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There are some 1.3 million refugee children in Turkey. While Turkey offers them free education, more than 500,000 children are unable to attend school for various reasons. One of the main reasons is that many refugee families are unable to afford transport costs. Therefore the EU Facility is funding humanitarian projects implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in cooperation with the Turkish Ministry of National Education. These projects provide free transport to around 20,000 Syrian students in Turkey.

In September, the inauguration of a second migrant health centre funded under the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey took place in Ankara. The centre is located in the Altındağ district, which is home to the highest population of refugees in Ankara. The "SIHHAT" project is implemented through the Turkish National Ministry of Health, and aims to provide healthcare services including primary and secondary healthcare as well as family planning and mental and psychosocial support to Syrian refugees nationwide. Under a €300 million grant, the EU is financing 188 migrant health centres that employ 1500 healthcare personnel, including Syrian doctors and nurses. The first migrant health centre under the project opened last May in Kilis with over 15,000 patients having received treatment so far.

As part of the EU Facility, the European Union supports projects focused on Turkish language learning and employment and is working with partners – including UNHCR - to provide access to education to refugees. The project beneficiaries aspire to achieve great things once having graduated from these programmes, where emphasis on learning a new language is key in achieving these goals. Ammar, for example, dreams of being a civil engineer to help rebuild Syria, and started working in a bakery while also finishing high school, with the aim of going to university to complete his studies in civil engineering. Learning Turkish is an integral part of this process, and through the programme UNCHR is implementing with the Turkish government's Directorate for Turks Abroad and Related Communities, he's one step closer to fulfilling his dream. Click below to read about other refugees with similar stories to Ammar, benefitting from courses related to education.

Due to the challenges in getting legal status, financial problems, language and cultural barriers, some Syrian refugees face difficulties in accessing health facilities and other public services. In order to improve access to the relevant services, and therefore their integration into the Turkish public system, Doctors of the World Turkey – Dünya Doktorları Derneği (DDD), with support from the European Union, helps refugees in addressing a variety of specific needs. Aysha, for example, is a 34 years old Syrian refugee who for a year knocked on many doors, visited many schools, but never received the assistance she needed due to the language barrier and lack of information about schools accepting Syrian students. Her situation improved when a Doctors of the World Turkey case manager helped her find a school for her kids, so she could pursue employment in order to support her family.

Currently there are over three million registered Syrian refugees in Turkey and refugee women represent 25 per cent of the Syrian refugee population in Turkey. With the generous support from the European Union, UNHCR is able to address specific protection needs of female-headed households like Amira’s family who are granted temporary protection by the Turkish administration. Syrians under temporary protection benefit from assistance, medical care and access to education and to the labour market. UNHCR supports Turkey in addressing the needs through a set of targeted interventions such as protection monitoring, counselling for people with specific needs, as well as legal and psycho-social assistance to people of concern and information dissemination.

Ahmad, a 13 year old Syrian boy, is one of the more than 180,000 children who have benefitted from the extension of the conditional cash transfer for education (CCTE) programme since May 2017. The CCTE programme provides vulnerable refugee families with bi-monthly cash payments to help them send and keep their children in school. Built on the existing social protection system for disadvantaged children in Turkey, the programme is expected to reach 230, 000 refugee children by February 2018. A family can receive payment provided the child attends school regularly; a child should not miss school more than 4 days in one month. The extension of the CCTE is implemented through a partnership between Turkey’s Ministry of Family and Social Policies, the Ministry of National Education, the Disaster and Management Presidency (AFAD), the Turkish Red Crescent (Türk Kızılayı) and UNICEF.

Rojin came to Turkey five years ago, fleeing a country she had always called home but that now is ravaged with war. Today she has found her place in Turkish society as a translator at the UNICEF Child and Family Support Centre called Al Farah (My Happiness) run by the Turkish Association for Solidarity with Asylum-Seekers and Migrants (ASAM). She helps her fellow citizens to access services offered by the centre. The centre has played a vital role in helping Rojin gain confidence and a sense of self. The centre offers structured psycho-social support, as well as inclusive and participatory trainings to adolescents and youth on civic engagement, peacebuilding, and social cohesion. This centre in Ankara's Altındağ district is one of three child and family support centres the EU supports in Ankara, İzmir and Gaziantep. Operating under a €36 million project with UNICEF, the action's aim is to assist refugees in Turkey and contribute towards social cohesion.

Almost half of the 3.5 million refugees currently living in Turkey are children. Just like their parents, these refugee children are struggling to build new lives, often amid hardship. The ESSN programme is run by the World Food Programme and the Turkish Red Crescent, with the help of the Turkish government and funded by the European Union through the EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey. The largest ever humanitarian programme funded by the EU, the ESSN provides cash to the most vulnerable refugees every month through a debit card. This allows the most vulnerable refugees to meet their most pressing basic needs, and helps to restore a sense of normality. Three out of every five people supported by ESSN are children. After its first year, the programme now assists over 1.3 million refugees in Turkey. Click below to read more about some of the children whose lives have been impacted by the ESSN.

Luay and his family fled the war in Syria. He says that he "will never return to Syria. There are planes there.” He hates the sounds of planes. Life has forced him to dream far away from his home and roots. After being forced to flee Aleppo, Luay is now in the southern Turkish city of Kilis, continuing his education with the support of the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education Programme (CCTE), funded by the European Union. Many families are not able to send their children to school because of the economic hardships they face. The Conditional Cash for Education Programme provides support to those families who do not have regular income and social security with the aim to encourage enrolment and improve school attendance of children.

According to the United Nations Population Fund there are 900,000 women and girls of reproductive age living as refugees in Turkey. The EU funds specialised health services to address their needs. The EU supports humanitarian partners such as UNFPA in providing complementary services inside government-run migrant health centres. These centres help cover the significant gap that exists in services related to reproductive health and psychosocial support. For Aisha this assistance opened up a whole new world. “I was able to improve my Turkish language skills and participate in many different courses,” she explains. To learn more about Aisha's story click below.

On an ordinary day, we make thousands of seemingly insignificant decisions. Should I buy coffee or tea? A one-week travel card or one for a month? Cake, or a balloon for a birthday celebration? We take these ordinary decisions for granted. Yet refugee families, forced to leave their homes and belongings behind, are often unable to make these decisions for themselves. The ability to choose restores freedom. It restores dignity and identity. That is why the European Union and the World Food Programme set up the Emergency Social Safety Net. The ESSN is helping nearly 1.5 million vulnerable refugees in Turkey pay for their basic needs themselves. The programme provides refugees with an ESSN debit card that is topped up with cash each month, so they can buy the necessary items for their families. Click below to find out more about the incredibly ordinary campaign.

Over seven years of war in Syria have produced, at the last count, six million internally displaced and 5.6 million registered refugees in the region. In terms of the Syrian exodus, most went to Turkey, which continues to be home to the world's largest refugee population, close to four million refugees. The Syrian war has marked an entire generation with disability and trauma. Mental health, physical rehabilitation and prosthetics, requiring expensive and long term care, are giving thousands of refugees the opportunity of a fresh start. Since 2017, the prosthetic limbs clinic in Reyhanli has been financed by the EU Humanitarian Aid Department in partnership with Relief International. The aim is to improve access to specialized health services for conflict-affected Syrian refugees. The centre was opened five years ago by doctors from the Syrian diaspora and it's still run by Syrians. Up to now the centre produced 6500 different types of prosthetics.

Aya is 16 years old. Having escaped the sound of bombs and gunfire in Syria, she has been in Turkey for almost six years. Aya was determined to finish her studies so took Turkish language classes. She hopes to become a doctor one day so that she can provide treatment to children. Aya’s language courses were part of the Non Formal Education Programme. The Non Formal Education Programme consists of three complementary education components designed for Syrian out-of-school refugee children or who are in-school but need extra educational support. With the financial support of the European Union, the programme aims to reach 65,000 Syrian children and adolescents across Turkey. Click below to learn more about Aya's story.

Abdulhakim is one of the 20 Turkish and Syrian children who make up the EU-TR Solidarity Football Team, who played to win the U12 İzmir Cup, held back in April. The team is supported by the EU to help Syrian refugee children integrate into the Turkish education system, with the goal of using sports as a means to bring children together, and to meet children from across the world. Abdulhakim's mother, Sabah, came from Aleppo with her three children a few years ago and now lives in İzmir. She said, "I left my smile in Syria", but that her son's participation in the football trainings and the tournament was her treatment to overcome difficult moments.

Recently, a number of European journalists from various media outlets across Europe were invited to visit projects in Hatay, all of which are funded by the Facility for Refugees in Turkey. The press trip aimed at providing in-depth background information on the EU’s commitment to supporting Turkey in its efforts to host the largest number of refugees in the world. The journalists were shown different activities in the Kızılay Community Centre in Reyhanlı, including mobile phone repair classes, Turkish language courses, child friendly spaces and psycho-social support areas. Together with 20 EU Ambassadors, they also participated in the ground-breaking ceremony of the Hatay Dörtyol State Hospital.

Meet Jameela, Fatima and Hasan - Syrian refugees who have been affected by the war in Syria. They have benefitted from the protection activities funded by the EU and it has changed their lives for the better. The Danish Refugee Council with funding from the European Union is working to ensure that vulnerable refugees in Turkey are protected from harm and to refer them to the relevant government systems. EU humanitarian partners offer a wide range of protective services including helping refugees access the services they need, raising awareness about refugee rights in Turkey, and delivering travel safety information sessions, legal and travel assistance, psychosocial support, case management and individual protection assistance.

Etidal is among the 20,000 out of school refugee children that the Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) aims to help gain access to education opportunities. This EU funded programme avails opportunities for out of school refugee children to go back to formal education and help them acquire essential literacy skills to enhance their social integration. In addition, it also gives access to Syrian and other refugee adolescents to technical and vocational training opportunities. This programme is implemented in 75 Public Education Centres (PECs) covering 12 provinces across Turkey.

The story of Elvin and her son Eflin demonstrates how the language barrier or intricacies of bureaucratic processes can have a dramatic effect on the refugees in Turkey. The European Union supports Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and its implementing partner Support to Life to fill the ‘gaps’ and facilitate marginalised or at-risk refugees’ access to their basic needs and rights.

As part of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, the European Union supports projects focused on resilience and livelihoods, including the SADA Women’s Empowerment and Solidarity Center in Gaziantep (SADA), which supports the empowerment of refugee and host community women, and their engagement in social activities as well as integration into the labour force. Supported by UN Women and funded in part by the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, more than 6,500 women have been supported since February 2018 through a range of protection, counseling and referral services, skills development and income generation opportunities provided by the SADA Center in Gaziantep. The Center furthermore supported the set-up of SADA Women’s Cooperative, which was selected as one of the most successful 10 projects at the Paris Peace Forum held in November 2019.