Activity Report of the Executive Committee (2006) | Fisek Institute Science & Action Foundation for Child Labor

January 1 – December 31, 2006

Publications:

1. Our “Working Environment” magazine saw the 83th issue at the end of year 2005. We are proud to have one of the longest running magazines in the field of “Child Labour” and “Occupational Health and Safety”. It is distributed free of charge to the Unions, private companies, NGOs, Public Libraries and Universities. By reaching a large number of readers “Working Environment” magazine is fullfilling our Foundation”s responsibilty of raising public awareness and sharing of knowledge with public…

2. We continue publishing the “memorial institutions series of the Republic”. They are our pride. The story of passage from monarchy to Republic, from darkness to enlightment, from slavery to freedom is told in the history of these institutions. A lot of memorial institutions of the republic are established to complete the National Liberty War and to continue the reforms of Ataturk. In this context,

“A Model of Ending The Child Labour: The Apprenticeship Schools of KIT”s(State Owned Enterprises)”, a research document book which was prepared by Taner Akpinarwas published in March. The book which was distributed to some of the libraries, universities and other interested parties is explaining another missed train in the field of education after the village institutes.

“Our “Friends of Child Labour” Campaign :

We started a campaign for the ones who would like to have our publications and / or donate to our efforts. A yearly donation of 40 YTL will make you “our Friend of Child Labour” who can easily follow our publications. We thank each and every one who inspired and helped us to increase the life standard of the working children by their donations.

Photography Contest on Child Labour:

The jury for the 4th photography contest met at the head quarters of our foundation on Saturday the 23rd of march, 2006. With the participation of Ozan Sagdic, Mehmet Aslan Guven, Adnan Polat, Erol Karaca and A.Gurhan Fisek as members of jury, the meeting proceeded as the works of photographers that are equal in quality competed with each other. We congratulate both the winners and the ones whose photographs were exhibited.

So, we had the opprtunity to add a new one to the photography contest album series whicih is published once every two years. The album which was prepared by the sponsorship of Denizbank was publicised on the 1st May in Cankaya (Ankara) Municipality Contemporary Arts Center and the exhibition where the contestants photographs were displayed was opened on the same as well. We are sending our special thanks to DenizBank, Cankaya Municipality, members of the board of the selection committee and all the contestants.

We are sad that, with these photographs, our archive that proofs the existence of child labour in our country is growing every year. You can see both the prize and exhibition winners” photographs of all the 5 contests on our web site.

Meetings and Artistic Activities :

PAINTING EXHIBITIONS : You can view all paintings on our web-site.

2-13 January – Mert Sener Exhibition
1 February-28 February – Mixed Exhibition
1-14 March – Oil Paint Exhibition “Reflections on Canvas”
Nese Cakmakli and Nurgun Erdogan
15-30 March – Personal Exhibition “Dear Nature” – Rabia Salantur
3 – 24 April – Personal Exhibition – Ufuk Esemenli
1-7 May – The 4th Photography Contest on Child Labour award ceremony and exhibition opening Cankaya Municipality Contemporary Arts Center, 18.00
1 -31 May – Hand craft goods exhibition
2-21 October – “Life From Child”s Eye” With the help of teachers Fehmi Ucer, Nihal Coskun, Photographs of children of Kasimpasa Orphanage
3-20 November – 6th Health Workers Exhibition

20 November- 13 December Personal Exhibition – Donsel Akalin
15-30 December – Newyears Hand-Made Presents Exhibition

THINK-TANK:

Scenes from Globalisation Exhibition – The drama of Truant (With the participation of Prof.Dr. Alparslan Isikli, Prof.Dr. Ilhan Tomanbay)

Participations and Contributions:

6 January : Oya Fisek attended The First Prof.Dr.Atalay Yorukoglu National Child and Youth Spirit Health Policies Workshop as our foundation representative.
24 January : Our Foundation was invited as the representative of NGOs to the Fourth National Council of Occupational Health and Safety Meeting which started working on 6th of April 2005, organised by Ministry of Labour and Social Security. “2006-2008 Occupational Safety and Health Action Programme” which was prepared according to the resolutions of former meetings are accepted with unanimous vote.
27 September : Senay Gokbayrak attended National Council of Occupational Health and Safety”s Risk Assesment Workshop Group formed by Ministry of Labour and Social Security as our foundation representative.
We also attended the meetings held by The Republican Women:

* Hakan Acar, talked about our foundation”s publishing “Turkish Childcare Foundation”.

* Dr.Senay Gokbayrak, shared her research “The Brain Migration of Engineers” with the attendants.

12 November : Prof. Gurhan Fisek gave a conference on “Social Dimension of Medicine and Voluntary Organisations” with in the context of Ankara University Faculty of Medicine term-2 students” Public Health education .

Visits :

As each year, the senior year students of Ankara University, Faculty of Political Science, Labor Economy and Endustrial Relations Department, visited our foundation to get information about our activities on the subject of “Working Children”.
14 September- 20 October : The students of Ankara University, Faculty of Medicine, second term, as a part of their public health education, visit the NGOs working on similar subjects. As in 2004, the Faculty included our Foundations activities in the curriculum by redular visits to our sites. We would like to thank Prof. Arslan Tuncbilek and Doc.Dr Deniz Caliskan for their positive approach to the problem.This study was realised through 8 seperate visits of approximately 80 students and it was very fruitful. We were truly encouraged by their positive and constructive comments.
27 September : German Youth Department Central Advise Unit (BBJ e.V. Zentrale Beratungsstelle fur trager der Jugendhilfe) with in the extent of children youth services a) create an opportunity for sharing knowledge and experience b) would like to organise an inpection visit sor mutual cooperation for working tohether. With in the extent of preperation they launched together They visited us with Turkey Freedom to Children Again Foundaiton (Turkiye Cocuklara Yeniden Ozgurluk Vakfi) and Turkey Youth Union Assocaiton (Turkiye Genclik Birligi Dernegi).

Bazaars and Fairs We Participated :

The NGOs that we have invited at Bazaars which we organize, usually invite us back as a sign of solidarity. Also other organisations who are interested in our Foundation and our activities invite us and they show their support and contribution. We thank all these organisations and our volunteers who work with devotion for the promotion of our Foundation.

Textile and handcraft Association
British Wives Clup
Association for the Support of Contemporary Living, Bazaar
Anacev Bazaar
Rotary (GOP) Fair
Golbasi Center for Rehabilitation of Mentally Retarded
TEMA (Turkish Association to Fight Against Erosion)
Forum Exposition

Products made by both our foundation volunteers and especially the mothers of our “Youth House for Girls” took serious attention at the fair which also contributed to the promotion of our foundation.

Contributions :

Studies we have been conducting at the Pendik Small Industry Site, together with the Bureau of Working Children (Pendik-Istanbul), which was formed under the Project of ILO/IPEC, by TISK (Turkish Workers” Union), gradually have been shifted under the responsibility of the group formed by TISK since 2002. Between January and December 2006, our foundation has made material and equipment contributions to the health surveillance activities of this group.
Denizbank contributed us in our effort to make an album of the 3rd and 4th Photography Contest on Child Labour’s prize winning and exhibitioned photographs. By attending the opening of our exhibition and displaying our wall papaers in their bank branches they showed their sensitivity in child workers. Cankaya Municipality hosted us by letting us open our exhibition in Contemporary Arts Center.
The wives of the employees of Japanese Embassy contributed the income they collected from a fair to our Youg Girl”s House. They bought two sewing machines, scissors and production matterial for the mothers of Girls from Boztepe, who economically contribute to their family income and support their girls” education, so that they can use them for production. We would like to thank foremost to the wife of the Embassador Mrs. Motoko Abe and all our Japanese friends.
Our foundation attended and took part in many meetings and organisations which aimed to build capacity and enhance the network between NGO”s for children. As we are aware of the fact that, cooperation and assistance between NGO”s creates a multiplier effect, we will keep on supporting all the efforts made for enhancing child wefare.

On – Going Projects :

Young Girl”s House (Heavy Winter…..tehn Spring) : Winters are always hard in Boztepe district. Not only in terms of weather, also the homeworks are difficult too. Our girls are competinig with each other for getting distinctions and merits. They are also the ones who are selected as the most progressive students. The contributions of Jale Sengul, Buket, Murside Mahmutoglu, Yasemin Alpan and Oya Fisek to this success is huge. Foremost, our girls are determined to change their destiny already written for themselves. Now they are relaxing by playing games and joining social activities in spring. With the computers brought by Ozgur Yazilim, they are using computers. Their supper hours continue both in summer and winter. Is it possible not to be contented after working and harvesting its fruits?
Social Politics Study Group, bring in a new section on our website with their articles and writings on ” Scenes From Globalisation Exhibition”. This new Section is consisted of seven sub-chapters. TanerAkpinar, Umur Askin, Can Umut Ciner, Senay Gokbayrak, Onur Sunal and Gulbiye Yenimahalleli Yasar as members of the group directing the “Think-Tank” meetings while writing articles. They both gave dinamism to us and helped us perceive and understand the world. Thanks to their ideas.
Fisek Institute continues its model activities about child labour and Shared (common) health units, in centers, at Ankara – Ostim and Sincan Organized Industry Districts. Our “Mobile Clinics”, a first in Turkey, continue visiting small industry enterprises and offering health and safety services and reaching the children workers at these workplaces.
Prof. Dr. Nusret Fisek Gallery of Science and Art continues the “Nusret H.Fişek Library Site” as a part of its activities. The hall which consists of 12 libraries also have Turkey”s first Child Labour and Occupational Safety and Health” library. All through the year, we also could see how useful and functional the “Bookworm” Program was, developed by our information technology group; Didem Kamoy, Doruk Fisek and Ekin Meroglu. This made the libraries easily accesible on the internet. We thank them for their contribution.
“Think for 2 Minutes”- “Getting to Know The Danger” : If Mustafa Tasyurek”s recommendation were to be applied to life, number of occupational accidents would approach to zero. You will able to view these puzzles that you show great interest on our web site. We would like to give our special thanks to him for reflecting his endless energy and his peevish and change oriented character.
Atlas of Child Labour Around The World : Worst forms of child labour is all around the world. How are children exploited in which country? For those who would like to see the answer, Onur Sunal prepared the atlas for this purpose. These maps are not only analysing the existence or non existance of childlabour, they reveal the types and the intensity of it as well. It is an enlighting piece of work showing child labour types and the severity of it both on atlas and written texts. You can see it on our website. We would like to thank him.

Cooperations with Other Organisations :

Cooperation with TISK, concerning actions for working children: In Istanbul, the “Project for Shared (common) Health Unit for Workplaces” and “Bureau for Working Children” covering all child workers in Pendik Industry Site, continue. We thank everybody who took part in this Project, especially General Secretary Mr Bulent Pirler, Research Expert Ms Zubeyde Celebioglu and Project Manager Dr Nezih Varol.

Relations with the Media :

We thank all media employees who contributed to our foundation”s objective through broadcasts and publications on the subject :

TRT/Ankara Radio : 20.01.2006 on “Konusa Konusa” programme

* Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek was Sibel Korkmaz and Haluk Ertem”s guest and he was one of the participants talking on child labour and he also talked about our foundationsa approach.

*Dr.Seyhan Erdogdu and Prof. Gurhan Fisek were guest of Murat Oren and they go about the differences in between the approaches of Republic”s Founder Generation and todays generation to children, the value of child and violance against child.

TRT/Diyarbakir Radio : Prof. Gurhan Fisek was a guest on “Civil Life” program for a couple times on different dates and he presented our foundation”s activities. (Programme makers Cazibe Kokdemir, Hasan Ugurlu, Saba Senem Turgut)
Istanbul Radio : The guest of ” Under The Same Roof” programme which is prepared by Zehra Karabel, was Prof. Gurhan Fisek. They talked about the social importance of “Child Workers” and “4th Photography Contest on Child Labour Exhibition”.
TRT/TV : Senay Gokbayrak joined “Pan of Scale” programme(TRT- GAP Television) on 19.01.06 and shared our thoughts on child and woman rights.

TRT/TV2 : Prof. Gurhan Fisek, attended a program with TISK and Ministry of Education authorities and presented our foundation”s approach on child workers.

TRT/Diyarbakir Radio : Prof.Gurhan Fisek, talked about about our foundation”s activities and child workers photography contest on “Our Children” programme (Producer Murat Cokureten)on 2nd September 2006.
The New Anatolian Newspaper : Interview with Oya Fisek made by Ercin Sener was publisged.
Cumhuriyet Newspaper : Isik Kansu, presented our Young Girl”s House activities.
Cumhuriyet Newspaper : Isik Kansu accomodate Oya Fisek”s letter on her observations about the Young Girl”s House on 9th December 2006.
TRT-1 : Hsan Ugurlu who is making the “Konusa Konusa” Programme on radio had an interview with Gurhan Fisek about occupational safety and health.
Onur Sunal attended these activities at Ministry of Labour and Social Security

(a) Risk Groups : 13th December 2006

(b)Time Bound Programme : 14-15th December 2006 Kizilcahamam- Patalya Hotel

(c)Young Workers Symposium: 12th December 2006

Channel B /TV : Programme maker Zeynep Hanim, guest Gurhan Fisek

Our Data-Processing Activities :

In the Library Site, receiving numerous visitors, the book addition system has been renewed. The newly registered books are added automatically into the web-site, without any additional process. From now on, the process of categorizing the books is realized on the internet by library administrators.

In order to up-to-date the contents of the websites (isguvenligi.com, beyingocu.com, cocuk emegi haberleri) by the other volunteers of the foundation as well as data-processing team, we have a new interface. This way we have substantially shortened the time span between preparation and uploading the contents to the web sites. We also have renewed the graphic design of beyingocu.com so the information is much better reflected.

We developed an interface in order that the employees of the Institute could also up-to-date the e-mail addresses to which our foundation sends the announcements and activity news as well as the data processing team. This interface enabled the responsible team to achieve the address list, add or delete easily.

We have added a new computer to the Turkozu Young Girls House. Now, 4 people can use the computer at the same time.

Because the computer using units in the Institution have increased in number, a new messaging system between the centers is activated. This helps all employees of the Institute who are actually on the internet, to send and receive messages very quickly.

Within the context of our project to bring health and social services to the children working in small scale work environments, new medical and technical equipment were put into circulation and programming, staff training and maintenance were realized.
The faxes sent to all units are accumulated in one center and related people can follow them on the internet.

The software which enables the institute employees and volunteers who need to reach their mails on the web from different computers has been renewed.

The internet hosting which undertakes the load of internet infra-structure of the Institute 7/24 has been renewed.

The data processing team continued to share information with the society. They were invited to take part as guest speakers in: Academic Data-Processing Conference, Bilgi University Free Software Days, Linux and Free Software Festival, Conference on Internet in Turkey; they also delivered seminars in different universities. We would like to thank to our Research and Development Team: Ekin Meroglu, Doruk Fisek and Didem Kamoy for their valuable input and new horizons they introduced to our operations.

Access to Internet :

Only in december our website had 42241 visitors and these visitors downloaded 149396 documents. Easily understood that we are playing a crutial role in creating awareness abour child labour. Internet has helped the increase in accesibility dimension.