PROPOSED FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY
SPoD is a national non-governmental LGBT organisation in Turkey. Founded in 2011 by LGBT activists,SPoD works for equality and human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people at the national level.
Main activity areas of SPoD can be summarized into six, which are:
- Economic and social rights
- Legal issues
- Political participation
- Knowledge production
- Media
- International solidarity
SPoD advocates full equality for LGBT individuals in Turkey with a special emphasis on social and economic rights and works for the elimination of all forms of discrimination including discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and gender expression. SPoD works for the development of rights-based social policy that contributes to the full equality of LGBT individuals. SPoD’s activities cover wide range of social policy domains including labor market, social services, education, elderly care, healthcare, housing, and income poverty alleviation.
LGBTI refugees are one of the most disadvantaged groups within the Syrian community in Turkey. They face discrimination not only based on their refugee status, but also their sexual orientation and gender identity. Therefore, they need better social policy and social work that need to be planned by central government, local administrations, private sectors and civil society. However, many organisations do not support the community as much as needed. SPoD, an LGBTI organisation focusing on social and economic rights, has been having weekly meetings in Arabic for Syrian LGBTIs since December 2015. In the meetings, refugees discuss their social, economic and legal issues themselves, report their needs and problems to the organisation; they meet with some authorities or refugee organisations; they have workshops, city visits, or picnics. It is designed to empower the community.
What is needed nowadays is to have data production on Syrian LGBTI community’s problems on social, economic, legal grounds; to create better links between the LGBTI from Syria and Turkey. In this regard, our fellowship programme will focus on conducting small surveys on the Syrian LGBTI’s problems and organizing Syrian-Turkish bilateral activities for 4 months. Through these activities, SPoD and the fellow will develop better refugee programmes for future possible work. We would be very much willing to host candidates who had already worked with LGBTI refugees in their home country, as we would make more international connections between the refugee community in Turkey and Armenia.
EXPECTED PROFILE
- Experience in refugee work
- Experience in LGBTI work is a plus
- English speaking
- Arabic speaking is a plus
- Respect on gender identities and sexual orientations
CONDITIONS OF THE FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY
The fellow is expected to contribute to SPoD for 4 days a week - 2 days during the weekdays and two days on weekends Saturday, Sunday. Since many refugees work on weekdays, Saturday and Sunday will be main fellowship activity days. However the fellow will closely collaborate with SPoD’s staff two days of weekdays in order to report the activities and create the programme.
PROPOSED TIME FOR THE FELLOWSHIP (JANUARY – JUNE 2017)
4 months to be identified between january to June 2017.