Welcome to TurkishWIN

We believe,

that we can be the change that we want to see in the world. | inspired by Ghandi

in the transformative power of real life stories.

in the power of sisterhood as the future belongs to the connected.

that with the right wind under their wings all women can fly.

the future of learning is social, connected and distributed* 

that happy & fulfilled women are necessary for a prosperous society.

We are TurkishWINners. 
* ”Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age” by George Simmons (2005) 

It took us a while but now we have a giveback strategy we would like to share with you. 

We believe that we have a sliding window of opportunity to flip the mindset switch, as the future workforce dynamics make the workplace  more accessible and equitable for self-learners. If we, the people, governments, companies, and NGOs, can collaborate to create a safe, digital trusted place—the missing middle—we can change the workforce composition in a diverse and equitable way for women in Turkey. 

We are big fans of the systems change framework, adopted from the “The 5R Framework by the USAID” by Ashoka, a platform that builds and cultivates a community of change leaders—mostly social entrepreneurs. Ashoka encourages social entrepreneurs tackling social challenges to change systems or mindsets to scale impact. A system change targets a change in the root causes of an issue, as opposed to a surface-level change that only addresses symptoms. When we address symptoms, we add positive outcomes to existing dynamics. Instead, systems change requires a break away from the linear relationship and instead employs strategies based on scaling indirect impact and changing existing dynamics. 

In our giveback programs, we have defined our problem space as the university educated women and her equitable participation in the workforce. In Turkey, the labor force participation for women harbors around 30%- compared to the OECD average of 62%. The unemployment rate of university educated men and women have a significantly big gap of 12% or so- 23% vs 35%, respectively. 

If this problem is not addressed, we will miss on the opportunity of GDP lift, suffer loss of government revenue, loss of ROI in companies, have low university placement rates and live in a society that is not happy and fulfilled. 

The root causes of this problem space are varied.  We decided to focus our giveback work on the formal and informal career orientation systems that could be supported by readily available role models, practical career tips and supporting networks. For the curious readers, we have listed some of the other systems below: 

• Culture system: The norms and values imposed by the society that define a fulfilled and happy woman. In Turkey, a woman’s status in the society is mostly defined by her being a great mom and cook. 
• Media systems: There is a lack of awareness about the fact that we have fewer women in many fields; women get paid less than men (in different countries and fields, different rates apply); very few companies provide equal opportunities at the workplace. 
• Education systems: In Turkey, parents are heavily involved in the university major selection of their children. We have a national exam where a teenager picks his/ her field of study, gets a score, and is placed based on his/her score and choices. As a result, 70% of university graduates do not work in their field of study. 
• Mobility systems: Women are less mobile with their education and workplace options. If single, most families do not want their unwed daughters to work and stay in a different city on their own. 
• University career development systems: Career counseling is not gender sensitive, and one size does not fit all. •
• Systems of career orientation—formal or informal: Lack of role models and informal networking opportunities. 
• Human resource placement systems: Lack of part-time or flexible jobs; gender biases are sectoral or functional placements. 
•  Childcare system: There is a big motherhood premium in Turkish society; every woman aspires to be a mother; and the government childcare support incentives are not sufficient.
• Parent education systems: Men do not parent or help with household chores.
• Local job market system: Even if a woman graduates from a top science field from a top university, most of the time, she is expected to go back to hometown, stay with family, and find a job. However, a smaller town may not have fulfilling or inspiring job opportunities. Even if they exist, they are hard to find.

At BinYaprak, 

•  Seekers join the platform for free to learn new skills, access new networks, and find out about new jobs and opportunities. 
•  Experts join the platform for free—in Turkey or the Diaspora—to share their knowledge in a curated formula and their networks. Their main motive is to pay it forward to Turkey and the industries they love dearly. 
• Companies pay a service fee to the platform to catch the future workforce to access a diverse talent pool, to create digital content and build thought leadership, and to attract talent to the industry. 
• NGOs join the platform to share their knowledge and to amplify their impact in digital channels.

The BinYaprak digital platform has over 20 thousand members, features over 400+ videos, and organized more than 150 digital events that connected users across Turkey and worldwide with a digital reach of over 5 million users. This lifelong learning environment is practical and informal and offers a trusted, digital space. 

At BinYaprak: 

• We do not offer training but offer guidance re the next best educational opportunities. 
•  We do not offer jobs but provide a network of companies and individuals who opt in to assist the next generation of learners to enter their industry. 
•  We offer inspiring role models who share their “I did it” stories in video format. 
•  We offer a networking platform for seekers to connect to practical tips
• We engage women, men, companies, or NGOs with the same enthusiasm if they expert know-how to share and have a passion to build a future offering equal opportunities to all

TurkishWIN members lead the change. The BinYaprak platform empowers them  to create smart information recipes to build and guide communities.  Our members share their role model stories and networks to give back as collective in circles: law, pharma, finance, global careers, mentoring, Million Women Mentors and more! 

We firmly believe as our content and network grow, we will reach a tipping point to reach “a mindset switch” where not collaborating will not be OK. We will finally start addressing the root causes in our system as a collective. 

You can join binyaprak.com, our giveback platform, today. The membership is free. 

We are always looking for innovative ways to build and grow BinYaprak. Let us know if you would like to become an active member or partner by dropping an email to info@turkishwin.com