed with the support of reviewing 100 large scale manufacturers, 400 (mostly) medium scale suppliers and approximately 2500 final supplier SMEs. Policy framework was designed to stimulate efficiency. Under four separate implemented pilot works, Conceptual Design of Digital Supply Chain, Prototyping a Digital Apparel Value Chain, Road mapping Carbon Fibres and Assessing the Impact of Quality Awards on SME Institutionalisation works were undertaken and reports were published. The White Book with situation diagnosis conducted to increase the TFP’s contribution to growth in Turkey as well as policy recommendations was published. In 2014, SMEs accounted for 99.8% of all enterprises and 73.5% of employment, as well as 54.1% of wages and salaries, 62% of turnover, 53.5% of value-added at factor cost and 55% of gross investment in tangible goods. In 2015, 55.1% of all exports were undertaken by SMEs as well as 37.7% of imports. SMEs have a share of 17.7% in R&D expenditure in Turkey, whereas 27.5% of R&D personnel in Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) is employed by SMEs. In terms of technology density, 59.7% of SMEs among manufacturing industry enterprises operate in low technology sectors while the percentage of those operating in medium-high and high technology sectors is 9.4%. There is a need to analyse the SMEs’ position in the value chain in detail on a sectoral basis, develop policies and means of implementation for innovative SMEs to increase SMEs’ efficiency and share in the value creation in the manufacturing industry. SECTORAL SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH SDG Targets 9.4 – 9.5 – 9b – 8.2 – 8.5 – 8.7 – 8.8 – 12.2 – 12.4 – 12.5 – 12.6 – 17.7 – 17.9 Executing Entity Özyeğin University, TÜSIAD Start & End Dates 2008 – 2017 This project aims to collect firm level sustainability information, and based on the aggregated sectoral level analysis to determine the best policies for Turkey’s sustainable development. Environmental, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, employee rights, human rights, and product and supply chain management practices were identified as the components of the sustainability scale to produce a sustainability score. The publicly available reports of manufacturing firms listed at BIST index were compiled and assessed against the index. Using the data envelopment analysis on good practices, areas for improvement were identified by individual firms and roadmaps drawn. The study found that profitability increased in sectors which allocated resources in a balanced manner to various areas of sustainability; and that sustainability practices should be diversified. The analysis of all sub-sectors indicated that corporate governance practices, enabling social and environmental sustainability efforts are key for sustainability. The study also examined firms by forced labour, child labour, and discrimination by gender, disability and age. The findings were shared with sectors’ representatives, and the intention is to re-conduct the study annually covering all sectors. Thereby, the firm and sectoral levels data gap on sustainability will be remedied and more firms will be encouraged to report on sustainability, and therefore contribute to achieve SDG 12.6. Under the Treasury-Supported Surety System, which is one of the most important instruments in terms of facilitating the access of SMEs to financing, the amount of loans increased from 882.3 million TL (464 million USD) in 2013 to 218.8 billion TL (appr. 60 billion USD) in 2017; and stood at 83.5 billion TL (17.3 billion USD) in 2018. Of the total surety granted in 2018, 74.1% were made available to SMEs, and 32.5% used in the manufacturing industry. As of October 2018, total amount of SME loans reached 640.4 billion TL (133 billion USD). The share of SME loans in all loans increased from 23.1% in 2010 to 26%. The number of customers which qualified as SMEs increased from 1.4 million in 2010 to 3.2 million. The manufacturing industry accounts for 19% of the size of all loans. As for industrial sustainability, clean technologies and energy efficiency are essential. For instance, energy efficient electric motors usage in industrial production have been gradually increasing in the past years. 93 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” In terms of innovation, there was increase in R&D expenditures and size of qualified labour force and speedy progress in the access to information and communication technologies. In Turkey, the share of R&D expenditure in GDP increased from 0.51% in 2002 to 0.96% in 2017. On the other hand, share of the private sector in total R&D expenditure increased from 28.7% in 2002 to 56.9% in 2017. The share of R&D expenditure in GDP % 2002 2017 0.96 0.51 The share of R&D expenditure in GDP The share of the private sector in total R&D expenditure % 2002 2017 56.90 28.70 The share of the private sector in total R&D expenditure One of the most vital elements that determine the R&D and innovation capacity is the workforce in the field of research. As of 2017, the number of researchers in full-time equivalents (FTE) was 111,893 and number of R&D personnel in FTE was 153,552. The percentage of R&D personnel in FTE employed in the private sector was 57% in 2017.A total of 7.9 billion TL (1.64 billion USD) have been allocated as of 2018 for setting up and developing research infrastructures for enhancing the R&D capacities of universities and public entities. In this context, central research laboratories have been established at universities as well as thematic research laboratories in various fields such as healthcare, aviation and space, energy and information and communication technologies at universities and public entities. Further, TUBITAK introduced cooperation-based and goal-oriented new support models for the industry and academia to increase technological competence and knowledge, utilise existing talents, develop original technologies and accelerate technological advancements. R&D supports provided to the private sector, regulations for establishing private sector R&D centres and developments at Technology Development Zones (TDZs) which will facilitate the cooperation with universities have been effective in enhancing private sector activities and employment in the field of R&D and innovation. UN Technology Bank for the LDCs, which would provide LDCs with access to and use of precision technologies and work as a technology bank to guide LDCs in the field of technology and innovation, was established in Gebze and started its operations in 2018. Turkey achieved significant improvement in access to information and communication technologies, particularly in mobile technologies. Access to technology increased with mobile subscriber intensity approximating 99.8%. 16% of the population had access to terrestrial broadband Internet in 2018 whereas the percentage who had access to mobile broadband Internet reached 75.3% in the same year. On the other hand, household Internet access rate was 83.8% while the computer and Internet usage rate was 72.9 95% of the industry used computers and internet, 66.1% of the enterprises had web pages that is used as online marketplaces . NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 9: • Scaling up digital literacy, • Implementing Turkey Transportation Master Plan works, • Addressing national and urban level spatial plans and transportation plans in a holistic manner to ensure sustainability of the transportation system, • Preparing a roadmap with the emission-free transportation perspective and promoting more environmentalist practice, • Implementing long term emission mitigation targets as well as punitive and rewarding mechanisms, • Strengthening integration among transport modes and combined transportation facilities, improving rail and sea transport particularly in freight transport, • Disseminating broadband Internet access infrastructures across the country, • Improving the quality and quantity of the labour force in the field of research which is a critical element of the R&D ecosystem, • Developing mechanisms for increasing cooperation between universities and the industry and ensuring information and technology transfer. 94 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.10. SDG 10. REDUCE INEQUALITY WITHIN AND AMONG COUNTRIES In our country, there are legal regulations to ensure equal opportunities for employment, education, healthcare, social security, social aid and elimination of regional differences. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents related with SDG 10 include the National Strategy for Regional Development (BGUS 2014- 2023), Rural Development Strategy, National Employment Strategy (2014-2023), Irregular Migration Strategy and Action Plan, Human Trafficking Combat Strategy and Action Plan, Integration Strategy and Action Plan, Accessibility Strategy and Action Plan, Financial Access, Financial Training and Protection of Financial Consumer Strategy and Action Plan (2014-2017). The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 10 are as follows: • Empowering vulnerable segments particularly through social transfers and other various policy tools, • Enhancing social, political and economic inclusion of vulnerable segments, • Reducing differences in level of development among regions, • Regulating tax policies in favour of lower income categories, • Increasing the quantity and effectiveness of social aid, • Making distribution of income more equal, • Strengthening equal opportunities, • Increasing participation to labour force and employment particularly of young people and women, • Ending all forms of discriminatory practices, • Preventing informal employment and reducing unemployment, • Strengthening the link between employment and social aid, • Improving financial conditions of the labour force including particularly wages, • Preventing work accidents, • Increasing the effectiveness of our country in global financial institutions, • Improving financial access, • Creating an effective monitoring and tracking system for all migrants under various legal status, illegal workers and transit-passers, • Support migrants’ adaptation to the country. LEGISLATION The concept of “equality” has major prominence in our legislation, particularly in the Constitution. The Constitution enshrines the equality of everyone before the law without distinction as to language, race, colour, sex, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion and sect, or any such ground. Further, the Turkish Criminal Code criminalises “discrimination”. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 10 is assessed under three focus areas: i. Strengthening economic and social equality; ii. Global mobility; and iii. Cooperation with international economic and financial institutions. In terms of strengthening economic and social equality, Turkey made progress in 2000-2018 in reducing inequalities in income distribution, absolute and relative poverty and the share of labour in GDP. The income distribution indicators demonstrate that Gini coefficient decreased from 0.428 in 2006 to 0.404 in 2016 and is targeted to be 0.36 by 2023. While the share of the richest 20% in the disposable income in 2006 was nearly 9.6 times more than the share of the poorest 20%, this decreased to 7.7 in 2016. 95 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Figure 5. Gini Coefficient • Gini Coeﬃcient (%) 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 0.43% 0.41% 0.41% 0.42% 0.40% 0.40% 0.40% 0.40% 0.39% 0.40% 0.40% 0.41% Figure 5. Gini Coeﬃcient (%) • As Gini coefficient approximates 1, it indicates an increase in the inequality in the distribution of income whereas it means a decrease when it approximates to 0. • Gini coefficient had fluctuated between 2006 and 2017 and changed from 0.43 in 2006 to 0.41 in 2017. • Gini coefficient was 0.32 on average in OECD countries in 2016. Poverty gap, which is calculated according to 60% of the median income and measures the distance to poverty line, decreased from 33.6% in 2006 to 25.8% in 2017. During the same period, significant progress was achieved in terms of reducing the size of informal workers working for relatively lower wages. Significant amount of resources was allocated for social protection expenses between 2000-2018. Income of wage earners increased, especially due to wage subsidies through tax and social security premium incentives provided to women, young people and minimum wage earners. There is still a need for implementing policies to improve income distribution. The Law on Occupational Safety and Health, which entered into force in 2012, improved relevant rights, payments and conditions. Also, union rights were broadened by the Law on Trade Unions and Collective Labour Agreement which entered into force in the same year in line with international principles. The Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey, established in 2016 to protect and improve human rights is vested with the power to review, investigate, make decisions on and follow the outcomes of the violations of the prohibition of discrimination ex officio or upon application. Any natural or legal person who claims to have been harmed by a violation of the prohibition of discrimination may lodge an application to the Institution after requesting a correction from the relevant party and failing to get a positive response. Preparatory works for the Human Rights Action Plan are underway in the context of protecting and improving human rights. On the local scale, Societal Equality Units have been established in many municipalities under the leadership of Union of Municipalities of Turkey. The Local Equality Action Plan is being drafted for 2019-2010 under UN Joint Programme “Women Friendly Cities”. MY SISTER SDG Targets 10.2 – 5.1 – 5.5 – 8.1 – 8.5 – 17.16 – 17.17 Executing Entity Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, Habitat Association, Istanbul Teknik University and Coca-Cola Turkey Start & End Dates 2017 - Ongoing The Project aims to socially and economically empower women to assume active roles in economy by equipping women with knowledge and skills for participation in economic life. Accordingly: • In the project provinces, the awareness of women is raised through training focusing on entrepreneurship, finance and technology; • Women’s active participation in social life is promoted by socio-economic empowerment; • Local and regional cooperation between women is strengthened; • Market access is facilitated and visibility increased for the products produced by women; • Organisations engaging in women’s studies at local level are strengthened through curriculum sharing and cooperation. Since the inception of the project, a total of 11,429 women including 537 refugee women were provided training on financial awareness, communications, information technologies and entrepreneurship in 30 provinces by 60 volunteer trainers and Habitat Association’s employees. In addition, inspirational meetings were organised with women who proved themselves and started businesses in the provinces. Through solution-oriented and inclusive growth models, My Sister Project improved participants’ presentation and marketing capacities to outreach to larger audience by the products of women’s cooperatives. Training on mobile photography, internet advertisement, product design and development, web design were delivered. Regional development agencies working for eliminating disparities among provinces and regions provide financial support in line with regional plans’ priorities; and regional development administrations do so in line with their action plans. Regional development administrations’ public investment projects support economic development, social infrastructure, human resources and private sector investments as well. In this context, regional development administrations provided 3.04 billion TL at 2009 prices (550 million USD) for 3,308 projects covering 2014-2018. 96 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Development agencies provided 5.6 billion TL (1.16 billion USD) for 18,856 projects between 2008 and 2018 to support local development. Lowest national income per capita in Level 2 regions, which was 4.7 times in 2004, decreased to 4.3 times in 2017. Financial support were provided through the Programme for Promoting Centres of Attraction, Support of the Villages’ Infrastructure Programme and rural development accelerated regional development. In terms of global mobility, Turkey, historically a transit country for migrants due to its geographical location, has recently become a destination country for migrants as per its level of socio-economic development as well as humanitarian foreign policy. Since the early 2000s, there has been a significant increase in the number of foreigners living in our country with work and residence permits in the context of regular migration. The number of foreigners with registered addresses reached nearly 1,211,000 as of the end of 2018. The share of this population in the whole population increased drastically from 1.4% in 2007 to 14.8% in 2018. As of 2018, a total of 856,470 people were provided with residence permits. On the other hand, there was an increase in work permits over the years which increased from 22,000 people in 2005 to 85,840 people in 2018 including extension applications. The Turquoise Card System was introduced in 2017 as a new and easier work permit scheme to bring qualified labour force to our country. Further, there is still a need for continuing and diversifying programmes for attracting qualified labour force. Our country encountered a mass influx of migrants after the civil war in Syria, which started in 2011. During this period, Turkey adopted an “Open Door” policy with a humanitarian aid reflex and became the country hosting the highest number of refugees since 2015. As of February 2019, there are 3.6 million Syrians lived in our country.28 Turkey has recently been facing an increased number of applications for international protection in addition to the Syrian crisis. While the Syrians under temporary protection constitute the majority of migrants in Turkey, the number of foreigners applying for international protection is noteworthy compared to many other countries in the world. The figure was 8,932 in 2010 and increased every year to eventually hit the record high as 114,573 in 2018. Foreigners under international protection, are entitled to access rights to and services for education, healthcare, social assistance, and labour markets 28 See Chapter 4.4 etc. just as Syrians under temporary protection. Turkey is combating irregular migration on a human rights basis allocating significant amounts of resources. Aids and services provided to migrants by Turkey from its own national resources since 2011 are estimated to be about 37 billion USD as of February 2019. Combat against irregular migration has been effectively pursued in Turkey in recent years. Syrian migrants have been registered and provided with temporary protection status. Shelter, healthcare and education services and access to labour market and social aid have been provided to persons with this status. TACs were established in 26 locations in 10 provinces near the Syrian border. As of May 2019, there are 13 TACs in 8 provinces. As a result of the support provided to refugees to establish their lives outside the camps, the number of Syrians living in TACs decreased from 250,000 in 2017 to 139,000 as of April 2019. In 2013, the Board of Migration was established with the aim to determine migration policies and strategies of Turkey and follow their implementation; draft strategy documents and programmes and implementation documents concerning migration; identify methods and measures to be implemented in case of a mass influx; and identify procedures and principles regarding foreigners to be admitted in mass to Turkey and their entry and stay in the country. The General Directorate for Migration Management, which is responsible for migration management is organised in provinces and districts at the local level. It provides services with an organisation consisting of removal centres, receiving and accommodation centres and shelters for human trafficking victims. While the number of irregular migrants apprehended by law enforcement officials in Turkey, which is located on one of the five main global irregular migration routes in the world with Syria and Lebanon known as the East Mediterranean route, used to be around 50,000 people a year before the Syrian migrant crisis, as of 2018 it reached almost 268,000. In this context, combating human trafficking is continued with increasing effort which led to the apprehension of 6,278 migrant traffickers in 2018. In the joint declaration published as a result of the Turkey- EU Summit organised on 18 March 2016, an agreement was reached on coordinating the combat irregular migration in the Aegean Sea, preventing the death of migrants, joint combat against migrant trafficking and turning irregular migration into 97 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” legal migration through a one-to-one placement programme. In this framework, it was agreed that Turkey would re-admit migrants who entered Greek Islands through irregular ways and in return for each Syrian migrant admitted by Turkey, one Syrian migrant under temporary protection in Turkey would be placed in EU. Following the implementation of the protocol, the number of irregular migrants to Europe through Turkey substantially decreased. On the other hand, Turkey introduced a coordinating governor function to organise law enforcement forces to better combat irregular migration in 2016. Through Turkey’s efforts, while the number of migrants sailing to Greece was 856,723 in 2015, the figure receded to 173,351 in 2016, 28,907 in 2017 and 32,032 in 2018. In addition to the works undertaken by our country through its own means, Turkey also engages in joint projects with international institutions for development. For instance, the Resilience in Local Administrations Project implemented by the Union of Municipalities of Turkey involves works on taking into account the role and needs of local administrations in national migration policies, strengthening learning and support structures among municipalities and providing grants to municipalities. Cooperation is established with international economic and financial institutions and active participation is ensured in ongoing projects and works. In this regard, Turkey takes leed in compliance with internationally determined principles and standards. Turkey is a member of numerous global economic and financial institutions such as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organisation, Standing Committee of Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Islamic Development Bank. It has been represented at the G-20 group since its inception in 1999 which has become the main platform for global economic cooperation. Also, Turkey became a member of Financial Stability Board in 2009. The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) on 25 March 2009 and Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) on 1 July 2009 became members of Basel Committee of Banking Supervision (BCBS). In 2016, Turkey was assessed and found fully compliant with Basel III standards in the context of the Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme. Regulatory and supervisory agencies in Turkey are included in the International Network on Financial Education (INFE) which undertakes important work on financial education under OECD and take part in sub-group studies. Between 2014-2017, “Financial Access, Financial Training and Protection of Financial Consumer Strategy and Action Plan” was implemented. The main objective of this document is to disseminate financial products and services across all segments, inclusion of persons outside the financial system and increase the quality and use of existing products and services. Effective measures for protecting financial consumers are also among the objectives. Regulatory and supervisory agencies in the finance sector in Turkey as well as Borsa Istanbul are also members of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB). CBRT is a shareholder of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM), whereas BRSA is a member of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) and Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). Also, Turkey is represented at International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO), World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) and International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS). Turkey actively participates in the works of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Standing Committee of Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC), develops projects and shares its experiences with other countries. Turkey has undertaken important commitments in all negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) platform and made adjustments in line with the agreements. Our country has undertaken serious commitments in all negotiations at the WTO platform regarding the implementation of special and differentiated treatment for 2015 2016 2017 2018 32,032 28,907 173,351 856,723 The number of migrants sailing to Greece 98 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” developing countries, particularly LDCs. In this context, Turkey declared to WTO on 3 September 2015 that it already granted preferential treatment to LDCs beyond entry into the market in the field of trade in services starting as of 25 August 2015 and the commitments in this declaration will be valid until 2026. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 10: • Alleviating the tax burden on the incomes of lower income groups, • Strengthening equal opportunities in every area, particularly in education and employment, • Increasing participation in labour force and employment particularly for young people and women, • Broadening the scope and increasing the effectiveness of the mechanisms supporting local development to reduce the differences in levels of development among regions, • Increasing the number of projects targeting vulnerable segments in service provision of local administrations, • Strengthening the mechanisms for increasing the participation of NGOs and relevant segments of the society in policy and implementation processes in the framework of pluralism and participation, • Devising a general-scope orientation training programme to support the adaptation of migrants. 99 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.11. SDG 11. MAKE CITIES AND HUMAN SETTLEMENTS INCLUSIVE, SAFE, RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE The main objective is to create human settlements that preserves historical and cultural values; are resilient to disasters and secure; have effective waste management systems which minimises the impacts of waste on environment; and are safe and accessible with integrated transportation networks and also to ensure that all segments of the society, particularly elderly, persons with disabilities, women and children are safely included in city life. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 11 include the Integrated Urban Development Strategy and Action Plan, National Rural Development Strategy, Information Society Strategy and Action Plan, National Intelligent Transportation Systems Strategy, Species Protection Strategy and Action Plans, National Earthquake Strategy and Action Plan, Turkey’s Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan, National Environmental Strategy and Action Plan, National Biological Diversity Strategy and Action Plan and 2007 National Recycling Strategy and Action Plan. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 11 are as follows: • Improving environmental sensitivity and quality of life through practices such as waste and emission reduction, energy, water and resource efficiency, recycling and prevention of noise and visual pollution in line with sustainable cities approach, • Implementing spatial planning and urban design schemes that aim to enhance liveability for different segments of the society, particularly elderly, disabled, women and children and protect equal opportunities and equity, • Protecting human health, natural resources as well as historical and aesthetical values of cities through participatory and effective spatial planning, • Developing principles and methods that define the qualifications and preparation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, supervision and governance processes of spatial plans, and GIS infrastructure to effectively use information technologies. • Scaling up eco-sensitive, efficient and cost-effective urban development, • Taking into account the needs of vulnerable segments in designing housing and their surroundings and creation and provision of all urban services, particularly transportation, • Developing healthy and alternative solutions to the shelter problem, • Strengthening the guiding, regulatory, supervisory and supporting role of the public sector in the housing market, • Accelerating infrastructure-ready land development, • Ensuring adequate, liveable, resilient, safe, inclusive, affordable and sustainable housing with basic infrastructure services for all, especially for those with lower incomes, • Diversifying social housing production and supporting building cooperatives, • Undertaking urban regeneration projects with an approach that integrates living areas of different income groups, reduces the workplace-housing distance, is compatible with the city’s historical and cultural background and supports social integration, • Maximising the use of planning tools that take into account ideal field size, infrastructure needs and social impact in urban regeneration, • Creating urban areas and residential environments through a planning process that takes heed of disaster risks and enhance disaster resilience and inspections, • Undertaking risk mitigation, preparation, response and post-disaster recovery works in a holistic manner and enhance disaster management capacities, • Making urban transportation investments with an approach based on public transportation according to transportation plans in line with land use plans, • Ensuring that urban transportation systems offer highly accessible, safe, high-quality and effective services, • Utilising information technologies and intelligent transportation systems effectively in traffic management and public transportation services, • Improving and transforming the urban transportation infrastructure with a focus on pedestrians and public transportation, • Increasing the competitiveness of regions through practices that are sensitive to characteristics of settlements with different qualities and functions and are in line with sectoral policies and strengthen economic and social integration, • Protecting and restoring cultural heritage in line with holistic protection principle and increase public awareness. 100 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” LEGISLATION The Law on Environment, regulates measures such as waste management, control of soil pollution, air quality and pollution as well as on protecting the environment and preventing environmental pollution to mitigate negative impacts of urbanisation and economic activities. The Law on Land Development Planning and Control, defines the duties and responsibilities of local administrations, central institutions and other relevant parties in spatial planning, urbanisation, lot arrangement and cadastral system as well as the responsibilities of professionals working in these areas. Areas covered by SDG 11 such as access to housing, housing financing, prevention of slum housing, urban transportation, mitigation of disaster risks, protecting the natural and cultural heritage, improving the access of disadvantaged groups to urban services and eliminating the imbalance among regions as well as empowering local administrations, which are the main party in charge of urban services are comprehensively regulated in our legislation. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 11 is assessed on four focus areas: i. Inclusive and sustainable urbanisation; ii. Safe and affordable transport; iii. Spatial planning and regional development; and iv. Protection of natural and cultural heritage In terms of inclusive and sustainable urbanisation, the urbanisation and development process has been addressed in an integrated manner and policies are developed to create highly liveable places. The urban population in Turkey increased from 65% in 2000 to 73% in 2015 and came closer to OECD average of 80%. The administrative regulation entered into force in 2014, increased the number of metropolitan municipalities and expanded their boundaries, the urban population reached 92% in 2018. This regulation included rural settlements into the boundaries of urban areas. Although the shortage in total housing was met and the slum housing problem was resolved as a result of the recent increase in housing supply, there is misalignment in the supply and demand balance in terms of settlements. In response to the estimated housing need for 2017 which was predicted to be as 817,000; number of housing units with occupancy permits was 823,000. The Housing Development Administration (TOKI), which was established to meet the need for social housing and housing financing in Turkey, started the construction of 832,000 housing units in 2003 and delivered 655,194 as of the end of 2018 with all their social and technical infrastructure. 86.2% of built housing units is social housing. Urban regeneration projects in our country are undertaken in many areas ranging from disaster prone areas to industrial areas and from revitalisation of historical areas to creating quality housing projects. Pursuant to the legal regulation aiming to ensure more effective and faster urban regeneration applications and to increase the number of regenerated buildings and areas, in 2012-2019Q1, 188,000 buildings which included 602,000 detached units were identified as risky; 227 risky areas, 141 Urban Regeneration and Development Project Areas (URDPA) and 10 Renovation Areas were declared on a total area of 28,145 hectares. Further, a total of 204 reserve construction areas were identified on 46,217 hectares of land in 37 provinces. Approximately 8.1 billion TL (2.83 billion USD) have been spent to financing urban regeneration, for corporate and individual rent allowances, interest supports, expropriations and regenerations since 2012. Disaster management in Turkey is handled within a comprehensive and integrated framework involving different strategy documents. Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, which will guide disaster reduction policies was adopted in 2015. Hazard and risk maps by types of disasters addressing disaster threats which may affect the settlements in our country are under preparation. Guidelines were developed and made available for rock fall and avalanche. Sensitivity maps for landslide were completed. The Disaster Management and Decision Support System Project (AYDES) implemented by AFAD created an electronic tracking and management system for all stages of integrated disaster management to also optimize the disaster management process. 101 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM PROJECT (AYDES) SDG Targets 1.5; 11.b; 13.1 Executing Entity Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) Start & End Dates 2014-2020 AYDES represents a web-based platform capable of conducting early warning and prediction, modelling and simulations through geographic information systems and remote-sensing supported applications to effectively and efficiently manage all phases of disasters and emergencies. A decision support system for preparedness for disasters and managing the incidents of disasters more effectively and expeditiously, AYDES offers an integrated database for agencies in charge of managing disasters. The system provides fast access to data, sustainable coordination capacity, prevention of duplications, and facilitation of collaboration , timely and accurate information to the public, identification of impacts of disasters rapidly and quick response. Various disaster risk management projects are being carried out by local authorities in areas under high risk of disasters. For instance, by a joint project of AFAD and Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, early warning systems are planned to be installed in all industrial enterprises in the city using smart city applications. AFAD Volunteering System makes it possible to include natural and legal persons who volunteer to assume roles in any phase of disaster management, to assign mission areas, to increase capacity by training, and to monitor their performance in the volunteering system. As for solid waste management, the number of sanitary landfills increased to 88 as of 2019 and these facilities provide services to 62.3 million people in 1,160 municipalities and 3 incineration plants and 58 medical waste sterilisation units are operated. In 2017, 58% of approximately 4.2 million tons of packaging waste in the market was recovered. As of April 2019, in 499 municipalities packaging waste are collected separately at the source. 29 See Chapter 5.6. Table 12. Solid Waste Data Indicator 2018 2019 Number of sanitary landfills 88 88 Number of municipalities providing sanitary landfill services 1,142 1,160 Population of municipalities providing sanitary landfill services (million) 54.9 62.3 Number of incineration plants 3 3 Number of medical waste sterilisation units 58 58 Number of municipalities collecting packaging waste separately at the source 457 499 The National Waste Management Action Plan initiated after alignment with the EU legislation, identifies activities for enhancing effectiveness in solid waste and hazardous waste management by considering the existing situation in waste management, institutional structure and responsibilities as well as the need for legal regulations. The Solid Waste Programme (SWP) support solid waste management projects of municipalities with financing difficulties, by funding for construction of integrated waste management facilities, landfills, pre-treatment facilities such as material recovery facilities and transfer stations. Zero Waste Project, which was initiated to prevent waste, use natural resources efficiently, minimise waste generation and sort and recycle waste at the source is being expanded. It is still important to develop policies and strategies that encourages recycling and recovery in waste management in terms of the economic and environmental benefits. 75% of municipal populations received wastewater treatment plant services in 2016.29 Wastewater Treatment Action Plans that cover the periods of 2008-2013 and 2015-2023 propose measures to increase effectiveness of wastewater management. 102 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Air quality across the country is monitored via full-automatic measurement stations. The number of air quality monitoring stations increased from 36 in 2007 to 253 in 2017. Regional clean air centres prepare local air quality action plans, and develop air quality modelling infrastructures. Kocaeli being the highest density of industrial facilities in Turkey, air pollution type and amounts generated by industrial facilities were identified; distribution modelling was conducted for pollutants; air quality was monitored in identified areas and it was ensured that industrial enterprises took necessary measures. Pursuant to a regulation that passed in 2017, green area standard per capita in spatial plans was increased from 10 m2 to 15 m2. Local and provincial green areas have been differentiated in this regulation and an approach for more accessible green areas was adopted for urban population. Different projects are being implemented and developed by public entities especially on ensuring access to public services for children and persons with disabilities. Box 4. Esenler District Municipality Activities for Vulnerable Istanbul Esenler District Municipality improved practices such as tactile paving and audible warning systems in elevators in public buildings, notably in the town hall and other buildings offering social and cultural services to increase accessibility for citizens with disabilities. In addition, Children’s Street and Children’s Town, Children’s University projects for childern; Women’s Life Centre and Mother-Child Campus, Mother’s University Certification Programme and Rehabilitation Centres for women; Second Spring Coffee Houses and Grandfather-Grandchild Life Centres projects for elderly, and Life Button, Morale Team, Home Care and Home Service, Home Cleaning Service, Cemil Meric Volunteers Read Books to Persons with Disabilities for vulnerable groups have been implemented. Esenler Municipality renovated a total of 136,769 m2 of sidewalk areas on 130 avenues and streets for a smooth access of disadvantaged groups to urban services and it aims to complete this across the district by 2023 including tactile pavings for persons with visual disabilities and wheelchair ramps for persons with orthopaedic disabilities. HOME-BASED DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, REHABILITATION, CARE, ESCORT, EDUCATION, REFERRAL AND PATIENT TRANSPORT BY AMBULANCE SERVICES FOR BEDRIDDEN PATIENTS IN SOCIO- ECONOMIC POVERTY AND DEPRIVATION WITHIN BOUNDARIES OF BURSA METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY SDG Targets 1.3 - 1.a – 3.d-11.7 Executing Entity Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Start & End Dates 2015 - 2020 The project aims to provide diagnosis, treatment, care, education, referral etc. services within the boundaries of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality for patients who are in socio-economic poverty and deprivation and unable to perform their daily activities on their own. The following services were provided for 15,548 patients in 2015- 2019: 10,747 examinations by physio-therapy specialists; 34,601 examinations by medical doctors; 62,101 sessions of physio- therapy and rehabilitation; 154,084 nurse calls; 109,366 instances of care service; 14,148 sessions of psychological support; 16,625 social reviews; 64,150 instances of patient transport by ambulance, totalling 466,283 instances of service delivered. The satisfaction surveys since 2015 reveals 98% of satisfaction. In addition, many medical equipment is provided for patients such as patient beds, wheelchairs, oxygen cylinders and respiration device. The effective home-based healthcare services prevented overloading of hospital beds, reducing the psychological and socio-economic burden on bedridden patients and families, preserving family unity through monetary and non-monetary support to patients and families. In terms of safe and affordable transport, significant progress have been achieved in developing urban transportation systems since 2000s. Eliminating traffic jams and increasing traffic safety through Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in many cities, especially in metropolises improved. In various cities rail system projects were undertaken and bicycle lanes were installed. Bicycle renting services were introduced in cities like Istanbul, Izmir, Kocaeli, Kayseri and Konya. In cities with maritime transport options infrastructure investments have been made. The length of rail system completed in 2013-2018 was 160 km which approximated the total line length to 700 km. A total of 970 million passengers are carried annually by rail lines. Central government also provides financial support for local administrations’ rail system projects. As of the end of 2018, public rail transport systems (subway, light rail system, trams) are operated in 12 metropolises in Turkey. Although there is progress in the field of urban rail systems, there is still a significant need for development in large cities. 103 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Despite the developments in physical infrastructure in transportation, traffic safety still continues to pose a serious issue. In 2017, on the road network of our country, a total of 1, 202,716 traffic accidents occurred, 1,020,047 of which resulted in material damage whereas 182,669 resulted in fatal injuries. 74.4% of traffic accidents resulted in 7,402 people death and 300,000 people injury occurred in settlement areas while 25.6% occurred outside settlement areas. Legal regulations have been passed in recent years which emphasise the priority of pedestrians and deter behaviours that jeopardise traffic safety to enhance road traffic safety. Have a Nice Class, Mr. Driver Project was introduced under the Traffic Responsibility Action initiated in 2010, to raise awareness on traffic safety, take measures to reduce fatalities, injuries, property damages caused by traffic accidents and enhance responsibility in traffic. The aim of the project is to increase the knowledge, skills and capacities of drivers transporting students under the Ministry of National Education on traffic safety, first-aid, communication and relevant legislation. To date, within the scope of the project implemented in 30 provinces, 28,000 drivers and nearly 17,000 students have been trained. The National Intelligent Transportation Systems Strategy (2014-2023) aims to utilise information and communication technologies in all transportation modes and access a safe, efficient, eco-friendly, sustainable and smart transportation network and thus facilitate passenger and cargo mobility. In terms of spatial planning and regional development, although the spatial plans which are the drivers of physical development of our cities, have been mostly completed during 2013-2018, our cities are yet to reach the desired level of quality of life. Coordination issues among implementation, monitoring and supervision of plans as well as between plans of different levels and increased changes in plans negatively affect the quality of life in cities. At the Council of Urbanisation which convened in 2017 to implement the New Urban Agenda adopted at Habitat III Conference, innovative, participatory, transparent and solution-oriented principles, new urban regeneration approach and social cohesion, strong local administrations and urbanisation practices have been identified under the themes of cities with identities. In Turkey, civil society is involved in urban planning and city management through City Councils. Currently, there are 68 City Councils. Regional planning works are initiated to reduce regional development disparities. 2014-2023 National Strategy for Regional Development (BGUS) was put into practice with the aim of identifying national level priorities and goals in terms of regional development and competitiveness. In 2010, a total of 26 Development Agencies were operationalised to mobilise the potential to reduce inter- and intra-regional disparities. GAP Regional Development Administration established in 1989, DAP, DOKAP and KOP Regional Development Administrations established in 2011 contribute to reduce regional development disparities. Regional plans prepared in line with BGUS are implemented under the coordination of development agencies while GAP, DAP, DOKAP and KOP action plans are being implemented under the coordination of regional development administrations. A total of 103.2 billion TL (18.8 billion USD) (in 2018 prices) was allocated to action plans during 2014- 2018. Projects, on infrastructure, urbanisation, tourism, environmental sustainability, human and social development, local institutional capacity building and agricultural irrigation have been implemented in these regions. Development Agencies provided financial and technical support programmes in line with regional plans’ priorities. Under these programmes, financial support schemes were implemented between 2008-2018 and a total of 7.3 billion TL (1.3 billion USD) of financial assistance at 2009 prices was allocated for 19,758 projects. In terms of protection of natural and cultural heritage, Turkey, located on lands on which many ancient towns and communities lived before, is strengthening efforts to safeguard its vast heritage resources’ wealth and bio-cultural diversity. As of 2019, Turkey has 18 cultural properties in the World Heritage List and 77 properties in the tentative list. The latest to be inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List as Turkey’s 18th asset in 2018 was Gobeklitepe Archaeological Site, which is one of the most important heritages of human history with its 12-thousand-year-old past and is considered to be the beginning point of history. 2019 was declared Gobeklitepe Year in Turkey. 10% of the property tax (approximately 100 million USD/ year in total) collected by local administrations, being the most important actors in protecting the cultural heritage, is allocated for protecting and benefiting from cultural heritage. In 2016, the ratio of total cultural expenses over Gross Domestic Product was 1.4%. 104 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Inventory and restoration works for registering and protecting our cultural heritage inside and outside our country continues. In this framework, an action plan was prepared under the coordination of TIKA to undertake more coordinated activities to protect our cultural heritage outside our country and the amount of assistance provided with this aim increased substantially. With the Turkish National Immovable Cultural Heritage Inventory System Project implemented between 2011-2020, an archival index is being created to identify all registered immovable cultural assets on the basis of area size as monuments and protected areas, amount, provinces and districts. There is a comprehensive legislation that defines movable, immovable cultural and natural assets, protection measures of cultural and natural heritage, regulates actions and activities to be undertaken, identifies necessary principles and practical decisions. Cultural and natural heritage is protected through creation and supervision of land development plans as well as plans, research, control and supervision on special environmental protection areas where special natural and cultural assets are located. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 11: • Identifying housing inventory, developing a supply/demand- oriented housing data structure, • Ensuring that cities, settlements, public areas and services are inclusive safe, resilient and sustainable for all, and devising plans by considering the needs of vulnerable segments, • Enhancing the access of women, children, elderly, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable segments to public areas and services, • Undertaking urban regeneration projects by taking into account sustainability, inclusiveness and social impact, • Developing monitoring, evaluation and supervision activities together with inclusive and effective spatial planning processes, • Preparing urban transport and urban mobility plans that prioritise passenger and public transportation in integration with land development plans, • Selecting and implementing smart city projects considering nationally prioritised areas, capabilities and feasibility, broadening the scope of intelligent transportation services, • Increasing transportation diversity where integration is achieved among modes in the context of safe and affordable transport, • Enhancing quality standards of private service providers in urban transportation (taxi, public minibus, private bus) and ensuring their effective supervision, • Updating traffic signs for persons with hearing, visual and intellectual disabilities to make transportation accessible especially for vulnerable populations and adopting international standards in traffic signalisation, • Basing the land development planning, implementation and urbanisation processes upon disaster risk factors, • Implementing urban regeneration projects using building information modelling and considering sustainability, inclusiveness and social impact, • Clarifying the processes in the legislation on restoration and registered structures concerning historical and natural values and protection of cultural heritage and reducing time loss. 105 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.12. SDG 12. ENSURE SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION PATTERNS Considering the limited resources of our world, it is clear that continuation of today’s production and consumption patterns is not possible. Therefore, all the actors in the supply chain starting from the producer up to the final consumer in all sectors, particularly in food, need to adopt sustainable production and consumption patterns. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 12 include the National Environmental Strategy and Action Plan, EU Integrated Environmental Adaptation Strategy (2007-2023), Turkey Climate Response Strategy (2010-2023), Turkey Industry Strategy (2015-2018), Productivity Strategy and Action Plan (2015-2018), National Clean Production/Eco-Efficiency Programme (2014-2017), Turkey Tourism Strategy 2023, National Waste Management and Action Plan (2016-2023), National Recycling Strategy and Action Plan (2014-2017), Turkey Automotive Sector Strategy and Action Plan (2016- 2019), Turkey Cooperativism Strategy and Action Plan (2012- 2016). The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 12 are as follows: • Encouraging sustainable use of natural resources, • Developing an effective environmental management system, • Making measurement, monitoring and evaluation related to environment systematic, • Making arrangements to review compliance of practices in investment and operation phases with the EIA Report, • Developing R&D and innovation capacity for cleaner production, • Expanding cleaner production/eco-efficiency practices, • Determining clean production potential and performing clean production and life cycle analysis in pilot sectors, • Raising the awareness level of enterprises and developing human resources and capacity on clean production/eco- efficiency in Turkey, • Raising environmental conscience and public awareness, • Ensuring food security, reducing losses in efficient stock management, production, marketing and consumption chain by considering stability in product markets, • For the disposal of domestic waste, ensuring that the waste which cannot be utilised beneficially through pre-processing plants be disposed by regular landfilling method, • Raising awareness of households for reducing the amount of waste produced in the solid waste generation and for sorting at source, • Adding substances with recovery value in solid wastes in the economy, • Making practices on collection, transportation, disposal and inspection of hazardous wastes in safe conditions effective, • Developing coordination and cooperation between central and local administrations and the private sector on the collection, transportation and disposal of special waste, • Closing and rehabilitating old garbage dump sites, • Developing an effective controlling system by recording waste generation, • Preferring environmentally friendly products in public procurement to support sustainable production and consumption, • Developing sustainable tourism practices under environmentally conscious and responsible tourism approach. LEGISLATION National legislation in accordance with the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, as well as international agreements to which Turkey is a signatory in the field of environmental protection were also aligned to these targets. To ensure sustainable management of natural resources such as prevention of soil and water pollution, control of industrial pollution, management of waste and chemicals are integrated in our legislation. 106 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 12 is assessed on two focus areas: i. Sustainable management of resources and waste; ii. Sustainability reporting; and iii. Sustainable tourism. Sustainable management of resources and environmentally friendly waste management practices are integrated into decision-making and policy-making processes and action plans for sustainable management of natural resources. Practices were developed and initiated to increase industrial resource efficiency. Domestic material consumption per GDP, which was 0.62 EUR per kg in 2004, receded to 0.49 EUR in 2010 through the regulations that encouraged material consumption savings. Productivity Strategy and Action Plan (2015-2018) aimed the transition to high value-added, high-tech production- based industry structure, sustainable production, especially the provision of resource (raw material) efficiency and implementation of clean production (eco-efficiency) approaches in the production process. Under the heading of “Sustainable Production” on the basis of “efficiency-based structural transformation of the industry”, the target of “Promotion of Technologies and Applications in the Process of Transformation into Sustainable Production Infrastructure in the Industry” is included. Turkey’s Industry Strategy which contains important policies under this target were determined in a way that encourages domestic, innovative and green production. Particular emphasis is given for sustainable and industrial processes operating with resources and energy efficiency. Various projects were implemented on sustainable water, energy, chemical use, reuse, pollution prevention in production processes. HEAT-PIPE: HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN AND SYSTEM FOR HEAT RECOVERY FROM TUNNEL FURNACES SDG Targets 12.2 – 7.3 Executing Entity Eczacıbaşı Yapı Gereçleri [Eczacıbaşı Building Materials] Start & End Dates 2017 - Ongoing The project aims to save energy by recovering the waste energy of 750 kWh capacity from the combustion shafts at the building materials plant operating in the ceramics sector, which is an energy intensive sector, using the recovered energy in the boiler room. The capacities and types of furnace fans, characteristics and capacities of hot water recirculation pumps, inverter-controlled fans, layout, heat exchanger performance and pressure losses etc. were monitored using error-impact analysis, and heat-pipe exchangers were designed with longer life span and higher performance than conventional heat exchangers. The project resulted in natural gas savings of 576,000 m3 annually per plant, corresponding to 1,225 tonnes of carbon emission reduction. The project demonstrated that energy saving in ceramics furnaces could be economical. Specially designed heat-pipe exchangers may enable long-life, efficient designs. In the framework of National Clean Production/Eco-Efficiency Programme, resource efficiency, reducing the environmental impacts emerging during the life cycle of products, reuse/ recycling/recovery of wastes, developing and expanding clean production technologies improvements were accomplished. “Developing Green Organised Industrial Zone (OIZ) Framework for Turkey” outlines Turkey’s green roadmap for OIZs. Once the proposed changes are introduced in 4 OIZs it would result in 1.5 million MWh of energy and 11.6 million cubic meters of water saving per year, 71,000 tons of solid/hazardous waste reduction and 14,000 tons of chemical consumption reduction through total investment of approximately 350 million USD; a total of 100 million USD economic value can be generated annually. Industrial Symbiosis (IS) practices are underway, which increase the transition to green OIZs and improve production performance in industry while reducing environmental impact. Under the project Developing a Roadmap for Industrial Symbiosis for Turkey launched in 2018, a governance model was built for the implementation of industrial symbiosis approach on a national scale in Turkey and recommendations for implementation were submitted as a report to the relevant stakeholders. 107 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” When food supply chain is addressed as a whole in Turkey, the highest loss rate is observed in agricultural production which is the first ring of the chain. 25-40% of 49 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables produced per year are turned into waste due to various reasons during production, distribution and sales. In one study, a total of 4.9 million loaves of bread were found to be wasted per day. To reduce the losses in the food supply chain, registration system needs strengthening, licensed warehousing and logistic infrastructures need expansion in the supply chain of fresh fruits and vegetables. Packaging, transportation, storage and retail sales standards and efficient operation and modernisation of wholesale food markets are the priorities adopted in our country. To prevent the adverse impacts of chemicals and waste on human health and the environment, significant improvements were achieved in reduction of solid waste generation through waste prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse. In 2014, a total of 16 million tons of waste, 1 million of which was of a hazardous nature, was generated in the manufacturing industry. 5.4% of total waste is recovered in facilities, 45.1% was sold or sent to licensed waste disposal and recovery companies, 31.1% was disposed in landfills, 4.3% was disposed in garbage dump sites, 11.8% was stored in workplace site, 1.3% was incinerated in co-incineration or incineration facilities and 1% was disposed of by other methods. National Recycling Strategy and Action Plan (2014-2017) were published, aiming at making efficient use of resources and recycling a part of the economy. According to the results of the questionnaire applied to all waste disposal and recovery facilities and to landfills, incineration and compost facilities licensed or with a temporary activity certificate, a total 1,698 facilities, 140 of which are waste disposal facilities and 1,558 of which are recovery facilities, are operating in Turkey. In 7 compost facilities with a total capacity of 424,000 tons/year, 140,000 tons of waste was processed and 20,000 tons of compost was produced. In addition, energy recovery was achieved by incinerating 739,000 tons of waste in 35 co-incineration facilities licensed for waste recovery. A total of 32 million tons of metal, plastic, paper, mineral etc. waste was recovered in the other 1,516 licensed waste recovery facilities. It is anticipated that the annual use of plastic bags in our country is 30-35 billion pieces. In this context, pursuant to the principle of “prevention” which is the first priority among the principles of waste management, the need to take some measures to prevent unnecessary use of plastic bags in our country emerged. Plastic bags are sold to the consumer for a fee at the point of sales in 2019. In 2018, the practice of “Eco-Label” was introduced to raise consumers’ awareness on environmental impacts of the products. In the first stage, an Eco-Label were given to a total of 8 companies for 15 products, including 3 companies in textile sector for 3 products, 3 companies in ceramics industry for 9 products and 2 companies in paper industry for 3 products. Sustainable public procurement, encourages environmentally friendly products preferences in public procurement to support sustainable production and consumption particularly in construction materials. Therefore, the public procurement will be used as an effective tool to increase green production capacity. In the public procurement legislation, obligation to have EIA positive certificate was imposed for tender for the work with obligation to comply with the environmental legislation and with Environmental Impact Assessment requirements. There is a need to improve the capacity of public institutions and to expand good practice examples for green procurement in the public sector. Under the sustainability reporting, Borsa Istanbul (BIST) published the “Sustainability Guide for companies”. In this context, around 130 organisations published a sustainability report while a small number of organisations prepared an integrated report for the first time in 2016. In November 2016-October 2017, 42 companies in BIST took part in Sustainability Index. Being part of the sustainability index, companies’ approaches for sustainable natural resource management, health, security and governance improved. BIST third party assessment provided companies sustainability performance based for investors. The Banks Association of Turkey (TBB) issued a Sustainability Guide for the banking sector in 2014. Aiming to effectively assess and manage the environmental, social risks and internal impact risks arising from banking activities, the guide lays down principles and good practices for human and worker rights, stakeholder participation, communications, corporate governance, capacity-building, monitoring and reporting in the context of sustainability. 108 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Turkey promotes the strengthening of scientific and technological capacity needed by sustainable consumption and production in developing countries under bilateral and multilateral agreements Turkey signed. Under Sustainable Tourism, Green Star certificate has been awarded to environmentally friendly accommodation facilities since 2008 to protect the environment, to reduce the negative impacts of the touristic facilities to the environment and to encourage the facilities in this direction. In this way, the environmental, socio-cultural and economic sustainability of the tourism sector is contributed by bringing the amount of water, electricity, energy, chemical and solid waste under control. As of March 2019, Green Star Certificate was issued to 476 facilities in Turkey. In 1993, Turkey was included the Blue Flag awarded to beaches, marinas, and yachts with the necessary standards in terms of cleanliness, maintenance, hardware and trust to ensure sustainability on the coasts. While there were 258 beaches, 13 marinas and 4 yachts with blue flags in 2008, this figure gradually increased in the last 10 years and as of 2018, 459 beaches, 22 marinas and 10 yachts were awarded a blue flag. In the Blue Flag Scheme, our country ranked third in the beach category and eighth in the marina category in 2018. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 12: • Transferring environmental taxes to environmental support mechanisms, • Improving financial mechanisms for sustainable investments, • Encouraging the work of “Zero Waste” at an industrial scale, • Increasing the number of municipal waste collection centres, • Promoting production and use of alternative goods which are environmentally less harmful such as bioplastic, • Promoting products with reduced lifetime environmental impact using eco-labels; scale up the system to provide scientific, accurate information to consumers, • Disseminating notices for consumers such as eco-labels, content of recycled materials, life cycle analysis, • Increasing the number of activities to raise awareness of consumers and producers, in particular SMEs, on sustainable consumption and production issues, • Certifying the sustainability of the products, promoting branding and encouraging the increase of exports in this way, • Establishing sectoral platforms on sustainability, • Increasing raw materials in areas that are inadequate in production, • Improving green purchasing capacity and developing certificate tools, • Reducing unconscious consumption in tourism, • Building capacity on sustainability report and integrated reporting. 109 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.13. SDG 13. TAKE URGENT ACTION TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACTS Located in the Mediterranean basin, Turkey is one of the countries most affected by climate change. Droughts, floods and extreme weather events in recent years are the most important indicators of this, which also began to create significant pressures on forest, water and land resources, and affected economic and social life. Therefore, Turkey attaches special importance for climate change adaptation. In this context, ecosystems and biodiversity, and such socio-economic sectors as water resources, agriculture, industry, energy, transport, housing, tourism, forestry and health sectors stand out. Turkey is a developing country in the upper middle-income group according to World Bank classification. Under the UNFCCC, Turkey is listed in the Annex I by being recognised with is special circumstances from other countries. Turkey, signed the Paris Agreement on April 22, 2016, undertakes “up to 21% reduction in GHG emissions from the Business as Usual (BAU) level by 2030” in its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) submitted to UNFCCC. This reduction is aimed to be realised through the measures to be taken and policies to be implemented in the energy, industrial processes, agriculture, land use and waste sectors across the economy. Being responsible for 0.7% of total global emissions since the industrial revolution, Turkey declared the need for using international assistance for improving finance, know-how, technology and capacity, including the Green Climate Fund, to achieve the mitigation target outlined in its INDC. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents setting climate change mitigation and adaptation policies include the National Climate Change Strategy, Climate Change Action Plan, Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan, Energy Efficiency Strategy Paper, Turkey National Renewable Energy Action Plan, National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, Electricity Market and Supply Security Strategy Paper, Turkey Disaster Response Plan, Turkish Industrial Strategy Document, National Intelligent Transport Systems Strategy and Action Plan, National Drought Management Strategy and Action Plan, Action Plan to Combat Erosion, Flood Action Plan, Upper Basin Flood Control Action Plan, Integrated Urban Development Strategy and Action Plan (KENTGES), National Strategy and Action Plan to Combat Desertification, National Biological Diversity Strategy and Action Plan, National Recycling Strategy and Action Plan, National Wetland Strategy and Action Plan, National Strategy and Action Plan for Combatting Agricultural Drought. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 13 are as follows: • Contributing to combat global climate change by emission reduction and adaptation in line with the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, • Increasing the share of domestic and renewable energy sources by considering supply security, • Increasing energy efficiency, reducing losses and illegal use of electricity, • Prioritising transport systems that provide energy efficiency and use of clean fuel and environmentally friendly vehicles, • Encouraging railway and maritime transport and developing combined transport opportunities, • Developing building standards for safe, energy efficient, environmentally friendly and expand energy efficiency practices in buildings, • Strengthening the integration of transportation infrastructure with other infrastructures by encouraging public transport in urban transportation, • Making use of green growth opportunities in areas such as energy, industry, agriculture, transportation, construction, services and urbanisation; promote new business areas, R&D and innovation that provide environmentally conscious economic growth, • Promoting recycling and reuse through the implementation of integrated waste management principles, • Taking necessary measures to provide water saving in basins, to combat against drought and to prevent pollution by evaluating the effects of climate change and all activities in water basins on water quantity and quality , • Ensuring conservation, sustainable use and efficient management of water resources, • Combatting against desertification and erosion effectively, monitoring the environmental and social impacts of agricultural activities on soil resources and increasing preventive measures, • Strengthening management capacity and mechanisms for disaster risk reduction. 110 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” LEGISLATION The current legislation, in particular the Constitution and the Environmental Law, lays down provisions for the prevention of environmental pollution and improving the environment. The legislation covers the purpose of controlling the emissions by regulating reduction and management of wastes, the efficient use of energy and natural resources, and the use of environmentally friendly technologies in the industry. In terms of emissions control, it lays down principles on monitoring, reporting and verifying greenhouse gas emissions from energy and industrial plants, and on using economic instruments and incentives. The legislation lays down preventive and supervisory provisions for issues such as exhaust gas emissions, emissions from heating. Regulations for soil and land protection, combating drought, agriculture, agricultural insurance and supports, use of groundwater, control of disaster risks and natural disaster insurance were made in relation to the adaptation to and reduction of the impacts of climate change. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 13 is assessed on four focus areas: i. Adaptation to climate change; ii. Mainstreaming climate action into policies; iii. Increasing awareness and capacity; and iv. Climate finance. Under the adaptation to climate change, in recent years, it is observed that there is a considerable increase in the number of disasters such as hurricanes, floods, lightning strikes, extremely hot weather and hailstorms in Turkey. The economic losses caused by floods due to climate change is second only to the economic losses resulted from seismic disasters. It is important to strengthen the adaptation capacity of all institutions and segments, especially of those vulnerable for adverse effects of climate change. Disaster policies are prioritised to build resilience to climate-related risks. Agriculture, is one of the most affected sector by adverse effects of climate change. It is foreseen that the main impacts of climate change on Turkey will be drought, desertification, decline in agricultural productivity, loss of biological diversity and ecosystem services, increase in forest fires, epidemics and pests. It is therefore important to increase water-saving practices in agriculture, prevention of water pollution, protection of agricultural land, pasture rehabilitation, combating erosion, protection of agricultural genetic diversity, early detection of risks, selection and development of drought resilient species/strains in vegetative and animal production. Flood Management Plans and Drought Management Plans are prepared for 25 river basins located in our country to reduce disaster risks. Through these plans, a transition will be made from a crisis management approach to a risk management approach. Flood Management Plans have been completed in 5 basins, and work is underway in 18 basins. It is targeted to complete these plans for all basins by the end of 2021. Drought Management Plans have been completed in 9 basins and work is underway in 6 basins. These plans will be completed for all basins by the end of 2023. Climate change scenarios on water resources in all basins of Turkey were determined within the Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources Project (2013-2016). Measures for adaptation were determined by making water budget modelling in different sectors through the project. In the context of the mainstreaming climate action into policies, since the early 2000s, climate change was addressed in the environmental policies of NDPs covering also energy, transportation, agriculture and water resources sectors. In 1990, CO2 equivalent emissions per capita in Turkey was 3.8 tons/capita while this value was calculated as 6.6 tons/capita in 2017. Turkey’s greenhouse gas emission per capita is below the EU averages, OECD, G-20 and the world. Turkey, became a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2004, signed Paris Agreement for the implementation of the Convention in 2016 but has not become a party to the Agreement yet. In the 10th NDP, in addition to sustainable development, the “green growth” approach was adopted to combat with climate change. Climate change policies were linked with waste, emission reduction, energy, water and resource efficiency and recovery practices and policies to ensure inter and intra sectorial solutions. Actions and measures contributing to the control of greenhouse gases were determined under the Priority Transformation Programmes in the 10th NDP. Policies and actions related to energy, buildings, industry, transportation, agriculture, land use and forestry and waste sectors were determined under reduction, adaptation, technology transfer, financing and capacity building sections of the National Climate Strategy and Climate Change Action Plan. The Coordination Board on Climate Change and Air Management (CBCCAM) is responsible for the coordination of these policies and actions and for identification of domestic and foreign policies. 111 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” In the Energy Efficiency Strategy, it is aimed to reduce the energy intensity by 20% compared to its level in 2011. In the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (2017-2023), this target is updated as 14% reduction in primary energy consumption by 2023 and it is aimed to provide 24 million Mtoe energy saving in total. The share of renewable energy in Turkey’s electricity production is aimed to be increased to 30% level by 2023. Even in 2017, which was dry and set record highs in gas consumption, the share of renewable energy resources increased to 29.7% and the target was accomplished. Various incentive mechanisms were developed to increase the use of renewable energy resources. Feed-in tariff (7.3-13.3 cents/kWh according to the energy resource) is determined in electricity generation based on renewable energy resources by YEKDEM established in 2010. YEKDEM is considered as the most important incentive for renewable energy resources in Turkey. A tender was completed for a solar energy plant with 1,000 MW capacity by the Renewable Energy Resource Zones (RE- Zone) mechanism established in 2016. In addition, 1,000 MW wind power capacity and manufacturing and R&D centre for wind turbine with an annual production capacity of 400 MW will be established. This program is planned to be expanded to other renewable energy technologies. Turkey will contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in electricity generation by increasing the share of renewable energy in electricity generation at a lower cost through RE-Zone program. By the strategy and action plans developed for adaptation to climate change, activities are undertaken for combating agricultural drought, the preparation of regional flood plans and their integration into provincial disaster plans, training to improve public awareness and participation, development of early warning system in flood combating, monitoring of effects of heat waves, extreme colds, floods, storms, droughts, etc. due to climate change on public health and taking precautions. While significant progress was made in the area of policy integration, there is a need to increase work in such areas as strengthening institutional capacities, transposition of strategies to sectoral and local level, systematic evaluation of climate risks, and monitoring of progress on adaptation. In the context of awareness-raising and capacity increase, issues related to climate change are included in the curriculum at various levels of education. In addition, community’s sensitivity to climate change is increasing through the works on training, research, publication and information by public, local administrations and civil society. Activities on capacity building and awareness raising are led by the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) to identify and mitigate disaster risks that may be caused by climate change. Capacity building to manage severely affected areas and communities by floods and overflows projects are implemented with international collaboration in Turkey. Climate response and adaptation have gained substantial momentum at local level as well with some pioneering municipalities implementing climate action plans. More members from Turkey are joining the international networks formed to increase local awareness and knowledge, ensure effective communication and cooperation among local actors, and share good practices and generated knowledge. Turkey, together with Kenya have undertaken the co-chair role on the theme “Infrastructure, Cities and Local Action”, one of the nine working groups formed in the context of UN Climate Summit to take place in September 2019. As for climate finance, Turkey does not have the obligation to provide financial support to developing countries, as Turkey was removed from the list of Annex II of the Convention by the resolution of UNFCCC Conference of the Parties. As a developing country itself, Turkey receives various financial resources such as EU funds and multilateral climate funds from multilateral development banks, bilateral development agencies, funds such as Clean Technology Fund and Global Environment Facility (GEF). 112 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Turkey with significant greenhouse gas emission reduction potential needs the use of international support for finance, technology and capacity building including the Green Climate Fund after the Paris Agreement enters into force in order to achieve the objectives stated in the INDC. Besides, Turkey generated over 4 million USD of income by trading 3.2 million tons of carbon credit in voluntary markets in 2015.30 GREEN CREDIT SDG Targets 13.2 – 5.1 – 5.c – 7.2 – 7.a – 8.2 – 8.8 – 12.2 Executing Entity Garanti Bank Start & End Dates 2014-2018; 2018 - Ongoing The project aims to ensure that non-financial environmental, social and governance criteria be used as performance indicators to increase the multiplier effect on contributing to sustainable development and set an example for the banking sector through pioneering and innovative practices of sustainable banking. Accordingly, the following are undertaken: •The awareness of companies in Turkey is increased, •Companies are enabled, through soft credits available only for green investments, to better manage risks and opportunities in environmental, social and governance spheres at all operational levels, •With audits to be conducted by independent international rating agencies, this new financing model will contribute to transparency of management and communication of of non-financial risks in Turkey. In this context: •Garanti Bank adopted its Sustainability Policy in 2014. •Sustainable banking is realized through an assessment of environmental and social risks including technological innovations, management of environmental footprint arising from operations, and risk management. •Garanti Bank was assisted in developing an effective organisational structure and strong corporate governance system to achieve the sustainability targets. •Through Green Credit and cooperation with Zorlu Enerji, 10 million USD in credits was made available, with loan interest indexed to the company’s sustainability performance, marking a first of its kind in Turkey. Under the Green Credit process, Vigeo-Eiris, an independent international rating agency, regularly rates the performance of Zorlu Enerji in environmental, social and governance. Green Credit represents a credit mechanism that positively contributing to the recipient companies’ performance in environmental, social and governance, improving the sustainability performance of the private sector, elevating national and international reputation of firms, and decreasing financing costs. 30 CBD State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2016 Many projects are being implemented by our country to develop capacity in the context of climate change for developing and LDCs. The 6th International Training Course on Meteorological Radar, the Fourth International Workshop on Meteorology and Combating Dust Transport, Desertification and Erosion and Project for Providing Meteorological Satellite Data to Central Asian Countries are some of the few examples. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 13: • Improving the implementation of measures for reductions in sectors causing greenhouse gas emissions to the extent of national conditions, • Ensuring the control of greenhouse gas emissions through new technologies and energy efficiency practices and reduction of loss and illegal use rates in electricity, • Developing the technical and institutional capacity needed to analyse risks in priority areas to increase resilience to climate risks, • Identifying and prioritising the impacts of climate change and adaptation needs on national, local and sectoral basis, • Developing climate change mitigation and adaptation capacity at local level, • Increasing practices in water basins on water saving, combatting against drought and pollution prevention by evaluating the impacts of climate change on water quantity and quality, • Protecting qualified agricultural lands and forest areas, in particular natural protected areas with special importance; make combat against desertification and erosion effective; using pastures more effectively and efficiently by speeding up pasture rehabilitation activities; developing range of products resilient to drought and taking preventive measures by monitoring their effects on soil resources in the context of climate adaptation in agriculture, • Prioritising transport systems that provide energy efficiency, the use of clean fuel and environmentally friendly vehicles, • Increasing the share of railway and maritime transport in freight transportation, • Expanding energy efficiency practices in buildings, • Making demand management effective by developing public transport in urban transportation and benefiting from the practices of intelligent transportation systems in traffic management, • Expanding integrated waste management practices. 113 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.14. SDG 14. CONSERVE AND SUSTAINABLY USE THE OCEANS, SEAS AND MARINE RESOURCES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Turkey, a country surrounded by seas on three sides, is a country with high biological diversity through the effect of different ecological characteristics of its seas and inland waters. Therefore, conservation, development, sustainable use and effective management of water resources, in particular marine resources, are important. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 14 include the National Climate Change Strategy, Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan, Biological Diversity Strategy and Action Plan, National Wetland Strategy, Turkish National Marine Research Strategy Document. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 14 are as follows: • Protecting water quality in coastal and transitional waters, • Expanding marine and coastal protected areas, strengthen and effective management of the protection system, • Ensuring efficient stock management through identification, monitoring and inspection of aquaculture product stocks, • Supporting sustainable aquaculture production, • Improving aquaculture, • Conserving gene resources in aquaculture and establish gene banks, • Promoting research and technology development activities for aquaculture, • Facilitating access of producer organisations to the market, • Executing resource management effectively and based on scientific data and strengthen its administrative capacity in fishery, • Increasing competitiveness in international markets through product diversity and branding in aquaculture, taking into account environmental sustainability. LEGISLATION Our legislation includes regulations for the protection of coastal, marine ecosystems and prevention of their pollution. Under the Law on Environment and related legislation, principles for prevention of waste originated from maritime activities and land-based waste to our seas were determined. The procedures and principles of monitoring and inspection to prevent water pollution, principles and permission of wastewater discharge were regulated. To ensure maritime safety if pollution occurs, conserving marine and marine environment and preventing damages to human life and property regulations were institutionalized. Legislation also covers the protection of aquaculture stocks as economic resources and potential trade assets. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 14 is assessed on two focus areas: i. Prevention of marine pollution and protection of ecosystem, and ii. Sustainable production and stock management of aquaculture products. Ecosystem based approach, taking into account the quality and volume of water resources, is used for prevention of marine pollution and protection of marine ecosystem. Monitoring and prevention of pollution, identification and protection of biological diversity are a common practice. In our country, there are a total of 26 million hectares of water area, including 24.6 million hectares of sea and 1.3 million hectares of inland water. The number of our inland water resources is increasing day by day depending on the number of ponds and dams constructed for irrigation and energy production. As of 2017, there are approximately 200 natural lakes and 1,414 reservoirs in our country. Also, there are many water sources available for cultivation along with 178,000 km of rivers which can be used as production area. 114 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” The total coastal length of Turkey is 8,592 km excluding islands, of which 1,957 km (23%) is protected. Marine protection areas cover 1,444,293 hectares. More than 5,000 species live in our seas, 480 of which are fish and 2,114 are algae. Eleven sea mammals, including Mediterranean monk seals, whales and dolphins, live in our seas. There are also approximately 3,000 plant and animal species in the coastal areas. Policies and practices to mitigate marine pollution need further improvement to respond to climate change, oceanic acidification and eutrophication that effected inland seas as well. To reduce the ship-based pollution caused by marine traffic, the waste generated by ships in maritime jurisdiction is collected by 301 coastal facilities provide waste reception services. These wastes are separated according to their types and sent to recovery/disposal facilities. Seventeen regional agreements to which Turkey is a signatory (such as Barcelona, Bucharest Conventions), the relevant protocols and EU directives at the stage of harmonisation (Water Framework Directive and Marine Strategy Framework Directive) take into account the ecosystem-based management. The Water Framework Directive aims to achieve good chemical and ecological status on the coasts. In this context, Water Quality Management Strategy and Action Plan (2013-2023) were prepared in our country. In order for the sustainable use of marine resources, work on developing Turkey Marine Environment Strategy was initiated in 2018. Many studies are conducted in the field of protection of marine ecosystems and prevention of their pollution. Chemical and ecological status of our seas were determined by following chemical and biological parameters in sea waters, seabed and fish and mussel tissues through the Integrated Pollution Monitoring in the Seas Project that was implemented between 2014-2016. It was observed that the sunlight is sufficient and terrestrial nutrients inputs are increased in all our seas, pollution reaches the highest values by the increase of primary production in winter period and there is no significant difference between years. Our seas are monitored at 353 points in the framework of national legislation and international conventions. Marine Dredging Practices and Environmental Management of Dredging Material (DIPTAR) Project is one of the projects with high impact on the reduction of marine pollution. Under the project; discharge and disposal criteria, discharge areas suitable for our seas, strategies for monitoring the environmental impacts, alternatives for the beneficial use of dredging material were determined in accordance with the conditions of our country by taking into account the EU criteria. In the context of sustainable production of aquaculture products and stock management, activities are undertaken for monitoring stocks, protection of endangered species, and reinforcement of stocks through fish-stocking. In addition, many important steps were taken in the aquaculture sector such as the use of information and communication technologies, certification and inspection of aquaculture facilities. As of 2017, 56% of fish production is derived from fishing and 44% from aquaculture. In 2007-2017, fishing of aquaculture products in marine and inland waters fluctuated and decreased by 44%. Aquaculture production increased by 98% and reached 276,000 tons in 2017 through the developments in aquaculture processing technologies. Exports of aquaculture products, which were 273 million USD in 2007, reached 855 million USD as of 2017 through the increase in aquaculture. Regulations on location, time, length, type, distance, depth and fishing equipment were made to prevent the decrease in stocks of aquaculture products as a result of overfishing, unconscious fishing and to ensure sustainability. In addition, destructive fishing by explosive and harmful substances is prohibited. To reduce the pressure of fishing on resources, granting new boat licenses were stopped considering the balance between the stocks of aquaculture and the fishing fleet. In 2012, support payment made in return for decertification of fishermen who wanted to remove their boats from fishing. In this context, a total of 1,264 fishing vessels in lengths of 10 meters or more were removed from the fleet in 2012-2018. As of 2017, the number of fishing vessels was approximately 18,000. 87% of our fishing fleet in the marine and inland waters consists of fishing vessels of less than 10 meters in size, of which the share in total production remains around 10%. Many families make a living from small-scale and traditional inshore fishing which is more environmentally friendly and effective for sustainable stock protection. Financial support is given to 115 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” the fishermen who do traditional inshore fishing and have a valid license according to boat size to increase registration. Fishing Boats Monitoring System (BAGIS) was established in 2016 to prevent and inspect illegal fishing which is one of the important threats affecting the sustainability of aquaculture resources. BAGIS devices have been installed on 1,350 fishing boats which are sized 12 metres or larger and meet approximately 90% of fishing production to monitor navigation information, fishing activities and aquaculture products. As of 2018, the number of fishing boats monitored under BAGIS increased to 1,550. Marine and inland water conservation system to prevent unreported and unplanned hunting is critical. Priority should be given to fishermen’s and aqua-culturists’ organisations to include them into decision-making processes and provide training on legislations and registration. Fishing places and fish stocks in the inland waters are determined and leased to cooperatives established by fishermen who want to benefit from the source for certain time. In these areas, only a certain number of fishermen, who are the members of the leasing cooperative, can do fishing with their vessels. Capacity building by means of increasing water area allocated in the dam reservoirs from 1% to 3% for aquaculture and introduction of standards in favour of manufacturers in the lease of water surface and water rights increase aquaculture production. Grants are given to small and medium sized enterprises under the Programme for Supporting Rural Development Investments to create alternative sources of income in the field of aquaculture and processing, packaging and storage of aquaculture products. Low-interest investment credits and business loans are provided for fisheries and aquaculture by Ziraat Bank and Agricultural Credit Cooperatives. 50% of the insurance premiums for aquaculture products producers in marine and inland water facilities are covered by the state. Strengthening physical and research infrastructure of aquaculture institutes to support R&D work, production activities and new species in fisheries and aquaculture continues. WOMEN FISHERS SDG Targets 14.2,14.4,14.7,14.b,14.c -5.1 – 5.5 – 5.c Executing Entity Mediterranean Conservation Society, Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work, Central Union of Aquaculture Products Cooperatives Start & End Dates 2015-2017 To generate solutions to occupational problems, increase capacities of organising and occupational knowledge, and boost public visibility of women fishers, “Aegean’s Women Fishers” project was implemented between 2015-2016, and “Setting Nets to Anatolia: Women Fishers” project between 2016-2017 in the Special Environment Protection Zone at Bozburun, Datça. “State of Women Fishers in Turkey” report was published as part of the project output. Women fishers received training on leadership, organisation, cooperativism, and equipment assistance. A Women Fishers Commission was established at the Central Union of Aquaculture Products Cooperatives at Beysehir Lake. Press releases and publications were prepared to boost visibility of women fishers at national and local levels, training was organised for children. The maintenance and repair works are undertaken for fishing ports, which are the most important infrastructure needs of the aquaculture sector, and various model works are in progress to enable the construction of superstructure facilities that allow fishermen to store and market their products at the landing points. As of 2018, there are 384 fishing ports, boat yards and shelters in our country. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 14: • Making maximum use of aquaculture resources in marine and inland water taking into account the balance of protection and use in the framework of sustainability, • Increasing the share of aquaculture consumption in meeting protein needs of people, • Increasing the effectiveness of producers’ organisations in aquaculture production and marketing, • Establishing fishing ports and logistics centres of which infrastructures and superstructures are finished and from which fishermen and aqua-culturists benefit, • Ensuring rapid access to accurate, reliable and up-to-date data by recording the aquaculture products obtained from marine and inland waters at landings, • Improving the legal infrastructure for the protection of aquaculture stocks and aquaculture development. 116 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.15. SDG 15. PROTECT, RESTORE AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE USE OF TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS, SUSTAINABLY MANAGE FORESTS, COMBAT DESERTIFICATION, AND HALT AND REVERSE LAND DEGRADATION AND HALT BIODIVERSITY LOSS Having rich biological diversity through its geographical and ecological structure, Turkey encountered various pressures on the ecosystem, land use, as a result of the population movements throughout history. On the other hand, the effects of climate change began to be observed in our country being located in arid and sub-arid Mediterranean climate zone. Therefore, protecting natural habitats which are part of the common heritage, reducing the loss of biodiversity, preventing deforestation and desertification are of major importance. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 15 include the National Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, National Forestry Programme, National Strategy and Action Plan for Combating Against Desertification, National Drought Management Strategy and Action Plan, National Basin Management Strategy, Strategy and Action Plan for Combating Agricultural Drought in Turkey, National Biological Diversity Strategy and Action Plan. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 15 are as follows: • Taking special measures to conserve natural protected areas of particular importance, productive agricultural land, pasture lands and forests, • Making combat against desertification, erosion and drought effective, • Managing conservation-use balance in a multi-purpose and effective way by taking into account the improvement of biodiversity, gene resources, forest health, non-wood products and services and eco-tourism, • Increasing the rate of forest areas, accelerating afforestation activities and rehabilitation activities, effectively protecting the forest eco-system against various factors, especially fires and pests, • Determining and mapping forest ecosystem services and integrating them into the forest management plans, • Strengthening land management for soil conservation, especially pollution, and its efficient use, • Preparing key soil maps across the country, preventing its out-of-purpose utilisation by doing land use planning and production planning taking advantage of this data, • Renewing key soil surveys and completing national soil information system based on this, • Identifying, protecting, sustainably using, improving and monitoring biodiversity important for agriculture, forestry, food and pharmaceutical industry, • Increasing protected areas in terms of terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity by ecosystem type, • Prioritising research on the protection and development of gene resources, • Increasing the capacities of institutions authorised to manage terrestrial ecosystems and improving inter-agency coordination. • Conserving biodiversity and gene resources, raising awareness of the public, in particular beneficiaries from children and natural resources, on their sustainable use. LEGISLATION Our legislation contains the regulations on the conservation and sustainable management of terrestrial ecosystems such as agricultural lands, pastures, forests, wetlands, drylands and mountains, biodiversity and genetic resources. Protection of threatened and endangered species and rare plants and animal species in terms of ensuring the sustainability of biodiversity are the basis of the relevant legislation, especially that of Law on Environment and Law on Forests. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 15 is assessed on two focus areas: i. Conservation and sustainable management of terrestrial ecosystems and ii. Conservation of biodiversity and genetic resources. In the context of conservation and sustainable management of terrestrial ecosystems, works are undertaken on combating desertification, land degradation, soil pollution, deforestation and drought risks. 117 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” As of 2018, approximately 31.6% of Turkey’s territorial size is agricultural areas and 29% is forests. Increasing population, urbanisation and industrialisation put pressure on the agricultural lands. Therefore, the size of agricultural land which was 24.9 million hectares in 2007 decreased to 23.3 million hectares in 2017. For the protection and development of forests that are an integral part of the terrestrial ecosystem, ecosystem – based forest management plans prepared and implemented through functional planning approach. Afforestation and restoration activities were increased, activities slowing or reversing deforestation and forest degradation were supported. 112,273 hectares of degraded forest lands were rehabilitated, afforestation activities were undertaken on 44,752 hectares of area, and erosion control activities on 86,758 hectares of area in 2018. While our forestry areas were 21.2 million hectares in 2007, this increased to 22.6 million hectares in 2018. While this development increases the carbon sequestration, it also creates a strong impact on the resilience of ecosystems and climate adaptation. National forest inventory preparation important for research to assess the future status of forestry areas and develop scenarios. Turkey contributed a total of 10 million USD to FAO-Turkey Partnership Programme (2015-2019). Of this amount, 3 million USD was used for projects undertaken in Africa, 2 million USD for those in Central Asia. Under the programme, technical assistance was provided to many countries on sustainable forest management, drought and desertification. The Mountain Green Cover Index was calculated by assessing 46,942 points to monitor the green cover on mountainous areas. Our lands and natural areas under desertification risk due to soil erosion, improper agricultural practices and land use, overgrazing, pollution of topsoil, demand and pressure of increasing population for natural resource are also contribute to this risk. National Strategy and Action Plan to Combat Desertification (2015-2023) defines the activities and responsibilities. Combating desertification and land degradation solutions are ongoing. Under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 12th Conference of the Parties was organised in the heading of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in Turkey and the Ankara Initiative was formed. As pioneered by Turkey, it called for commitments of 5 million USD of contributions for 4 years to support the implementation of the Convention. Turkey was one of the first countries which set National LDN Targets. To identify areas in our country susceptible to desertification, the Desertification Monitoring System and Desertification Risk Map were produced. The risk map is prepared based on desertification criteria and indicators, severity classes of drylands sensitive to desertification in terms of climate. According to this map, 22.5% of our country’s land areas are at high risk of desertification. Our country is sensitive to erosion, especially water erosion due to its climate, topography and soil conditions. According to 2016 data, 61.2% of our land suffered from severe and extremely severe water erosion. In this context, there is a need to increase soil conservation and upper basin rehabilitation activities in order to prevent land degradation. Detailed soil surveys conducted in line with international standards and international classification systems were adopted. The need for more detailed land areas information and soil classification systems needed to be developed. The plains where the land loss and land degradation develops rapidly due to erosion, pollution and out-of-purpose utilisation are considered as “greater plain protected area”. In this context, 265 plains corresponding to 7.21 million hectares of area were declared as protected area. Legislation introducing regulation on the fertilisers of organic, mineral and microbial origins used in agriculture was published in 2018 to improve the physical, chemical and biological structure of soils, increase efficiency, protect human health and to prevent environmental pollution. The policies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry were reviewed to ensure a management philosophy in line with SDG in the context of sustainable management of terrestrial ecosystems. 118 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” SUPPORT PROJECT TO THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY IN SDGs’ HARMONISATION AND IMPLEMENTATION SDG Targets 15.1-9, 15a-c, 2.1-5, 2.a-c, 14.1-7, 14.a-c Executing Entity Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (TOB)-FAO Start & End Dates 2018 - Ongoing Project aims to harmonise the agenda of MoAF with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and raise awareness and capacity in the area of harmonising, implementing and monitoring SDGs within the Ministry. Under the project, 17 SDGs were compared with the measures included in the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Strategic Plan to reveal that 63 out of the 141 targets had certain levels of matches. SDG 1 SDG 2 SDG 3 SDG 4 SDG 5 SDG 6 SDG 7 SDG 8 SDG 9 SDG 10 SDG 11 SDG 12 SDG 13 SDG 14 SDG 15 SDG 16 SDG 17 Matches Target No matches Conservation of biodiversity and genetic resources, investigation of these resources, their conservation, sustainable use and acquirement of economic value is of Turkeys’ priority. Turkey with three phytogeography regions named as Euro- Siberian, Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian and serving between two continents, has highly rich biodiversity in terms of plant species as a result of the changes in its climatic and geographical characteristics at short intervals. The 5 micro- gene centres are the origins or diversity centres of many economically important cultivated plant species, medicinal plants and more than 100 species undergo change. While there is 12,500 species of gymnosperms and angiosperms in the European continent, it is known that there is over 11,000 species only in Anatolia. Approximately one-third of these species are unique to Turkey. The List of Plants of Turkey indicates that 3,035 of 9,753 natural species are endemic. The total figure increases to 11,707 when adding subgenus taxa, 3,649 of which are endemic. Turkey is rich in flora, and relatively rich in fauna. The most recent data indicate that species of 460 birds, 161 mammals, 141 reptiles and amphibians, 480 sea fish and 236 fresh water fish live in our country, 629 of which are under Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry protection. Eighty-one Wildlife Improvement Areas were established to protect endangered wild animals. To increase the population size of endangered wild animal species, 24 breeding stations were established and once reached adult age animals are released back their natural habitats. National Biological Diversity Strategy and Action Plan (UBSEP) for the protection of biodiversity and endangered species published in 2001 was updated in 2007 and 2018. In UBSEP, the duties and responsibilities for equitable use, conservation and development of biodiversity riches possessed by ecosystems are laid down. In our country, many activities and projects are undertaken by the public sector, academia and NGOs regarding the identification, protection, monitoring of endemic or endangered species, preparation of the management plans of the areas, conservation-use practices in line with the targets identified by the UBSEP. National Biological Diversity Inventory and Monitoring Project, Recording Biodiversity Based National Traditional Knowledge Project, Conservation and Sustainable Management of Steppe Ecosystems in Turkey, Project for the Protection and Sustainable Development of Biodiversity and Natural Resources in Yıldız Mountains, Project for the Investigation, Protection and Management of Large Mammal Species in Line with the Targets of Conservation of National Biodiversity and Gene Resources are some of the sample works. Under the National Biological Diversity Inventory and Monitoring Project, Biodiversity Map of Turkey based on 119 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” geographic information systems will be completed by the end of 2019. Protected areas with different protection status are determined to ensure the conservation and continuity of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources. 8.92% of Turkey’s surface areas covers protected areas (terrestrial and marine) as of 2018. These areas are monitored and reported on a national basis according to the determined criteria and the results are taken into consideration in the decision-making processes. In UBSEP, many policies such as introducing legal and institutional measures and conducting research were identified for the control of invasive alien species and reduction of their impacts. While the number of invasive alien species in our seas was 263 in 2005, this figure reached 500 in 2016. The vast majority of the invasive alien species in the Mediterranean Sea come through the Suez Canal and the majority of those in the Black Sea come through the ballast water of the ships. In our inland waters, 25 foreign species were identified as of 2016. In 2018, Project for Addressing Invasive Alien Species Threats at Key Marine Biodiversity Areas were initiated to prevent the entry of invasive alien species into our seas and to protect native species and habitats by cleaning our seas from them. Turkey with potential for the conversion of untouched and unique biodiversity into economic resources has been exposed to bio-trafficking. To prevent this, training was organised in 2012 to increase the capacity of security forces in 15 provinces where the risk of bio-trafficking is the highest. In addition, activities were undertaken across the country in order to develop institutional and legal regulations on protection, control, inspection and raising awareness of the public under the Project for Combating Bio-trafficking. Also, Information Sharing System for Combating Bio-trafficking was established and Combating Bio-trafficking Action Plan was prepared. Inspections are conducted to prevent illegal trade of endangered wild animals under CITES Convention. Considering the sustainability of hunting and wildlife resources, the areas where hunting animals decreased or became extinct are closed for hunting across the country. 2,185 hunting grounds were established and registered as of 2018. In these areas, hunting certificate and hunting permission card are monitored and enforced based on the certain quotas. Contribution is paid from the hunting revenues obtained under hunting tourism to local administrations with hunting grounds and areas for the protection, care and production of wildlife. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 15: • Integrating terrestrial ecosystems into the policies for the management by doing valuation of natural resources, • Ensuring the use of natural resources with a holistic approach and developing holistic planning and management structure for terrestrial ecosystem, • Collecting the data needed and revealing policies for neutrality in the context of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), • Taking necessary measures to transform wood and non- wood products into products with high value-added in forest ecosystem and to increase cooperation between public and private sectors, • Developing holistic policies on the scale of gene, species, habitat, ecosystem functions, • Eliminating the lack of qualified specialists in terrestrial ecosystem diagnostics and management, • Raising public awareness on the conservation and sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystem, • Benefiting from local human resources and encouraging on-site production of intermediate products to ensure that the value-added from natural resources in the terrestrial ecosystem remains at its level, • Protecting forest villagers in the conservation of terrestrial ecosystem and taking necessary measures to keep the forest villager in their places, • Ensuring sustainable management of mountain ecosystems and steppes. 120 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.16. SDG 16. PROMOTE PEACEFUL AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, PROVIDE ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR ALL AND BUILD EFFECTIVE, ACCOUNTABLE AND INCLUSIVE INSTITUTIONS AT ALL LEVELS As well as life, education, health and other fundamental rights for all, access to justice for all and protection of peace environment are essential to ensure that sustainable development is fully realised. Prevention of all forms of violence and crime, which is a fundamental human rights violation, is also a prerequisite to achieve the targets. Ensuring the rule of law, inclusive, effective and transparent institutionalisation, integrating access to information and fundamental rights into social practices are important and are guaranteed by the Constitution of our country. POLICIES In addition to NDPs and strategic plans of relevant public institutions, key policy documents on SDG 16 include the Judicial Reform Strategy, National Strategy for Combating Organised Crime and Action Plan (2016-2018), Strategy on Combat against Drugs and Action Plan (2018-2023), Urgent Action Plan for Combat Against Drugs, National Cyber Security Strategy, National Strategy of Children’s Rights and Action Plan, Combating Violence Against Women National Action Plan, Information Society Strategy and Action Plan. The key components of the policy framework in line with SDG 16 are as follows: • Ensuring that the trial proceeds fairly, rapidly, effectively, safely and accurately in accordance with the requirements of rule of law and norms of universal law, • Accelerating the trial in judicial and administrative jurisdiction, • Promoting protective and preventive legal approach, • Strengthening victim-centred approach in the criminal justice system, • Strengthening the right to defence and legal aid to facilitate access to the judiciary, • Informing the beneficiaries of justice services on the legal issues and the judicial process, • Developing practices for disadvantaged groups in courts and penitentiaries, • Promoting the use of information technologies in justice and judicial services to increase access to justice, • Promoting legal clinics, • Adopting risk management by prioritising preventive and protective security services, • Increasing the level of public awareness for eliminating violence and discrimination against women and children, • Guiding young people to areas such as sports, culture and arts to prevent them from turning to violence and harmful habits, • Continuing to combat informality and corruption, • Increasing the capacity and effectiveness of institutions to combat all crimes, including combat against trafficking, organised crime and terrorism, which disturbs the public peace and causes fear and anxiety, • Protecting young people from terrorist organisations, preventing recruitment activities of terrorist organisations, taking measures for eradicating sources supporting terrorism, • Strengthening cooperation between national and international organisations in the combat against terrorism, organised crime, cybercrime, narcotic crimes and trafficking, • Ensuring participation, transparency and citizen satisfaction by increasing the speed and improving the quality of public services, • Undertaking active works for improving global governance on multilateral platforms. LEGISLATION Our legislation, especially the Constitution, guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms, the rule of law and equal access to justice. In addition, reduction and prevention of all forms of crime and violence and related sanctions are included in the legal regulations in detail. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENT AREAS SDG 16 is assessed on three focus areas: i. Prevention of crime and violence; ii. Equal access to justice; and iii. Effective governance. In the context of the prevention of crime and violence, in Turkey it is considered important to address not only the consequences of crimes but also the factors that constitute the crime more systematically. In this context, measures are 121 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” taken for the social segments which may be under the risk of experiencing violence such as children, youth and women. Efforts are made to prevent violence by such measures as restriction order against those who commit violence, close protection under the Law on Family Protection and Preventing Violence Against Women, Turkish Criminal Code and Turkish Civil Code. Also, more effective and deterring measures to prevent violence against women and children are on the agenda of TGNA. The Monitoring Committee on Violence Against Women formed with the participation of all relevant public institutions and organisations, universities and NGOs, meeting annually on a regular basis, evaluates the developments and offers recommendations. Several works are undertaken to increase awareness and sensitivity for combating domestic violence against women and children. In this context, training is provided to public officials, including law enforcement forces, healthcare personnel and religious officials. In the context of Pilot Scheme for Using Surveillance Systems Through Technical Methods, an electronic cuff system is scaled up to prevent those who perpetrate or are likely to perpetrate violence from approaching the victims. On the other hand, KADES system (mobile application) has been developed and implemented for women who have been victims of violence and are under risk. In particular areas such as health and sports, deterrent role of the legislation in the context of the prevention of violence was strengthened by increasing its power of sanction. Substantial progress was made towards the protection of the child and the inclusion of their rights in social culture, public and social practices and services in the matter of preventing all forms of violence and abuse against children in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Works are undertaken on implementing, strengthening and monitoring preventive and supportive measures for children pushed to crime. “Alo 183” Helpline for Family, Women, Children, Persons with Disabilities and Social Service provides psychosocial, legal and economic counselling services to women and children victim of or at risk of violence and in need of support on a 24/7 basis. Our country has been under attack for years by various terrorist organisations that are separatist, subversive and abuser of religion. The combat against such terrorist organisations is currently continuing at national and international scales. Under the concept of a full-scale fight against terrorism which aims to eliminate terrorism along with all its elements and consequences, on one hand, operational activities are undertaken and on the other hand, training and seminar activities are undertaken regularly to increase the professional knowledge and capacity of security forces. Also, awareness- raising of citizens on terrorism and combat against terrorism are ongoing. Importance is attached to strengthen the institutions to combat terrorism and crime in terms of human resources, toolkit and equipment. In the context of public awareness raising on combating terrorism, 807,000 citizens were outreached through more than 5,000 events by the Directorate General of Security. Through the Fixed and Mobile License Plate Recognition Systems, instant inquiry can be performed by means of automatic recognition of vehicle brand, model and license plate information and audible and visual alarms for stolen, wanted vehicles and fake license plates are established and functional. Turkey is among the countries directly affected by drugs due to its geographical location and its young population. Our country became a transit and destination country both in trafficking of heroin produced in Asia and transferred to Europe, and in trafficking of synthetic drugs and chemicals produced in Europe and transported to Asia. In this context, special attention is given to combating drugs usage. The Higher Board on Combating Drugs which was established in 2014 with the aim to ensure inter-agency cooperation and coordination, identify key strategies, monitor and evaluate its implementation was re-organised in 2017 as the Higher Board on Combating Addiction. Through NARKOTIM Project initiated in 11 pilot provinces in 2014, significant progress has been made in street-based combat against drugs in 81 provinces. By the Law enacted in 2015, scope and sanctions of offenses related to drugs or stimulants were increased. While 2,346 operations were executed by NARKOTIMS in 2014, this number increased to 37,092 in 2018. In addition, tracking and monitoring became more effective through the “Drugs Decision Support System” which hosted the instant data from 28 agencies combating drugs. 122 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” By the Law enacted in 2015, security services are made effective by increasing duties and powers of security forces and law enforcement authorities in the combat against crime, in particular terrorism. Significant progress has been made in expanding the Urban Security Management System (USMS) which contributes to the prevention of crimes and the capture of perpetrators. As of April 2019, USMS infrastructure was established in 81 province and 836 district centres, and installation work is underway in 85 districts. In the context of ensuring equal access to justice, considerable steps were taken in the context of ensuring the rule of law and facilitating equal access to justice for all. Through the amendment of the Constitution in 2017, the impartiality of the judiciary was strengthened, military courts and martial law were abolished. In 2012, the way was paved for submitting individual applications to the Constitutional Court, one of the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights. The issue of legal aid, one of the important means of access to justice, was adopted in 2011. Amendment made in 2016, ensured lawyer appointment to those with limited financial resources, additionally exempt them from the proceedings costs as well. 873,375 persons benefitted from legal aid in 2018. In the same year, 1.17 USD per person per year was allocated for legal aids from the public budget. “Judicial interview rooms” were established to be used in taking testimony and statements of vulnerable segments going through judicial processes, in particular children. These rooms are used for the victims who need to give testimony or statements in special environments and for whom it is undesirable to confront with the perpetrators. Thus, the protection of persons in the judicial process and the strengthening of access to justice is supported. Currently, 59 judicial interview rooms were established and functional in 56 courthouses across 49 provinces. It is aimed to establish a culture of law by teaching basic legal knowledge in the field of access to justice from early ages in schools. In this context, the Law and Justice Course is taught as an elective course in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades starting from the 2013-2014 academic year. Also, since 2015, mandatory courses on Human Rights, Citizenship and Democracy courses are given to the fourth grade of primary school for two hours a week. By law clinics included in the curriculum of law faculties, legal support is provided to persons who cannot afford and the link between law education and practice is strengthened. In the context of work on domestic violence, 688 persons at courthouses and penitentiaries were informed, whereas more than 4,000 people were informed at mediation law clinics by students. In the context of Barrier-free Courthouse Project, physical arrangements started to enable the citizens with disabilities to undertake their proceedings in the courthouses more easily and quickly. All citizens of the Republic of Turkey are required to register themselves in the Central Population Administration System and obtain an identity card. In order for speed up birth notification, healthcare institutions where delivery took place were given the opportunity to make these notifications starting from 2017. Also, an identity number is given to foreigners whose records are kept in Turkey in the determined principles. In the context of effective governance, the citizen-oriented approach has been put into force effectively and important steps were taken in the field of public relations in performing public services. Policies and programmes on access to information were developed and important steps were taken in recent years. The right to petition and request information are granted in the context of ensuring citizen participation in public administration transparently. All communication channels between the state and the citizen were opened promptly and effectively to monitor and inspect applications, acts and actions of citizens related to their requests, complaints, notices, views, proposals and right to request information. E-government practices for providing public services in electronic form and increasing their use in many areas such as healthcare, social security, security and public finances were expanded. While approximately 600 services could be offered in 2012 on e-government portal, the number of services offered as of April 2019 reached 4,641. Thus, the financial and administrative burdens from public services on citizens and enterprises were reduced. 123 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Through the institutionalisation of strategic management in public administrations, the relationship between planning and budgeting was strengthened, accountability and fiscal transparency were increased. The Ombudsman Institution was established in 2013 to strengthen accountability, while the audit capacity of the Court of Accounts was expanded by covering all public resources. MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE SCORECARD SDG Targets 16.5,16.6,16.7,16.8,16.10,16.b – 5.1 – 5.4 – 5.5 – 11.3 – 11.7 – 11.b – 17.13 – 17.14 – 17.15 – 17.16 – 17.17 Executing Entity Argüden Governance Academy Foundation, Sabancı University, Federation of All Istanbul Neighbourhood Masters Associations Start & End Dates 2017-2018 A Municipal Governance Scorecard model was developed consisting of 7 principles and 227 indicators to develop municipal good governance, culture and practices through mapping, measuring and learning, thereby contributing locally to sustainable development and quality of life. Under the project, studies were conducted on good governance in 37 district municipalities of Istanbul. Municipal Governance Scorecards for each district municipality were prepared and good practices were also identified. In addition, 106 mukhtars, the elected head of a village or of a neighbourhood, provided training on good governance. Survey questionnaires were administered to 150 mukhtars on their relations with the respective municipality. Sustainability approaches were assessed in the study, and the results made public. In addition, 5 workshops were held in Istanbul, Adana, Trabzon and Izmir for municipalities, NGOs and other stakeholders. To increase international governance effective, Turkey takes important responsibilities and makes intensive efforts at bilateral and multilateral levels for establishing peace, prosperity and stability and equitable development in its region and in the world. Our country gives considerable support to developing countries to have more voice in the global economic governance in addition to its active contributions to international development cooperation. NEXT STEPS: The following policies will be implemented in the upcoming years to achieve SDG 16: • Completing legislative framework on victim rights, • Establishing central and provincial units on judicial support and victim services, • Renewing the legislation on lawyers according to current needs, • Expanding judicial interview rooms used in taking testimony and statement of victims in vulnerable segments in company with specialist across the country, • Adopting family mediation practices except for disputes of domestic violence, • Expanding legal clinic practices, • Expanding the Audio and Video Information System (SEGBIS) project aiming to take testimony and defence statement and video recording and to use video conferencing method during the hearings, • Continuing training, awareness-raising and citizen support activities for the development of protective and preventive security services, and strengthen risk management, • Guiding the youth towards sports, culture, arts, volunteer activities to prevent them from violence and harmful habits. 124 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 5.17. SDG 17. STRENGTHEN THE MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION AND REVITALIZE THE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Global estimates indicate an annual funding deficit of 2.5 trillion USD for investments to assist developing countries in achieving SDGs, revealing the dependency on development cooperation and resources. Turkey takes significant steps through national and international cooperation, capacity building, innovation, alternative funding methods and particularly ODA to overcome the challenges in achieving the 2030 Goals. Turkey pursues a foreign policy defined as “Entreprising and Humanitarian” based on a philosophy of employing all political, economic and human instruments effectively, comprehensively and holistically when addressing global and regional issues. With 242 foreign missions, 5th largest network of representation across the globe, Turkey exercises effective diplomacy on all continents. With leading role of mediation on many international platforms including UN, OSCE and OIC, our country approaches responsibly to the resolution of conflicts and crises. As an emerging donor and a dynamic actor in this domain, Turkey shares its experience with many countries in the framework of bilateral, multilateral, regional and global cooperation. In this context, in line with its policy of promoting regional and global peace and stability Turkey provides assistance to particularly vulnerable countries, in order to eliminate poverty and to contribute to sustainable development. CAPACITY BUILDING The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has been carrying out international development cooperation activities since 1992. With 61 Programme Coordination Offices in 59 countries worldwide, TIKA responds to local needs expeditiously and effectively in direct cooperation with local development partners. TIKA’s activities are not limited to these 59 countries, but reach out more than 170 countries. In the framework of cooperation with many partner countries, activities are undertaken in diverse domains such as physical and social improvement of social services and economic infrastructure, restoration of architectural work, cultural heritage, and humanitarian aid. In the context of sustainable development, facilities are built in production sectors to employ qualified people, and job-creation projects are implemented. In addition, vocational training schools, faculties and laboratories are built to contribute to educating qualified people that partnering countries need. In various regions particularly in African countries, the healthcare sector capacities are enhanced through medical screening, and building clinics, hospitals and healthcare stations. To improve institutional capacities in partner countries trainings are provided to public servants and experts through experience sharing. Transport infrastructure is strengthened to ensure that underdeveloped geographies, particularly African countries, can better integrate into the global economy. Many projects and activities are undertaken in various themes and sectors in the context of international development cooperation. In 2017 only, the following activities were accomplished: 1,731 teachers and experts were trained; 8,227 students were provided direct education support; 33 educational facilities were constructed and 89 educational facilities were repaired; 200,881 patients were provided healthcare services; 959 physicians and healthcare personnel were trained; 61 healthcare facilities were constructed, repaired and equipped; 48 experts were trained in water and sanitation; 155 water wells were built; 471 public servants from more than 60 countries were trained to improve effectiveness of administrative activities; a total of 326 consulting staff were assigned in various domains; 100 social, economic and cultural facilities were constructed, repaired or equipped; 839 elderly, handicapped, women or children were supported; 32,190 persons were provided with development food assistance; 136 experts trained and 15 facilities were constructed or repaired in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector; and tens of thousands of people benefitted from 17 projects of humanitarian aid. TIKA has undertaken hundreds of projects targeting disadvantaged populations in the countries of operation, with various examples highlighted below. 125 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” CASES OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR THE VULNERABLE SDG Targets 17.1; 17.2; 17.3; 17.6; 17.8; 17.9; 17.16; 17.17; 17.18 Executing Entity Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) Start & End Dates 2015 - Devam ediyor • Afghanistan: Girls Vocational School has been renovated in Kabul. • Bangladesh: A chemotherapy centre established at the Medical School and Research Hospital of 66-bed capacity has been built and equipped by Turkey. • Benin: Practical training was provided to 13 midwives and nurses in various hospitals and maternity clinics. • Benin: Training and equipment assistance has been provided to women of Benin to develop pottery. • Bosnia and Herzegovina: Assistance has been provided for greenhouse building, irrigation systems, saplings and training in the context of greenhouse support to war victims’ families. • Burkina Faso: A solar power system has been installed at Shifa Orphanage in Titao. • Cameroon: Training programme has been organised to combat contagious diseases and raise awareness for the youth. • Colombia: A two-storey primary school was built in Orejon, with dormitories symbolising peace. • Congo: Health training on “Sexual Violence against Women” to gynaecologists, midwives and nurses. • Djibouti: Women’s Vocational Training Centre was built in Balbala. • Ethiopia: Technical equipment assistance has been provided to the Ethiopian Ministry of Mother and Child. • Georgia: The Centre for Disabilities was renovated. • Ghana: Hearing devices, hearing training system and audiometer have been supplied to the Centre for Hearing Handicapped. • Ivory Coast: A preschool and a playground were built for Yopougon Visually Handicapped Centre. • Ivory Coast: The infirmary and computer classroom were renovated and refurbished for Girls Orphanage; and a brand-new computer classroom was added. • Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek Kyhgyz-Turkish Friendship Hospital was built with a closed space of 12,000 m2 and capacity of 51 beds. • Libya: Turkish Training Centre for Children with Disabilities has been established. • Mauritania: Women’s Carpet Weaving Cooperative was renovated and repaired. • Mexico: Turkish-Mexican Friendship Health Centre has been established as the sole service centre for 15,000 including a town of 8,000 and surrounding settlements. • Mongolia: Under the Cooperation in Statistics Project, experience has been shared with Mongolian experts on labour markets and gender statistics. • Nepal: Equipment and materials sufficient for six months have been provided for use in the manufacturing of tikka/bindi and traditional Nepalese shoes to promote women’s participation in economic life. • Niger: A school of 42 classrooms with capacity for 1,260 students, and a dormitory with capacity for 648 students, and a sports complex for student leisure time were built. • Niger: Mother and child health hospital was built. • Pakistan: Materials have been supplied to women to enable them to work with modern agricultural methods. • Palestine: Beehives and equipment were granted to 14 families selected as pilot producers in the context of beehive and technical material supply to poor Palestinian families. • Senegal: The Centre for Hearing Handicapped in Dakar, was completely renovated; a vocational education block with three classrooms and a playground were added; FM training system has been established; a student service vehicle was granted; school items in classrooms were renewed; vocational education equipment was supplied. • 100 housing units were built for people who had to flee their homeland due to Tamil terror. In addition, 60 water wells were drilled to support agricultural activities of the people in the north affected by the civil war. • Tanzania: Orphanages were renovated and refurbished in Chakuwama and Mwana. 126 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” FINANCE Through all these activities, the amount of ODA provided by Turkish public agencies increased approximately 9 times from its level of 967 million USD in 2010 and reach 8.6 billion USD in 2017. Table 13. Turkish Bilateral Official Development Assistance by Region (million USD) The ODA/GNI ratio of Turkey which stood at 0.32% in 2010 increased to 0.76% in 2016 and 1.10% in 2018, making Turkey one of the countries which surpassed SDG target of 0.7% of ODA/GNI. This clearly shows that Turkey implemented SDG principle of “leaving no one behind” above the set target. 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 227 190 223 134 98 Europe Total 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 -297 -306 183 383 783 Africa Total 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 10 7 19 4 4 Americas Total 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 1 1 0 1 1 Oceania Total 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 7,325 5,943 2,988 2,500 1,767 Middle East Total 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 127 191 257 353 484 South and Central Asia Total 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 20 13 6 25 18 Far East Total 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 55 0 169 101 2 Asia Regional Total 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 7,950 6,238 3,846 3,502 3,157 TOTAL 127 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” As an observer member in the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), Turkey ranks 6th among DAC members in terms of the ODA amount; and 4th in terms of ODA/GNI ratio in 2017. Among the non-DAC-member donors which report their ODA amounts to DAC, Turkey ranks 1st in terms of ODA/GNI ratio in 2017. In addition to ODA, the development assistance offered by NGOs through their grants and direct investments provided by private sector to the developing countries were 707.6 and 402.1 million USD, respectively. Assistance apart from those provided by public agencies reached 7.3 billion USD in 2014-2018. Thus, the total Turkish assistance in the period exceeded 38.7 billion USD. Turkey has been extending a helping hand to those affected by humanitarian crises for years and engaging in peace- building activities focusing on humanitarian aid, security and development. In addition to bilateral assistance, our country provides assistance through UN agencies, in close collaboration with UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), with significant funding contribution. Turkey conducts humanitarian diplomacy inclusive of all in need without discriminating on the basis of geography, religion or ethnicity. Most recent cases of such engagement have been in Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Somalia, entire Africa, Myanmar, and Bangladesh on account of Rohingyans. Standing as the most generous country based on the ratio of humanitarian aid to national income, Turkey will continue to contribute to global peace, stability and prosperity. In addition to development cooperation of preventive nature in countries affected by humanitarian crises arising from natural disasters, famine and drought, wars, political conflict and civil war, Turkey delivers emergency humanitarian aid during and after crises through AFAD, Turkish Red Crescent and TIKA. In this context, in 2017-2019, assistance was provided to Colombia, Vietnam, Laos, Mozambique and Iran for disasters of floods and landslide, and to Georgia for forest fires. Due to the political developments in the region since 2010, the Turkish humanitarian aid significantly increased to 7.35 billion USD in 2018, constituting 86% of all ODA. Thereby, Turkey has become the top country providing humanitarian aid since 2015 with a ratio of 0.94% of humanitarian aid to GNI in 2018. At the Fourth United Nations Conference on LDCs (LDC-IV) held in Istanbul in 2011, Turkey committed to provide 200 million USD assistance to LDCs. In this context, the Economic and Technical Cooperation Package for LDCs was introduced in 2012. The total assistance to LDCs in 2010-2017 exceeded 2 billion USD, far exceeding Turkey’s commitments. Figure 6. Share of Turkish Official Emergency and Humanitarian Aid in ODA (%) The ODA received by Turkey stood at 2.1 billion USD in 2015, and 3.6 billion USD in 2016. Of such assistance, 1.3 billion USD was concessional loan of ODA nature, and 2.3 billion USD was grants of ODA nature for the support provided to Syrians in Turkey. The foreign direct investment (FDI) in Turkey was 1.7% of GNI on average in 2008-2015. The Law on International Investment that entered into force in 2016 governed facilitation and additional support for FDIs. The share of humanitarian aid in ODA (%) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 25 50 75 100 128 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” TECHNOLOGY Turkey is a member to the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) established as a platform of sharing, assistance and research to promote the use of science and technologies for socio-economic development of developing countries. The UN Technology Bank for the LDCs was officially inaugurated in June 2018 in Turkey. The Bank aims to enhance capacities in science, technology and innovation and facilitate technology transfer. The establishment of the Bank marks the SDG 17.8 as the first target to have been reached. As a token of how Turkey values the UN Technology Bank for the LDCs, it covered the hosting and establishment costs as well as committed funding contribution of 2 million USD annually for 2017-2021. Since its inception, the Bank has been working with 12 LDCs. TRADE Turkey as a WTO member accepted the Bali Package intending to apply simplified rules of origin to LDCs, and facilitate access to goods and services markets. In addition, Turkey communicated to WTO in 2015 that it would accord preferential treatment to LDCs beyond market access by 2026. In line with the obligations under the customs union with the EU, Turkey acts along the concessions under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) applied unilaterally by the EU to many LDCs and developing countries. LDCs are also accorded facilities to benefit from the concessions through more flexible rules of origin. Turkey, through the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) in which it is a member, contributes both to itself and to the development of countries in the ECO region by removing trade barriers in the ECO region, developing intra-regional trade and promoting the integration of the ECO region with global markets. INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS Turkey engages in cooperation in social and economic domains with multilateral international organisations, international funding organisations and bilateral development organisations. The World Bank, UN, OECD, IMF, EBRD, WTO, EU, OIC, BSEC, ECO, and G-20 are leading international and regional economic/financial organisations with which Turkey cooperates. On the other hand, it engages in development- oriented bilateral cooperation through funding organisations such as JICA, KfW and AFD. In this context, infrastructure projects are supported and capacity building activities are undertaken to contribute to sustainable development. EU is one of the significant development partners of Turkey. As an accession candidate to the EU, Turkey benefits from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) provided for economic, social and legislative alignment with the EU. Various programmes and projects are undertaken in many areas such as regional competitiveness, environment, transport and human resources. Turkey was allocated a total of 4.8 billion EUR under IPA-I (2007-2013), and 4.5 billion EUR under IPA-II (2014-2020). An agreement was settled in 2015 with the EU on providing financial support and sharing responsibilities for the influx of migrants. Under the agreement, EU committed to provide an aid of 3 billion EUR for the years 2016 and 2017 in the areas of education, healthcare, labour market and humanitarian aid. Turkey is the permanent chair of COMCEC, one of the first international organisations that adopted the Agenda 2030 into its own agenda. In line with a decision made at the 30th Ministerial Session of the COMCEC in 2014, a study was prepared with the title Critical Success Factors in the Implementation of SDGs in Member States of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The work identified cooperation and partnership, capacity building, good governance, finance, data and monitoring, and policy coherence as the 6 critical factors to achieve SDGs in OIC member states. Since 2014, 24 institutional capacity building projects have been funded in 7 LDCs (Afghanistan, Gambia, Mozambique, Sudan, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Mali) under the COMCEC Project Funding. Through these projects, 14 public entities in those LDCs received financial and technical assistance. In addition to the annual core budget contribution, our country contributed more than 2.5 million USD voluntarily to UNIDO as of the end of 2018. UNIDO Office in Ankara, operating as UNIDO Regional Cooperation Hub with costs covered by Turkey, 129 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” undertakes various projects in areas such as energy efficiency in industry, clean production, combat with climate change, and nanotechnology. The funding for such projects come from the Global Environment Facility and Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of Montreal Protocol as well as from Turkey. In addition, some recent projects for Syrians under temporary protection in our country are implemented by financing from countries such as Japan through UNIDO Turkey Office. Our country hosts workshops for the participants from countries in or outside the region cooperating with UNIDO, and shares its technical knowledge through UNIDO. The High-Level Interim Review Meeting for the Istanbul Programme of Action of 2011-2021 adopted in the Fourth United Nations Conference on LDCs was held in 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. The Political Statement at the conclusion of the meeting called for action to give a new momentum to the Istanbul Programme of Action, to increase the support to LDCs and develop new approaches as well. Focusing on the development of 47 LDCs, which constitute one eighth of the world population but accounts for only 1% of the global economy, these meetings were hosted by Turkey, which is a sign of strong commitment to the principle of “leaving no one behind” at international level. 31 When the fees for transfer of operating rights as committed by the private sector to pay to the public authority in return for the transfer of PPP project operating rights to the private sector are added to the said amount, it reaches 139.8 billion USD. Turkey proposes to establish a UN Youth Center and host it in Istanbul with a view to contributing to the implementation of the UN Youth Strategy which contains 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda dimension as well. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS For more than 30 years, Turkey has been utilising the public- private partnership (PPP) model which brings financial and technical capacities of private and public sectors together through joint initiatives. In the said period, 238 PPP project contracts were concluded. A total of 206 PPP projects were commissioned, with 32 ongoing projects. Turkey stands as a leading country in the world in terms of the size of PPP market, with the total amount of 63.7 billion USD contracted for PPP project investments.31 The PPP model is mostly employed in transport and healthcare sectors. In the healthcare sector, the construction of city hospitals with 30,000-bed capacity started in 2011, with 8 hospitals commissioned to date. In the transport sector, 18 out of 56 airports were built through the PPP model, accounting for 83% of the total passenger traffic. The PPP experience derived in airport construction and operation has become an important item for exports. In addition, certain segments were commissioned in the North Marmara Highway and Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Highway, Turkey’s first highway construction projects as of 2016. A most successful PPP project in terms of sustainability is the Eurasia underwater Tunnel that connects the Asian side of Istanbul with Europe reducing the otherwise 100-minute trip to 15 minutes, contributing both to CO2 emission reduction and to passenger safety and comfort. 130 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 6. CONCLUSIONS As Turkey moves forward economically and socially, it also prioritises environmental protection in line with its global responsibilities in the development journey from past to future. While progressing, it endeavours to foster cooperation and partnerships to assist all countries particularly LDCs, to move forward together. The concept of “sustainable development” has been integrated into NDPs, as well as sectoral and thematic national policies and strategies since the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992. The progress to date regarding sustainable development has contributed to Turkey’s achievements towards SDGs. As a result of its speedy adaptation, Turkey has already integrated most of the targets directly or indirectly in the existing policy documents. Our legislation includes almost all elements of sustainable development. In the overall context of SDGs, Turkey stands above global averages, particularly in respect of policies, strategies and legislation. Institutionally, remits and responsibilities of public agencies fully overlap with SDGs. As a country with an average annual growth rate of 5.5% in the last 17 years, Turkey has achieved significant progress in development and increased prosperity for all segments of the society based on effective social policies in areas such as eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, ensuring gender equality and improving access to basic services. Policies to reduce inter-regional infrastructural disparities and promote technological advancement across the country particularly has marked an inclusive development pathway. This impacted positively Turkey’s global position in converging with SDGs. Looking into the future, it will focus on maintaining the pace of progress, and improving quality and effectiveness of services. Turkey is among the top performers in eradicating poverty. Pro-poor policies in sectors such as employment, social security, education, healthcare, and housing have substantially contributed to this outcome. Healthcare is another field where Turkey has made significant progress. Major changes and reforms in physical infrastructure, service quality, access to services and financial support within the framework of the Health Transformation Program that has been implemented since the early 2000s led to substantial improvements in terms of SDG3 indicators. It is necessary to take additional measures to address the issues of non-communicable diseases, preventive healthcare services and health problems of growing elderly population. With 39% of its population under 24 years of age and average age of 32, youth constitutes the largest potential for Turkey’s development. With significant steps regarding access to education, net schooling rates at all levels of education have substantially increased. Right to education ensures equal opportunities for all. Further work is underway to increase the quality of education, including through improving teachers’ qualifications, and developing personalities and abilities of individuals based on equal opportunities. Nearly the entire population have access to clean water and sanitation through targeted investments. In the context of efficient management of water resources, master plans for 25 basins were completed; and work is underway for river basin management plans. Turkey has made considerable progress towards energy related SDG targets and has already secured electricity access for all. In that context, Turkey accords great importance to clean energy generation through renewable energy resources to ensure diversification, to reduce import dependency, and to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Share of non-hydro renewable resources (wind and solar) in total electricity supply increased significantly. Large investments have been made to improve transportation infrastructure and public access to services in 2000-2018. Works to enhance the railway network are underway, particularly large subway investments are continuing in the metropolitan cities. Increase in the high-speed train passenger transportation is expected to accelerate after the completion of ongoing constructions. In the context of regional integration the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway connecting Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, has been completed. Share of R&D expenditure in GDP increased from 0.51% in 2002 to 0.96% in 2017. Private sector’s share in the total R&D expenditures increased from 28.7% in 2002 to 56.9% in 2017. One of the critical elements determining the R&D and innovation capacity is the size of workforce in the field of research. As of 2017, the number of researchers in full-time equivalents (FTE) is 111,893; number of R&D personnel in FTE is 153,552 and the percentage of R&D personnel in FTE employed in the private sector is 57%. Inclusion of all segments of society is supported through improving urban infrastructure and access to services, reducing inter- regional disparities, strengthening service delivery capacity of local governments, and expanding inclusive approaches. Work is underway to build planned settlements which are resilient to disasters, safe, have accessible integrated transport networks and to efficient waste management system. Effective urban regeneration policies and mechanisms have been developed, which have helped addressing slum housing problem. Urban regeneration projects are implemented to rehabilitate the wear-down in urban areas with changing functions and non-compliant building stocks including particularly disaster risks. Thereby, urban expansion is restricted to a certain extent. In addition, conditions are prepared to build the new building stocks in a more energy efficient way. Measures will continue to be taken to prevent urban heat islands due to high-rise buildings. 131 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Turkey with three phytogeographic regions, namely Euro-Siberian, Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian, and connecting two continents, has a highly rich biodiversity. The 5 micro-gene centres in our country are the origins or diversity centres of the species. While there are 12,500 species of gymnosperms and angiosperms in the European continent, it is known that there are over 11,000 species only in Anatolia, one-third them unique to Turkey. The List of Plants of Turkey reveals that 3,035 of 9,753 natural species existing in the country are endemic. As a result of reforestation efforts, forestry areas increased from 21.2 million hectares in 2007, to 22.6 million hectares in 2018. While this increases carbon sequestration in the atmosphere, it also strengthens resilience of ecosystems and climate adaptation. Furthermore, Turkey was one of the first countries which set Land Degradation Neutrality Targets. Regarding access to information important steps were taken in recent years. All communication channels between the state and the citizens were opened to promptly and effectively monitor and inspect their requests, complaints, notices, views, and proposals and right to request information. E-government practices for providing public services electronically have been expanded, increasing their use in many areas such as healthcare, social security, security and public finances. While approximately 600 services could be offered in 2012 on the e-government portal, number of services offered as of April 2019 reached 4,641. Thus, the financial and administrative burdens emanating from public services on citizens and enterprises were minimized and accountability increased. Vulnerable segments are empowered by policies and practices in fields such as education, employment, healthcare and social protection to ensure that all segments of the society equitably benefit from opportunities and growing prosperity and that no one is left behind in the development process. Having faced a large influx of irregular migrants upon the onset of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey implemented an “open door” policy in a humanitarian reflex. Admitting the largest refugee population in the world, Turkey hosts around 4 million individuals seeking protection including 3.6 million Syrians. Introducing many policies and practices to support the integration of refugees into the society, Turkey’s expenditures on assistance and services for refugees out of its own resources have exceeded 37 billion USD to date. Turkey actively promotes the principle of “leaving no one behind” both at home and abroad. In this context, as an emerging donor country, Turkey shares its experience with many countries through bilateral, multilateral, regional and global partnerships. With increasing ODA/GDP ratio from 2010, Turkey achieved 0.95% in 2017 and 1.10% in 2018, becoming a country that reached 0.7% target. In line with its policy of promoting regional and global stability, Turkey extends a helping hand to and supports the development efforts of developing countries, particularly LDCs. It advocates increased voice of developing countries in international decision-making mechanisms. The establishment of the Technology Bank for LDCs as a UN entity in Turkey in June 2018 marked the fulfilment of the first global target in the context of Agenda 2030, namely SDG 17.8. Bearing in mind that SDG alignment is a continuous process and that further progress is needed, Turkey is fully committed to scale up its efforts to achieve the SDGs by 2030. This process requires concerted action by all institutions and members of the society ranging from central government and local administration to the private sector, from NGOs to academia, from elderly to the youth. Turkey will continue its development efforts with this understanding. 132 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” 7. ANNEXES: ANNEX-I: SDG FOCUS AREAS: SDG 1 7 TARGETS SDG 2 8 TARGETS SDG 3 13 TARGETS SDG 4 10 TARGETS SDG 5 9 TARGETS SDG 6 8 TARGETS SDG 7 5 TARGETS SDG 8 12 TARGETS SDG 9 8 TARGETS SDG 10 10 TARGETS SDG 11 10 TARGETS SDG 12 11 TARGETS SDG 13 5 TARGETS SDG 14 10 TARGETS SDG15 12 TARGETS SDG 16 12 TARGETS SDG 17 19 TARGETS SDG 1 Impacted 3 <4 2 <2 6 <8 5 <5 4 <3 6 <3 7 <12 7 <8 7 <5 5 <7 7 <8 7 <5 6 <10 4 <12 6 <6 5 <12 Impacting Impacted Impacting 7 >2 5 >6 5 > 8 7 >9 none 2 >3 4 >8 2 >4 5 >4 1 >3 3 >2 7 >5 none none none 7 >4 SDG 2 2 <7 none 4 <4 none 5 <7 3 <1 4 <8 4 <3 2 <3 none 5 <3 7 <5 3 <6 5 <8 1 <3 8 <16 4 >3 5 >5 none 4 >7 none 2 >2 7 >8 4 >4 2 >2 none 6 >2 7 >5 1 >2 6 >8 none 4 >4 SDG 3 6 <5 5 <4 6 <5 5 <6 5 <4 2 <1 5 <4 5 <5 3 <2 7 <4 2 <7 5 <5 5 <5 2 <5 3 <3 13 <1 2 >2 none 2 >4 5 >5 none none 1 >1 none 1 >3 1 >1 none 4 >1 none none 1 <1 none SDG 4 8 <5 none 4 <2 none none none 9 <6 none 2 <2 2 <4 1 <1 1 <1 none none 4 <5 1 <3 8 >6 4 >5 6 >5 9 >9 2 >2 2 >1 9 >3 10 > 5 6 >5 none 1 >3 6 >3 2 >2 1 >3 2 >2 1 >1 SDG 5 9 <7 7 <4 5 <5 9 <9 2 <3 2 <1 9 <9 4 <6 9 <7 5 <2 none 1 >1 1 <1 1 <1 8 <8 9 <9 5 >5 none 6 >5 none none none 8 >7 4 >6 6 >4 1 >1 1 >3 5 >2 none none none none SDG 6 none none none 2 <2 none 2 <3 3 <2 4 <3 none 2 <2 4 <1 6 <2 none none 3 <3 8 <2 3 >4 7 >5 4 >5 none 3 >2 5 >4 5 >3 1 >2 2 >1 4 >3 4 >2 8 >2 4 >1 2 >2 none none SDG 7 3 <2 2 <2 none 1 <2 none 4 <5 5 <5 5 <8 2 <3 4 <6 4 <9 5 <5 none 2 <2 4 <4 1 <11 3 >6 1 >3 1 >2 none 1 >2 3 >2 5 >4 3 >4 1 >1 2 >3 none 5 >3 3 >2 2 >3 none none SDG 8 8 <4 8 <7 1 <1 6 <9 7 <8 3 <5 4 <5 10 <7 5 <6 5 <8 6 <8 3 <4 3 <5 2 <12 3 <5 12 <19 12 >7 8 >4 4 >5 3 > 9 9 >9 2 >3 5 >5 5 >5 6 >3 2 >5 5 >8 8 >3 none none none 3 > 15 SDG 9 4 <2 4 <4 none 5 <10 6 <4 2 <1 4 <3 5 <5 1 <2 4 <7 4 <8 3 <4 2 <2 3 <5 3 <5 8 <17 8 >7 3 >4 5 >5 none 6 >4 3 >4 8 >5 7 >10 7 >5 2 >8 6 >6 6 >2 4 >4 3 >5 none none SDG 10 4 <5 2 <2 3 <1 5 <6 4 <6 1 <2 1 <1 3 <6 5 <7 1 <2 3 <2 1 <2 2 <2 2 <1 2 <3 3 <11 5 >7 3 >2 2 >3 2 > 2 7 >9 none 3 >2 6 >5 2 >1 1 >1 3 >2 6 >2 none none none none SDG 11 3 <1 none 1 <1 none 1 <1 3 <4 3 <2 5 <2 8 <2 1 <1 2 <2 9 <5 2 <3 3 <5 4 <7 10 <1 7 >5 none 4 >7 4 > 2 2 >5 2 >2 6 >4 8 >5 7 >4 2 >1 1 >2 8 >3 2 >3 3 >5 none none SDG 12 2 <3 2 <6 none 3 <1 3 <1 2 <4 none 8 <5 6 <6 2 <3 2 <1 10 <3 1 <2 1 <1 3 <4 4 <5 8 >7 3 >5 7 >2 1 > 1 none 1 >4 9 >4 8 >6 8>4 2 >3 2 >2 3 >2 6 >3 5 >5 none none SDG 13 5 <7 5 <7 1 <4 3 <6 2 <5 2 <8 3 <5 3 <8 2 <6 2 <6 3 <8 2 <3 2 <3 3 <7 2 <3 4 <5 5 <7 5 >7 5 >5 1 > 1 1 >1 2 >6 5 >5 4 >3 4 >3 2 >1 5 >9 3 >10 2 >5 4 >9 none none SDG 14 none 2 <1 none 2 <2 none 1 <4 2 <3 none 4 <4 none 3 <2 3 <6 5 <2 2 <8 7 <3 7 <6 10 >6 6 >3 5 >5 none 1 >1 none none 5 >3 2 >2 2 >2 3 >2 2 >1 3 >2 2 >7 none none SDG 15 none 8 <6 none 3 <1 none 2 <2 3 <2 none 5 <3 none 5 <3 5 <5 9 <4 7 <2 7 <3 12 <6 12 >4 8 >5 5 >2 none 1 >1 none 2 >2 12 >2 5 >3 1 >2 5 >3 1 >1 7 >3 8 >2 none none SDG 16 none none 1 <1 2 <2 none none none none none none none none none none none 9 <5 6 >6 3 >1 3 >3 5 >4 8 >8 3 >3 4 >4 5 >3 5 >3 3 >2 7 >4 4 >3 3 >2 3 >7 3 >7 none SDG 17 4 <7 4 <4 none 1 <1 none none none 15 <3 none none none none none none none none 12 >5 16 >8 1 >13 3 > 1 9 >9 2 >8 11 >1 19 >12 17 > 8 11 >3 1 >10 4 >5 4 >5 7 >6 6 >12 5 >9 Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting Impacted Impacting 133 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” ANNEX-II: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS, 2010-2017 Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 1 - END POVERTY IN ALL ITS FORMS EVERYWHERE 1.2.1 Proportion of population living below the poverty line by sex and age group (%) 50% of median equivalized household disposable income Total 16.9 16.1 16.3 15.0 15.0 14.7 14.3 13.5 Male 16.5 15.8 16.0 14.6 14.8 14.6 14.0 13.2 Female 17.2 16.5 16.6 15.4 15.2 14.8 14.6 13.8 Age group < 15 24.8 23.8 24.3 22.9 23.2 22.5 21.9 21.3 15-24 18.5 18.3 19.0 17.8 17.0 17.3 17.9 15.8 25-34 13.6 12.9 11.4 10.6 11.1 10.2 10.4 9.4 35-54 13.0 12.1 12.9 11.5 11.4 11.8 11.1 10.7 55 + 10.5 10.2 10.8 9.4 9.7 9.5 8.9 8.2 60% of median equivalized household disposable income Total 23.8 22.9 22.7 22.4 21.8 21.9 21.2 20.1 Male 23.3 22.4 22.4 22.0 21.4 21.7 20.8 19.6 Female 24.3 23.4 23.1 22.8 22.2 22.0 21.6 20.7 Age group < 15 33.9 32.6 32.9 32.8 32.0 31.9 31.2 30.2 15-24 26.0 25.2 25.8 26.1 24.9 25.9 25.8 23.4 25-34 20.1 18.7 17.5 17.6 17.0 16.2 16.5 15.3 35-54 18.7 18.5 18.4 17.8 17.3 18.0 17.1 16.7 55+ 15.4 14.9 15.0 14.4 14.8 14.9 13.4 12.6 1.4.1(p) Proportion of households with easy access to basic services (health center. compulsory education or public transport) (%) - - - - 87. 2 87. 4 88. 5 87. 8 Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 2 - END HUNGER, ACHIEVE FOOD SECURITY AND IMPROVED NUTRITION AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE 2.2.1 Prevalence of stunting among children under 5 years of age by -2 standart deviation (%) Total - - - 9.5 - - - - Mal e - - - 10.9 - - - - Female - - - 8.0 - - - - Age (months) <6 months - - - 10.3 - - - - 6-8 months - - - 4.9 - - - - 9-11 months - - - 5.6 - - - - 134 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 12-17 months - - - 9.0 - - - - 18-23 months - - - 9.9 - - - - 24-35 months - - - 13.2 - - - - 36-47 months - - - 9.4 - - - - 48-59 months - - - 8.5 - - - - 2.2.2 a) Prevalence of malnutrition (wasting) among children under 5 years of age by -2 standart deviation (%) Total - - - 1.7 - - - - Male - - - 1.4 - - - - Female - - - 2.1 - - - - Age (months) <6 months - - - 8.3 - - - - 6-8 months - - - 3.8 - - - - 9-11 months - - - 1.1 - - - - 12-17 months - - - 1.1 - - - - 18-23 months - - - 1.9 - - - - 48-59 months - - - 0.6 - - - - b) Prevalence of malnutrition (overweight) among children under 5 years of age by +2 standart deviation Total - - - 10.9 - - - - Male - - - 11.7 - - - - Female - - - 9.9 - - - - A ge (months) <6 months - - - 9.8 - - - - 6-8 months - - - 13.4 - - - - 9-11 months - - - 10.6 - - - - 12-17 months - - - 18.6 - - - - 18-23 months - - - 11.9 - - - - 24-35 months - - - 12.6 - - - - 36-47 months - - - 6.3 - - - - 48-59 months - - - 9.2 - - - - Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Goal 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all agesv 3.1.1 Maternal mortality ratio (Per 100,000 live births) 16.4 15.8 15.2 15.7 15.1 14.6 14.7 14.6 3.1.2 Proportion of births attended by skilled health professional (%) 91.6 93.7 96.8 98.1 98.0 99.0 98.0 98.0 3.2.1 Under-five mortality rate (Per 1,000 live births) 15.5 14.9 14.4 13.4 13.3 12.4 12.1 11.2 3.2.2 Neonatal mortality rate (Per 1,000 live births) 7.6 7.3 7.5 6.9 7.3 6.5 6.3 5.8 3.3.1 Incidence of HIV infection per 100,000 population (Per 100,000 population) 0.7 0.9 1.3 1.7 2.4 2.7 3.1 3.8 3.3.2 Tuberculosis incidence per 100,000 population (Per 100,000 population) 22.0 20.6 19.0 17.2 16.9 15.9 15.3 14.6 135 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Goal 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all agesv 3.3.3 Malaria incidence per 100,000 population (Per 100,000 population) 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 3.3.4 Hepatitis B incidence per 100,000 population (Per 100,000 population) 4.2 3.8 3.6 3.1 3.1 2.9 1.9 1.9 3.4.1(p) Proportion of deaths due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory diseases (%) 73.6 73.9 72.4 72.8 71.9 71.3 70.0 70.0 3.4.2 Suicide mortality rate (Per 100,000 population) Total 4.0 3.6 4.4 4.3 4.1 4.1 4.0 3.8 Male 5.6 5.0 6.3 6.2 6.1 6.0 6.1 5.9 Female 2.4 2.2 2.4 2.3 2.1 2.3 1.9 1.8 3.5.2(p) Percentage of individuals who have heavy episodic drinks at least once a month (%) - - - - 4.4 - 2.4 - 3.6.1 Death rate due to road traffic accidents (Per 100,000 population) - - - - - 9.6 9.1 9.2 3.7.1 Proportion of married women of reproductive age (aged 15-49 years) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods (%) - - - 59.8 - - - - 3.7.2 Adolescent birth rate per 1,000 women in aged 15-19 (Per 1,000 women) 34 32 31 29 28 26 24 21 3.8.2 Proportion of households whose health expenditure is more than 10% of total household expenditures (%) 3.8 3.4 3.1 3.6 3.7 3.5 3.7 4.5 Proportion of households whose health expenditure is more than 25% of total household expenditures (%) 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 3.9.2 Proportion of deaths due to unsafe water, unsafe sanitation and lack of hygiene related diseases (Per 100,000 population) 0.39 0.81 0.78 1.39 1.55 1.53 1.39 1.22 3.9.3 Proportion of deaths due to unintentional poisoning (Per 100,000 population) 0.06 0.06 0.10 0.10 0.14 0.12 0.13 0.08 3.a.1(p) The proportion of 15 years old and over individuals’ smoking (%) 29.5 - 26.8 - 32.5 - 30.6 - 3.b.1 Proportion of the target population covered by all vaccines included in their national programme (%) 97.0 97.0 97.0 98.0 96.0 97.0 98.0 96.0 3.c.1 Health worker density and distribution (Per 100,000 population) Number of physicians, per 100,000 population 167 169 172 174 175 179 181 186 Number of nursing and midwifery personnel, per 100,000 population 224 237 249 252 251 261 257 272 Number of dentistry personnel, per 100,000 population 29 28 28 29 30 32 33 35 Number of pharmaceutical personnel, per 100,000 population 36 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 4 - ENSURE INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE QUALITY EDUCATION AND PROMOTE LIFELONG LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL 4.1.1(1) Proportion of children: at the end of primary and at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in mathematics by sex (%) at the end of primary school Total - 77.3 - - - 81.4 - - Male - 76.4 - - - 80.8 - - Female - 78.2 - - - 82.0 - - at the end of lower secondary school Total - 66.5 - - - 69.9 - - 136 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Male - 65.4 - - - 68.9 - - Female - 67.7 - - - 71.0 - - 4.2.2 Net schooling ratio of age five by sex (%) Total - - - - - 67.2 70.4 75.1 Male - - - - - 67.4 70.8 75.5 Female - - - - - 66.9 70.0 74.8 4.3.1 Participation rate of youth and adults in formal or non-formal education in the previous 12 months by sex (%) Youth (aged 18-24) Total - - 46.6 - - - 48.9 - Male - - 53.4 - - - 54.1 - Female - - 40.1 - - - 43.8 - Adults (aged 25-64) Total - - 17.8 - - - 20.9 - Male - - 20.6 - - - 24.8 - Female - - 15.1 - - - 17.0 - 4.4.1 Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology skills by type of skill (%) Youth (aged 16-24) Computer or mobile device related activities Transferring files between a computer and other devices - - - - - 47.5 57.0 64.1 Installing software or applications (apps) - - - - - 30.2 43.8 61.1 Changing the settings of any software, including operating system or security programs - - - - - 18.2 23.9 35.9 Software related axctivities Copying or moving a file or folder - - - - - 55.5 65.2 74.7 Using word processing software - - - - - 42.5 52.9 60.5 Creating presentations or documents integrating text, pictures, tables or charts - - - - - 34.3 43.9 51.5 Using basic arithmetic formulae in a spreadsheet - - - - - 38.3 46.7 51.6 Using spreadsheet’s advanced functions to organise and analyse data, such as sorting, filtering, using formulas, creating charts - - - - - 18.9 25.5 31.7 Using software to edit photos, video or audio files - - - - - 26.3 32.6 40.5 Writing code in a programming language - - - - - 4.0 5.0 5.1 Adults (aged 16-74) Computer or mobile device related activities Transferring files between a computer and other devices - - - - - 25.7 31.3 37.1 Installing software or applications (apps) - - - - - 16.4 24.7 35.5 Changing the settings of any software, including operating system or security programs - - - - - 9.6 13.3 20.1 Software related activities Copying or moving a file or folder - - - - - 30.4 37.0 42.5 137 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Using basic arithmetic formulae in a spreadsheet - - - - - 23.3 29.3 33.5 Creating presentations or documents integrating text, pictures, tables or charts - - - - - 18.4 23.5 27.7 Excel vb. bir program kullanma - - - - - 21.6 26.5 29.5 Using spreadsheet’s advanced functions to organise and analyse data, such as sorting, filtering, using formulas, creating charts - - - - - 12.2 15.5 19.0 Using software to edit photos, video or audio files - - - - - 13.6 17.1 21.7 Writing code in a programming language - - - - - 1.9 2.5 2.8 4.5.1(2) Gender ratio of students attending a formal education (%) Primary school - - 100.6 100.8 100.6 100.6 100.1 99.8 Primary education (3) 100.4 100.4 - - - - - - Lower secondary school - - 102.9 103.7 101.1 103.2 101.6 101.8 Upper secondary education 89.7 93.3 94.2 94.6 95.4 95.6 94.3 93.3 Higher education 86.2 87.4 88.1 89.2 90.2 90.5 92.0 93.3 Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 5 - ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS 5.2.1 Proportion of women (aged 15-59 years) subjected to physical, sexual and psychological violence by husband or intimate partner in the previous 12 months by form of violence, age group and marital status (%) Physical violence Total - - - - 8.2 - - - Age group 15-24 - - - - 15.8 - - - 25-34 - - - - 10.0 - - - 35-44 - - - - 8.0 - - - 45-59 - - - - 4.6 - - - Marital status Married - - - - 7.9 - - - Widow - - - - 0.9 - - - Divorced, separated - - - - 19.5 - - - Cinsel Şiddet Total - - - - 5.3 - - - Age group 15-24 - - - - 5.6 - - - 25-34 - - - - 6.2 - - - 35-44 - - - - 5.5 - - - 45-59 - - - - 4.2 - - - Marital status Married - - - - 5.2 - - - Widow - - - - 1.0 - - - Divorced, separated - - - - 11.8 - - - Psychological violence Total - - - - 25.7 - - - 138 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Age group 15-24 - - - - 31.4 - - - 25-34 - - - - 27.6 - - - 35-44 - - - - 27.1 - - - 45-59 - - - - 21.0 - - - Marital status Married - - - - 26.1 - - - Widow - - - - 2.7 - - - Divorced, separated - - - - 31.3 - - - 5.2.2 Proportion of women (aged 15-59 years) subjected to sexual violence by persons other than husband or intimate partner by age group (%) Total - - - - 2.9 - - - Age group 15-24 - - - - 3.6 - - - 25-34 - - - - 3.6 - - - 35-44 - - - - 2.6 - - - 45-59 - - - - 1.9 - - - 5.3.1(p) Proportion of women aged 20-24 years old who were married before age 18 (%) 8.2 8.0 7.9 7.7 7.4 7.1 6.7 6.2 5.4.1 Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work by sex (%) Total - - - - - 10.8 - - Male - - - - - 3.6 - - Female - - - - - 17.9 - - 5.5.1 Proportion of seats held by women in The Grand National Assembly of Turkey and local governments (%) Proportion of seats held by women in The Grand National Assembly(4) - 14.4 - - - 14.7 - - Proportion of seats held by women in local governments(5) - - - - 9.9 - - - 5.5.2 Proportion of women in managerial positions (%) - - 14.4 16.6 15.5 14.4 16.7 17.3 Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 6 - ENSURE AVAILABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WATER AND SANITATION FOR ALL 6.1.1 Share of population using safely managed drinking water services (%) 98.3 - 98.3 - 97.4 - 98.3 - 6.2.1(p) Share of population that have piped water system and indoor toilet in their dwellings (%) Share of population having piped water system 97.5 97.6 98.0 98.2 98.6 98.6 99.0 99.0 Share of population having indoor toilet 87.3 91.0 90.8 91.2 92.4 93.5 94.8 95.4 6.3.1 Proportion of wastewater safely treated (%) 72.8 - 76.0 - 76.9 - 80.7 - Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 7 - ENSURE ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE, RELIABLE, SUSTAINABLE AND MODERN ENERGY FOR ALL 7.1.1 Share of population with access to electricity (%) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 139 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 7.1.2(p) Share of households that have natural gas subscription (%) - - - - 51.0 53.7 56.3 59.8 7.2.1 a) Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption (%) 10.0 8.2 8.0 7.9 6.7 7.1 6.6 6.9 b) Electricity generation ratio from renewable energy and wastes (%) 26.4 25.4 27.3 29.0 21.0 32.2 33.2 29.6 7.3.1 Primary energy intensity (TEP/1,000 US $, 2010 price) 0.13 0.12 0.12 0.11 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 8 - PROMOTE SUSTAINED, INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH, FULL AND PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT AND DECENT WORK FOR ALL 8.1.1(p) Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in 2010 constant prices based on purchasing power parity (PPPs) (US $) 17,264 18,938 19,593 21,011 21,853 22,938 23,424 24,915 8.3.1(p)(6) Proportion of employment in non-agricultural sector working without having a social security registration by sex (%) Total 29.1 27.8 24.5 22.4 22.3 21.2 21.7 22.1 Male 28.6 27.2 23.7 21.2 21.1 20.2 20.8 21.0 Female 30.8 29.8 27.1 26.0 25.9 24.1 24.2 25.0 8.4.2 Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita and domestic material consumption per gross domestic product (GDP) Domestic material consumption (Million tonnes) 941.1 995.8 890.6 905.9 931.4 1,006.0 - - Domestic material consumption per capita (Ton/person) 12.9 13.4 11.8 11.9 12.1 12.9 - - Domestic material consumption per GDP (Kg/US $) 1.2 1.2 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.2 - - 8.5.1 Average hourly gross wages of female and male employees by occupation and age group (TL) Total 7.6 - - - 11.1 - - - Male 7.5 - - - 11.1 - - - Female 7.7 - - - 11.3 - - - Major occupational group (ISCO-08) Managers 19.1 - - - 33.9 - - - Professionals 13.8 - - - 23.6 - - - Technicians and associate professionals 9.4 - - - 13.6 - - - Clerical support workers 8.2 - - - 10.5 - - - Service and sales workers 5.5 - - - 7.6 - - - Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers 5.9 - - - 7.1 - - - Craft and related trades workers 6.4 - - - 8.4 - - - Plant and machine operators and assemblers 5.5 - - - 8.1 - - - Elemantary occupations 5.0 - - - 7.0 - - - 8.5.2(6) Unemployment rate by sex and age group (%) Total 11.9 9.8 9.2 9.7 9.9 10.3 10.9 10.9 Male 11.4 9.2 8.5 8.7 9.0 9.2 9.6 9.4 Female 13.0 11.3 10.8 11.9 11.9 12.6 13.7 14.1 Age group 15-19 18.8 15.8 14.9 16.4 16.1 16.5 16.2 17.0 20-24 23.5 19.8 19.0 20.0 18.9 19.7 21.5 22.8 140 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 25-34 12.6 10.6 10.2 10.6 10.8 11.0 12.3 12.1 35-54 8.9 7.1 6.6 7.0 7.4 7.8 8.1 8.0 55 + 4.7 3.9 3.7 4.2 5.0 5.6 5.3 5.4 8.6.1(6) Proportion of youth (aged 15-24 years) not in employment, education or training (%) Total 32.3 29.5 28.7 25.5 24.9 24.0 24.0 24.2 Male 19.6 17.1 17.5 15.1 14.7 14.3 14.6 14.6 Female 44.4 41.5 39.7 35.8 35.0 33.8 33.5 34.0 8.7.1(p)(6) Proportion of employed children by sex and age (%) Aged 15-17 Total 17.1 17.6 16.9 16.7 18.1 18.1 18.0 17.4 Male 23.1 23.6 23.3 22.9 25.0 24.5 23.8 24.3 Female 10.8 11.2 10.2 10.1 10.8 11.4 11.9 10.2 Aged 6-17 Total - - 5.9 - - - - - Male - - 7.9 - - - - - Female - - 3.7 - - - - - 8.8.1 Incidence rates of fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries by sex (Per 100,000 employed) Fatal work accidents Total 13.3 14.4 5.8 8.3 9.4 6.9 7.5 8.2 Male 17.3 18.6 7.6 10.9 12.3 9.1 10.0 11.2 Female 0.9 1.1 0.3 0.6 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.5 Non-fatal work accidents Total 579 585 578 1,169 1,276 1,324 1,530 1,812 Male 718 727 713 1,384 1,495 1,544 1,756 2,097 Female 147 144 178 513 637 714 906 1,069 8.10.1 a) Number of commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults (Number) 18.3 18.8 19.4 20.7 20.7 20.4 19.2 18.7 Number of automated teller machines (ATMs) per 100,000 adults (Number) 50.3 56.7 61.1 69.4 74.2 77.2 76.2 76.6 Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 9 - BUILD RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE, PROMOTE INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIALIZATION AND FOSTER INNOVATION 9.1.2 Domestic passenger and freight volumes by mode of transport Volume of passenger Railway (Million) passenger-km 3.49 3.92 2.94 2.97 3.38 3.65 3.26 3.68 Road (Million) passenger-km 226,913 242,265 258,874 268,178 276,073 290,734 300,852 314,734 Airline (Million) passenger-km - - - 23,357 26,204 29,790 31,730 34,018 Maritime line (Million) passenger-km 1,368 1,365 1,267 1,448 1,568 1,597 1,789 1,832 Volume of freight 141 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Railway (Million) ton-km 10,282 10,311 10,473 10,241 11,106 9,736 10,971 12,259 Road (Million) ton-km 190,365 203,072 216,123 224,048 234,492 244,329 253,139 262,739 Airline (Million) ton 0.55 0.62 0.63 0.74 0.81 0.87 0.86 0.88 Maritime line (Million) ton-km 10,479 13,392 13,689 15,061 13,532 14,967 15,015 16,463 9.2.1 Value added of manufacturing industry as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) (%) 15.1 16.5 15.9 16.2 16.8 16.7 16.6 17.6 9.2.2(6) Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment (%) 18.7 18.1 17.8 18.1 19.0 18.6 18.1 17.6 9.4.1 CO2 emission per unit of value added Kg CO2/US $ (2010 $ PPP) - 0.21 0.21 0.18 0.18 0.19 0.19 - 9.5.1 Research and development expenditure as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) (%) 0.80 0.80 0.83 0.82 0.86 0.88 0.94 0.96 9.5.2 Researchers (in full-time equivalent) per million inhabitants (Number) 880 971 1,092 1,170 1,162 1,217 1,263 1,393 9.b.1 Proportion of high and medium-high-tech manufacturing industry value added in total value added (%) 30.6 30.3 30.1 29.7 29.2 29.7 29.9 30.7 9.c.1 Proportion of population covered by a mobile network by technology (%) Narrowband (2G) 99.1 99.1 99.2 99.5 99.8 99.8 99.7 99.8 Broadband (3G) 73.9 80.9 84.0 86.2 91.2 95.0 96.0 97.4 LTE - - - - - - 84.4 90.4 Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 10 - REDUCE INEQUALITY WITHIN AND AMONG COUNTRIES 10.1.1 Growth rate of equivalised household disposable income among the bottom 40 per cent of the population (%) - 0.13 0.08 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.13 10.2.1 Proportion of people living below 50 per cent of median income by sex and age group (%) Total 16.9 16.1 16.3 15.0 15.0 14.7 14.3 13.5 Male 16.5 15.8 16.0 14.6 14.8 14.6 14.0 13.2 Female 17.2 16.5 16.6 15.4 15.2 14.8 14.6 13.8 Age group < 15 24.8 23.8 24.3 22.9 23.2 22.5 21.9 21.3 15 - 24 18.5 18.3 19.0 17.8 17.0 17.3 17.9 15.8 25 - 34 13.6 12.9 11.4 10.6 11.1 10.2 10.4 9.4 35 - 54 13.0 12.1 12.9 11.5 11.4 11.8 11.1 10.7 55 + 10.5 10.2 10.8 9.4 9.7 9.5 8.9 8.2 10.5.1 Financial soundness indicators (%) Regulatory Tier 1 capital to assets 12.3 11.7 12.1 11.0 11.6 11.0 10.7 10.7 Regulatory Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets 17.1 14.9 15.1 13.0 13.9 13.2 13.1 14.1 Non-performing loans net of provisions to capital 2.4 2.5 3.0 3.2 3.5 3.9 3.8 3.2 Non-performing loans to total gross loans 3.5 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.7 3.0 3.1 2.8 Return on assets 3.1 2.2 2.4 2.0 1.7 1.5 1.9 2.0 Liquid assets to short-term liabilities 79.7 72.0 76.0 72.1 77.4 69.6 66.9 66.2 Net open position in foreign exchange to capital -0.1 -1.1 0.0 -3.5 -2.1 -0.4 0.2 0.7 10.b.1 Financing for sustainable development, as donor countries, type of flow and sectors (total development assistance, bilateral official development assistance, total official flows and net official development assistance) 142 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Development assistance by type (Million US $) Total 1,718 2,363 3,436 4,347 6,403 5,104 7,943 9,327 Net official development assistance 967 1,273 2,533 3,307 3,591 3,919 6,488 8,121 Grants by non-governmental organisations 106 200 112 232 368 475 655 708 Private flows 670 879 735 820 2,412 597 592 402 Other official flows - 25 12 57 - 13 72 112 207 97 Bilateral official development assistance by sector (Million US $) Total 920 1,226 2,423 3,156 3,502 3,845 6,237 7,951 Social infrastructure services 482 418 634 702 535 780 422 316 Economic infrastructure and services 24 34 20 45 67 90 156 137 Production sectors 111 81 7 14 12 23 20 68 Multi sector/cross cutting 10 140 513 - 243 4 46 272 Humanitarian assistance 153 264 1,040 1,630 2,420 3,200 6,000 7,278 143 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 11 - MAKE CITIES AND HUMAN SETTLEMENTS INCLUSIVE, SAFE, RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE 11.2.1(p) Proportion of households that has convenient access to public transport (%) - - - - 77.7 79.9 82.6 82.6 11.4.1 General government expenditure for cultural and natural heritage (Thousand TRY) Cultural Heritage - - - - 1,060,836 2,174,827 2,113,824 1,597,677 Natural Heritage - - - - 1,318,483 1,466,999 1,800,691 2,462,407 11.6.1 Proportion of solid waste regularly collected and with adequate final discharge out of total solid waste generated (%) 54.7 - 59.9 - 61.8 - 70.1 - 11.6.2 Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (PM10) in cities (population weighted) PM10 (µg/m3) Adana 64 48 46 56 45 58 40 55 Adıyaman 95 82 72 69 71 53 51 51 Afyon 102 115 98 94 81 89 82 82 Ağrı 66 51 49 51 47 55 43 59 Aksaray 81 70 68 64 61 63 60 68 Amasya 63 43 39 35 29 56 54 56 Ankara 64 63 77 74 63 58 62 69 Antalya 70 63 51 44 53 48 53 51 Ardahan 74 67 61 69 33 34 23 25 Artvin 32 34 28 30 21 34 19 24 Aydın 66 96 71 71 65 66 63 45 Balıkesir 76 78 46 52 50 47 43 54 Bartın 65 71 60 66 56 48 57 51 Batman 143 116 109 97 90 92 68 63 Bayburt 67 47 65 53 53 46 47 43 Bilecik 48 58 51 56 54 50 49 50 Bingöl 45 31 34 45 30 26 23 43 Bitlis 98 82 84 72 53 25 29 27 Bolu 97 61 80 87 78 102 34 31 Burdur 82 86 78 66 46 64 57 69 Bursa 62 65 37 76 85 81 75 78 Çanakkale 30 22 19 45 48 49 44 46 Çankırı 57 46 83 68 34 19 47 54 Çorum 112 75 73 64 45 53 66 68 Denizli 99 91 74 70 72 68 77 70 Diyarbakır 99 77 69 67 62 65 53 49 Düzce 82 93 85 75 107 95 92 79 Edirne 64 79 74 71 70 66 58 58 Elazığ 87 46 44 37 32 37 42 61 Erzincan 60 40 50 56 53 70 84 78 Erzurum 63 60 57 33 30 39 51 44 Eskişehir 36 31 32 35 31 24 26 27 Gaziantep 71 101 108 77 58 60 71 54 Giresun 29 21 12 21 49 47 42 41 Gümüşhane 60 59 69 69 63 55 50 48 Hakkari 70 88 109 95 85 94 78 74 Hatay 67 62 46 66 62 65 57 57 144 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Iğdır 134 96 88 98 106 122 106 128 Isparta 73 94 86 72 75 61 56 56 İstanbul 51 49 53 57 55 52 48 50 İzmir 51 56 34 45 41 41 41 44 Kahramanmaraş 92 75 74 73 69 77 63 88 Karabük 94 51 50 49 47 75 35 39 Karaman 80 89 93 88 80 85 77 76 Kars - İstasyon Mahallesi 55 54 52 57 47 47 61 59 Kastamonu 42 34 31 34 34 28 49 50 Kayseri 70 67 77 70 75 80 79 67 Kırıkkale 77 61 67 52 27 26 27 26 Kırklareli 43 57 46 40 37 38 43 42 Kırşehir 71 48 49 53 35 33 25 23 Kilis 89 70 58 35 29 40 42 42 Kocaeli 74 64 63 56 55 49 48 51 Konya 68 62 65 57 55 56 49 67 Kütahya 76 79 77 67 66 67 89 65 Malatya 82 72 68 60 43 44 37 53 Manisa 78 55 49 80 86 87 89 78 Mardin 91 76 51 62 58 80 63 63 Mersin 80 51 53 55 52 65 53 72 Muğla 62 70 71 78 81 82 75 71 Muş 118 34 83 105 99 132 127 79 Nevşehir 65 56 53 54 47 45 46 48 Niğde 62 77 79 74 68 75 73 81 Ordu 60 61 53 53 48 51 53 52 Osmaniye 126 109 82 81 68 68 67 72 Rize 50 28 27 41 30 29 25 29 Sakarya 74 94 82 74 73 67 63 67 Samsun 48 42 48 51 56 53 58 61 Siirt 124 102 100 93 113 103 91 65 Sinop 38 42 37 27 36 65 69 59 Sivas 64 48 49 45 37 39 59 65 Şanlıurfa 84 78 72 71 49 45 34 73 Şırnak 99 50 41 36 31 78 72 45 Tekirdağ 79 72 69 63 56 65 71 60 Tokat 48 31 29 44 49 58 58 69 Trabzon 84 63 58 65 58 59 53 43 Tunceli 56 41 44 30 18 22 19 26 Uşak 71 72 69 60 55 63 70 65 Van 121 74 65 64 49 39 37 41 Yalova 53 42 23 31 33 35 46 48 Yozgat 64 58 50 46 42 42 49 26 Zonguldak 67 88 62 61 65 60 56 29 145 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 12 - ENSURE SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION PATTERNS 12.4.2(p) Hazardous waste generated per capita, excluding major mineral wastes (Kg/Per capita) 12 - 11 - 12 - 15 - Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 15 - PROTECT, RESTORE AND PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE USE OF TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS, SUSTAINABLY MANAGE FORESTS, COMBAT DESERTIFICATION, AND HALT AND REVERSE LAND DEGRADATION AND HALT BIODIVERSITY LOSS 15.1.1 Forest area as a proportion of total land area (%) 27.2 27.2 27.7 27.7 27.7 28.6 28.6 28.6 Normal forest area as a proportion of total land area 13.6 13.6 14.8 14.8 14.8 16.3 16.3 16.3 Degraded forest area as a proportion of total land area 13.6 13.6 12.9 12.9 12.9 12.3 12.3 12.3 15.2.1(7) Progress towards sustainable forest management Forest area net change rate (%) - - 0.5 - - 1.4 - - Above-ground biomass stock in forest (Million tonnes) 916 944 960 1,000 1,014 1,035 - 1,031 Proportion of forest area located within legally established protect areas (%) 3.5 3.5 3.3 3.3 3.3 5.5 5.5 5.5 Proportion of forest area under a long term forest management plan (%) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Forest area under an independently verified forest management certification scheme (Thousand hectare) - 72 1,360 2,110 2,367 2,367 2,367 2,367 15.4.2 Mountain green cover index, land cover-land use area (%) Sum of green cover classes Total - - - - - - - 83.3 Forest - - - - - - - 27.7 Grassland, shrubland - - - - - - - 31.0 Cropland - - - - - - - 24.6 Sum of other land cover classes (%) Total - - - - - - - 16.7 Total - - - - - - - 14.7 Wetland - - - - - - - 0.5 Settlement - - - - - - - 1.6 Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 16 - PROMOTE PEACEFUL AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, PROVIDE ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR ALL AND BUILD EFFECTIVE, ACCOUNTABLE AND INCLUSIVE INSTITUTIONS AT ALL LEVELS 16.1.4 Proportion of population feel safe walking alone at night around the area they live (%) Total 57.8 59.8 58.8 59.9 60.0 56.5 59.1 57.1 Male 68.9 70.4 70.9 71.8 69.7 69.4 71.0 68.8 Female 47.2 49.5 47.1 48.3 50.6 44.0 47.5 45.6 16.3.2 Unsentenced detainees as a proportion of overall prison population (%) 27.4 27.8 22.9 19.5 14.0 14.6 36.2 34.1 16.6.1 Proportion of central goverment budget expenditures by primary grants of Budget Law (%) 102.6 100.7 103.1 101.0 102.8 107.1 102.4 105.1 16.6.2 Proportion of population satisfied with the public services (%) Satisfaction from the services of Social Security Institution 54.9 56.1 59.7 69.6 58.4 58.7 67.9 62.5 Satisfaction from the health services 73.0 75.9 74.8 74.7 70.6 72.3 75.4 71.7 Satisfaction from the educational services 61.5 64.2 64.6 69.7 58.9 59.0 65.1 54.6 146 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” Satisfaction from the judicial services 37.2 38.9 44.7 52.8 50.8 50.4 57.9 54.1 Satisfaction from the public security services 78.0 79.4 79.4 79.4 69.1 69.8 75.7 74.4 Satisfaction from the transportation services - 71.8 72.7 76.4 71.8 74.0 78.4 72.3 16.7.1(8) Proportions of positions in public institutions by sex (%) Public sector employment Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Male 64.6 63.4 64.1 63.2 63.5 61.9 61.3 60.5 Female 35.4 36.6 35.9 36.8 36.5 38.1 38.7 39.5 16.9.1 Proportion of children under five years of age whose births have been registered with a civil authority (%) - - - 98.6 - - - - Goals and indicators Unit 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 GOAL 17 - STRENGTHEN THE MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION AND REVITALIZE THE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 17.1.1 Total government revenue as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) by source (%) 34.8 34.2 34.2 34.3 33.6 32.0 32.5 31.1 Total tax revenue as a proportion of GDP 19.5 19.3 18.8 19.0 18.6 18.7 18.8 18.3 Total social contribution as a proportion of GDP 8.9 8.5 8.6 8.9 9.1 7.7 7.9 7.4 Total grant as a proportion of GDP 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 Total other revenue as a proportion of GDP 6.4 6.3 6.8 6.4 5.9 5.6 5.9 5.4 17.1.2 Proportion of domestic budget funded by domestic taxes (%) 75.3 81.8 78.5 80.6 80.6 84.3 78.1 76.2 17.2.1 Net official development assistance, total and to least developed countries, as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) (%) Net official development assistance/GDP 0.13 0.17 0.32 0.42 0.45 0.50 0.76 0.95 Assistance to least developed countries/GDP 0.02 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.03 0.06 0.02 0.02 17.3.2 Volume of remittances made by non-residents as a proportion of total gross domestic product (GDP) (%) 0.23 0.23 0.21 0.20 0.19 0.16 0.14 0.12 17.6.2 Fixed internet broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants by speed (Per 1000 person) Total 9.6 10.1 10.4 11.0 11.4 12.1 13.2 14.7 256Kbit/s ≤ x < 2 Mbps 2.8 1.1 1.0 1.0 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.2 2 Mbps ≤ x < 10 Mbps 6.8 9.0 9.4 7.9 5.5 3.4 2.9 3.2 10 Mbps ≤ x - - - 2.1 5.4 8.3 10.0 11.3 17.8.1 Proportion of individuals using the internet (%) Total 37.6 40.5 42.7 43.2 48.5 51.6 58.3 64.7 Male 47.3 49.8 53.0 53.1 58.2 61.2 67.6 72.8 Female 28.2 31.3 32.6 33.4 38.8 42.1 49.2 56.6 TurkStat, Sustainable Development Indicators, 2010-2017 (p) Since the global indicator is not available, proxy is used instead. (-) Denotes magnitude null. (1) Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Results (2) Time series data are related to relevant educational year. For example, 2010 data refers to the 2010-2011 educational year. (3) Compulsory education was expanded to 8 uninterrupted with law No. 4306 dated 18.08.1997 as of 1997/’98 educational year, but to 12 gradual years with law No. 6287 dated 30.03.2012 as of 2012/’13 educational year. (4) The year 2015 is given according to the election results of 1 November 2015. (5) The ratio of the seats of the women in the local administrations was calculated as a proportion from the sum of “Provincial General Assembly Members, Metropolitan Municipality, Municipality and Municipal Assembly Members”. (6) Series are not comparable with the previous years due to the new arrangements made since 2014. (7) The rate of change value are expressed according to the base year 2010, since the calculation of forest area net change rate is based on the 2010, 2012 and 2015 measurements on of Directorate General of Forestry and 2012. (8) State Personnel Administration data are taken as basis. These data does not include the Presidency of the Republic , Military Personnel Numbers, Local Authorities, Public Personnel Employed in Public Banks. Indicators used in the Section 5 of the VNR are partly coming from the official records of the government institutions and time, definition and metadata of the indicator may not necessarily conform with the SDG indicator set given in this Annex. 147 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” ACEV Young Women, Mother and Child Education Foundation AFAD Disaster and Emergency Management Authority BCSD Business Council for Sustainable Development BIST Borsa Istanbul BRSA Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency CATOM Community Centres CEA Conditional Education Assistance CEA Conditional Education Assistance CEO Chief Executive Officer CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CMB Capital Markets Board of Turkey DESD Department of Environment and Sustainable Development DSI General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works ECHO Turkish Red Crescent and European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Operations ESSN Emergency Social Safety Net EU European Union FNOC Foreign National Outpatient Clinics FRIT Facility for Refugees in Turkey GAP Southeast Anatolia Project GDP Gross Domestic Product GNI Gross National Income GSS Universal Health Insurance H.E. His Excellency HLPF High-Level Political Forum ID Identification IICPSD Istanbul International Centre for Private Sector in Development ILBANK Municipalities Bank IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union ISKUR Turkish Employment Agency KOSGEB Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organisation LDCs Least Developed Countries MEWA Middle East and West Asia Section MHC Migrant Health Centres MIKTA Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia MoFLSS Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services MoNE Ministry of National Education MPs Members of Parliament MUSIAD Independent Industrialists and Businessman Association NDP National Development Programme NGO Non-Governmental Organizations ODA Official Development Assistance OIKs Specialised Commissions OIZs Organised Industrial Zones OSP Official Statistics Programme PSB Presidency of Strategy and Budget SDG Sustainable Development Goal SDIF Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey SED Social and Economic Support Service SKD Business Council for Sustainable Development SME Small to Medium Enterprises SWOT Strength-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats TAC Temporary Accommodation Centres TBB Union of Municipalities of Turkey TGNA-TBMM Grand National Assembly of Turkey TIKA Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency TL Turkish Lira TOBB Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey TUBITAK Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey TURKONFED Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation TURKSTAT Turkish Statistical Institute TUSIAD Turkish Industry and Business Association UCLG United Cities and Local Governments UMT Union of Municipalities of Turkey UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCO United Nations Economic and Social Council UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNHCR United Nations Refugee Agency USD United States Dollar VNR Voluntary National Review WFP World Food Programme YADES Elderly Support Programme YOBIS Information System for Foreign Students YOK Council of Higher Education LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 148 TURKEY’s 2nd VNR 2019 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS “Strong Ground towards Common Goals” a a a sa a ae a as Na es a a ss S a Ge a sa a ae es as S ae | LK] G wy Ga? THE GLOBAL GOALS For Sustainable Development