International Labour Association (ILA) is a non-profit organization that provides mechanisms to facilitate knowledge and experience transfer among sectors and countries and carries out national and international training, research, publication, consultancy projects on entrepreneurship, labour relations, employment, volunteerism, youth work, migration and rural development.

ILA contributes national, regional and international development strategies;

• To increase public awareness and support for volunteerism, to improve the fundamental rights and conditions of the volunteers, to develop the capacity of voluntary organizations and promote volunteerism
• To support personal and social development of youth, to promote their active participation in all spheres of social life, to increase the quality of youth workers
• To increase employment and quality of employment, to strengthen the employment and education relationship, to ensure security and flexibility within the labour market, to increase the employment of groups that require special policies (women, youth, refugees, minorities, ex-convicts, disabled, etc.), to strengthen the employment and social protection relations and combating child labour
• To encourage entrepreneurship, promote the participation of individuals who have entrepreneurial spirit in economic life, to improve the efficiency of SME’s, to increase their competitiveness and ensure their integration with the industry
• To contribute to the policies and strategies about cooperatives in collaboration with cooperatives and parent organizations, conducting supporting and incentive studies for development of cooperative ventures in new areas, to ensure utilization of individual savings into the economy through appropriate cooperative entrepreneurship models
• To inform the parties on issues such as social security, occupational health and safety, labour relations, productivity, labour market studies, ergonomics, environment and first aid

To provide mechanisms to allow knowledge and experience transfer among countries and sectors

Volunteering

ILA performs activities to enrich, institutionalize, spread and integrate volunteering internationally.

ILA is one of the members of National Volunteering Committee (NVC) which consists of UN Volunteers (UNV) and other 29 largest governmental and nongovernmental organizations which provide mechanisms to support volunteer initiatives for social development. ILA runs co-secretariat of NVC together with United Nations Volunteers (UNV). ILA organizes joint activities among Public Bodies and Committee member organizations for promoting right-based volunteering in Turkey.

ILA cooperates with the Overseas Human Resources and Industry Development Association (HIDA-Japan) on its Global Internship Program and welcomes Japanese researchers for 3 to 6 months. “Legal Framework of Volunteerism” is studied with a Japanese researcher during this internship program. A study was conducted on “legal framework for volunteerism in public organizations”. Volunteering-related literature, laws and directives were gathered and analyzed in this study.

ILA has worked with 50 volunteers to improve study environment and competence of international students in Turkey. As an accredited European Volunteer Service (EVS) sending organization ILA is going to apply for EUAID Volunteers accreditation this year. It also plans to build partnership with respected organizations to implement other international volunteering programs especially on the field of humanitarian aid.

ILA cooperates with Istanbul University Volunteer Academy and Municipality Volunteering Academy to develop a comprehensive system within these organizations.

Volunteering is linked with social responsibility especially for private companies. Thus, ILA was among the organizers of II. Social Responsibility Projects Congress which was held in Ankara in December’15.

T.R. Ministry of Youth and Sports conducts regular “Youth Strategy Workshops” twice in a year. ILA participates and contributes these workshops on volunteering sessions.

ILA is among the promoters of www.vopool.net which gathers volunteers and NGO’s in the same portal. ILA also provides consultation to http://gencgonulluler.gov.tr/  web site which gathers volunteers and public bodies in the same portal.

ILA supports personal and social development of youth and promotes their active participation in volunteer activities by national and international training activities. It uses Erasmus+ Youth Mobility funds to host and send youngsters for volunteering trainings. ILA also sends volunteers to other partner projects in program countries. 48 volunteers have benefited from such opportunities in 2016. ILA conducts volunteering seminars in civil society, municipality and public organizations as well. These seminars are conducted during the year, especially on “Time to Move Week” and “International Volunteer Day”.

ILA has an active project team which is formed by experts, academics and public officers who are experienced in migration field. Team applies for national and international funds and implements projects. “Reassessment of Volunteer Recognition” is a sample of KA1 projects.  Validation policy for volunteering organizations – VaPoVo  project on the other hand is a KA2 project in which ILA contributed during piloting.

ILA has an active 17-people project team which is formed by experts, academics and public officers who are experienced in volunteering field. Team applies for national and international funds and implements projects. Additionally, ILA initiated “Labour Volunteers” program to welcome youth and professional contributions on its service topics.

Entrepreneurship and Rural Development:

Entrepreneurship is one of ILA’s seven main study topics. It especially focuses on training and research activities about agricultural development cooperatives in rural areas as a mechanism to foster entrepreneurship among youth and women.  ILA agreed with International Labour Organization (ILO) to adapt its MY-COOP online agricultural cooperative training in Turkish. ILA cooperated with The Overseas Human Resources and Industry Development Association (HIDA-Japan) on its Global Internship Program and hosted 2 Japanese researchers to study agricultural development cooperatives in Turkey.

In its entrepreneurship studies ILA mainly focuses on “how could CSO’s contribute rural development?” “What kind of enterprise models fit with rural economy?” and “how to strengthen relationships with public organizations to have more impact in rural areas?” As a part of these studies ILA conducted 5 trainings in Edirne Province for rural youth to start cooperative business.

ILA currently carries out a project called “It is time for Cooperatives” which welcomes disadvantaged rural communities to develop their entrepreneurial skills and set up 5 agricultural development cooperatives. ILA is a member of rural development regional network called “Balkan Umbrella”. As a part of this network ILA attended one Contact Making event in Weimar/Germany, one training course Kratovo/Macedonia and one evaluation meeting in Sajan/Serbia in 2015. ILA was a partner of social “Social Economy Lab, revitalizing small towns and villages” KA1 TC project. As a partner ILA contributed project by defining context and learning methods of training.

ILA has applied for a KA2 Vocational Education project “Cooperate for Rural Youth” which promotes agricultural cooperatives as a model of social entrepreneurship. Other applied projects exist on OTLAS page.

Migration

There are numerous organizations serving “migrant and refugees” in the field but very few of them focusing on their labor market integration. Feeding by International Organization of Migration and EU Parliament reports ILA facilitates social inclusion and increases the chances of success of migrant workers within the European labor market. ILA conducts field researches in the sectors hosting migrant workers and refugees, making analysis of job related skills, and develops educational materials for professional development of immigrant case workers. Based on manpower deficit studies in labor market, ILA searches for needs and develops training modules for migrant workers to improve their employability. With its “Skills from Immigrant Case Workers (SIC)” project ILA provides the immigrant case workers with the educational material needed so as to teach immigrants to read, to calculate and to develop their digital skills.

With “Enhancement of Safe and Healthy Work Environment in Small and Medium Construction Enterprises (SHEMS)” project ILA produces virtual reality simulation to reduce the effects of the deaths and injuries due to the work accidents and occupational diseases in construction sector in which employees have lower level of education, language barrier and migrant-refugee background.

ILA cooperates with the General Directory of International Labour Force which is structured as the only responsible body for migrant workers and refugees within the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security. ILA conducts joint training and research activities and develops projects with Ministry.

ILA works with volunteers to develop their service capacity in humanitarian aid. Volunteers conduct trainings for refugees to develop their language and communication skills, cultural awareness and expression, social and civic competences. ILA is going to apply for EUAID Volunteers accreditation this year. It also plans to build partnership with respected organizations to implement other international volunteering programs especially on the field of humanitarian aid.

Skills:

Mr. Mehmet ALTUNBAS is one of a founder representative of Turkish National Volunteering Committee which consists of UN volunteers and other 26 largest governmental and nongovernmental organizations. He is also one member of the “Agriculture Advisory Committee” which has a cross-ministerial function. He works with Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security as a senior training expert. He has studies on volunteerism, agricultural cooperatives and entrepreneurship. Altunbas is an active trainer and project manager in KA1 and KA2 youth projects.

Mr. Hakan DULKADİROĞLU has a Bachelor’s Degree, a Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. Degree in the Public Administration in Hacettepe University. In his PhD thesis he studied AmeriCorps as a system of national volunteering.   He worked as the human resource policy officer in the European Environment Agency, in Copenhagen, Denmark, in between 2009-2010. He was a team member of Turkish Public Personnel Reform Working Group of Prime Ministry of Turkish Republic, in between 2007-2008. He worked as an Assistant State Personnel Expert for the State Personnel Presidency, Prime Ministry, in between 1997-2002 and as a State Personnel Expert, in between 2002-2011. He has served as the Director General of the Directorate General for Education, Culture and Research of MYS since 2011.