How SI Turkey continued to take concrete steps towards increasing young women’s academic and social skills as they move from academic life to professional life.
Our ultimate ambition with this project, which began in 2013, is to assist young women as they progress from academic to professional life. We want to support them in becoming highly motivated, self-confident, mentally and physically apt, and well-equipped individuals.
To achieve this, SI Turkey organised a youth camp for 22 of our scholarship students in Çeşme/Izmir 12-17 September 2022. The female university students, all in their senior year, participated in the camp designed to increase their academic and social skills and to expand their awareness of a wide range of issues. Soroptimist experts in their given fields gave comprehensive training and academic support to strengthen the participants’ skill sets in preparation to launch their careers. The camp also increased our scholars’ awareness of local issues, giving them the opportunity to develop their community spirit and triggering their sense of responsibility to give back to their communities.
We designed a programme to support the young women’s personal development with a holistic and cross-cutting approach. It not only included information sessions about career planning and advice, but also included the development of technical and behavioural competencies, such as leadership skills and confidence building, as well as offering workshops aimed at increasing awareness of a range of social issues.
In addition to the academic programme, the participants had the opportunity to join social events, including sports and other team-building activities such as games, culture trips and art performances, which allowed them to enrich their overall experience. The camp also enabled participants to establish new friendships and network amongst students, educators and Soroptimists.
“Our unity is our power, women are our future” – SI Turkey
The student presentations and the survey results at the end of the camp confirmed that the programme accomplished its mission and was very productive overall.
This year, once again, we believe we have successfully achieved our objective and we will continue to deliver on it in the years to come.
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