German-Turkish Association Cooperation in the Cooperative Sector

Development and implementation of models for the targeted empowerment of women and young professionals in agricultural cooperatives and their organisational structures

The Agriculture in Türkiye

Türkiye is one of the world’s leading agricultural producers. Women play an important role in the agricultural production system, in the processing and marketing of products. However, they generally have less access to training and advisory services than men and are underrepresented as professionals and managers in agricultural cooperatives. It is crucial to strengthen women to achieve the full potential of the agricultural sector in Turkey and to promote the sustainable development of rural areas.

Portrait Türkyie

Türkiye is characterised by a varied landscape.

With their mild climate, the coastal regions offer very favourable conditions for fruit and vegetable cultivation, while the inland areas are mainly used for cultivating cereals and oilseeds. The economically emerging country has 85 million inhabitants living on an area of 780,000 km2.

The Project

The project, which started in January 2024, aims to strengthen women and young professionals in agricultural cooperatives and their organisational structures. The goal is to enable them to take on responsible roles in the cooperatives and to be more strongly represented in decision-making bodies. Providing advisory services to the two national associations HAY-KOOP and KÖY-KOOP, as well as four of their regional associations, the project intends to strengthen their structures enabling them to offer training and coaching for women and young professionals in the primary agricultural cooperatives.

“In the cooperatives, the proportion of older members and employees has risen sharply in recent years. If women and young professionals were to stay in rural areas, this would help strengthen the cooperatives and rural regions. Therefore, among other things, we want to use the project to strengthen our regional associations in developing and offering targeted services for women and young professionals.”
Mehmet Varol, Chairman of the Board of the KÖY-KOOP National Association

Project Goals

Developing services tailored to the needs of women, which lead to increased participation of women in the decision-making bodies of agricultural cooperatives
Enhancing the capabilities of women in cooperative organisations in technical and management topics
Strengthening the networking of women in agricultural cooperatives and sector associations

Results and Successes

The project has identified four regional associations with which it is working closely. The next step will be to conduct needs analyses and offer targeted advisory services to improve service capacity. Through a Training of Trainers programme and coaching measures, the existing pool of trainers is to be developed further and expanded to include women. Progress (and any necessary adjustments to the methodology) is evaluated every six months.

Project Partners and Cooperations

Türkiye: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Türkiye (MOAF)

Project Partner on Operational Level

HAY-KOOP: National Association for Livestock Cooperatives of Türkiye
KÖY-KOOP: National Association for Village Development and Other Rural Cooperatives of Türkiye
Regional associations in the provinces of Aydın, Çanakkale, Eskişehir, and İzmir