WOMEN-FRIENDLY CITIES PROGRAMME
Women-Friendly Cities are safe, accessible, and participatory living spaces where the rights and needs of all residents are taken into account, regardless of their age, origin, or physical, economic, or social circumstances, and where all dwellers can participate in planning and decision-making processes and have equal access to fundamental rights and opportunities, including healthcare, education, social services, urban infrastructure, transportation, and security, in line with the principle of equality between women and men in all areas.
The Women-Friendly Cities Programme, launched in 2006 under the leadership of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), supports all local governments in Türkiye in achieving these goals. The programme also encourages the full and effective participation of civil society organizations in decision-making processes while shaping local equality policies and strengthening public-civil society cooperation for this purpose. This aims to make cities more inclusive, accessible, and fair for everyone, with a special focus on women, leaving no one behind.
The third phase of the Women-Friendly Cities Programme has started
Municipalities are among the institutions closest to citizens with their elected local officials, and provide services based on local needs. Along with civil society organizations working at the local level, they play a leading role in promoting equality in everyday urban life. Strengthening municipalities and local CSOs and improving their cooperation is therefore an important way to build a stronger and more inclusive society.
The third phase of the Women-Friendly Cities Programme, which was first launched in 2006 for this purpose, is coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs, with financial support from the European Union (IPA 3), under the leadership of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and in partnership with the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (TBB) commenced at the end of 2024. This phase, which will last for three years, involves 25 municipalities from Türkiye's seven regions.
7
REGIONS
25
MUNICIPALITIES
100+
NGOs
The main objective of the programme is to create cities;
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Where the rights and needs of all urban residents, especially women, girls, and vulnerable groups are taken into account regardless of their age, disability, ethnic origin, migration status, or socioeconomic background.
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Where there is equal access to all fundamental services, from infrastructure and transportation to gender-responsive budgeting, employment, social services, health, and education.
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Where people can actively participate in local government planning and decision-making processes in collaboration with civil society.
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Free from discrimination and all forms of violence, where women can live safely, empowering women and ensuring equality between women and men in all areas of life.
Under this programme, it is aimed to work together with municipalities, public institutions, civil society organizations, academia and city residents through multi-stakeholder cooperation to adopt a rights-based, inclusive and participatory local governance approach in line with the principles of social and environmental sustainability.
Third-Phase Objectives and Planned Activities
The third phase of the Women-Friendly Cities Programme was designed with the main objectives of:
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Sustainably establishing and strengthening Local Equality Mechanisms (LEMs) in programme partner municipalities.
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Empowering CSOs and ensuring their effective participation in, and increased contributions to inclusive local policies focused on equality between women and men.
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Developing regular, constructive, and multi-stakeholder collaborations between municipalities and CSOs.
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Promoting an egalitarian, participatory, and inclusive governance approach at the local level.
In line with these objectives, a diverse range of multi-stakeholder programme activities has been planned for the three-year programme duration, taking into consideration the different roles and needs of all programme partners.
1. Capacity Building and Technical Support:
A Women-Friendly Cities Training Programme will be developed by UNFPA, and delivered in 25 cities through both online and in-person modules for municipal and CSO representatives. Continuous technical support will also be provided to local governments and CSOs throughout the programme.
2. Proliferation of Local Equity Mechanisms:
Local Equality Units, Equality Commissions, and Equality Boards will be established in partner municipalities. Local Equality Action Plans (LEAPs) will be developed, with technical guidance and implementation support provided to both municipalities and CSOs throughout these processes.
3. Project Development and Implementation:
CSOs will be supported with technical guidance to design projects for the implementation of LEAPs. Selected projects will receive in-kind implementation support and will be implemented in collaboration with municipalities.
4. Experience Sharing and Learning Together:
Regional conferences and workshops will be organized to facilitate the sharing of good practices, challenges, and solutions among municipalities and CSOs.
5. Policy Development:
Throughout the programme, a Women-Friendly Cities Implementation Handbook and Checklist, as well as Monitoring & Evaluation Guidelines, will be developed. At the end of the programme, a Women-Friendly Cities Policy Paper will be produced.
6. Communication and Advocacy:
Communication and advocacy activities will be conducted to share the good practices and results of the programme with wider audiences.
Women-Friendly Cities:
From 2006 to the Present
The programme’s main focus is the inclusion of equality between women and men in planning, service delivery, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation processes through participatory and inclusive processes involving local level service providers, civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders, strengthening cities in terms of equality and thus contributing to the development of pluralistic, participatory and inclusive democracy at the local level.
In the previous phases of the programme, which were carried out between 2006-2010 and 2011-2015, activities were conducted on the establishment of Local Equality Mechanisms (LEMs) and the definition of the scope of Local Equality Action Plans (LEAPs) to be produced in coordination and cooperation with these mechanisms and their implementation. In the first phase, concrete local intervention tools covering areas such as health, education, employment, prevention of violence against women and girls, participation and urban services were implemented; in the second phase, budgets were created by relevant local institutions for the integration and implementation of LEAPs into institutional plans. In both phases, the capacity of both local institutions and active local women's NGOs on equality issues was strengthened, as was the cooperation between these stakeholders.