KAGIDER has been successfully implementing the ‘Women Business Network (W-BUN)’ Project that started in January, 2019 and envisaged to end in January, 2021. The W-BUN Project has been carried out under the coordination of KAGIDER and in cooperation with KAISDER and BUIKAD, funded by the EU and the Republic of Turkey.

“Women Business Network” Project (W-BUN) is a Project implemented under the coordination of KAGİDER, with cooperation of BUIKAD and KAISDER and financed by the EU and the Republic of Turkey. The Women in Business Network Project targeted an active lobbying and advocacy strategy in order guarantee participation from women organisations in Turkey, to negotiate with governmental bodies and convince public.

Within the scope of Project activities, regional meetings were organized around various themes, nationwide consultations meetings took place with women entreprenurs to understand the need of women in public procurement in order to create a real participatory mechanism. The consultation meetings were targeting the network members, however, development of a model requires active participation of all experts around the topic. Within this context; the needs, the problems and solution ideas were discussed to empower women in business, especially in public procurement. Women empowerment in business requires expertise in fields such as trade law, public procurement law, gender equality, employability, labour market; search conferences were organized with those experts. After rounds of consultation and Search conferences, suggestions with legal framework were collected with the team of moderators and lawyers.

As the Project sets out with the view that women entrepreneurs have access to value-added production and job markets and can take part in an effective communication network, KAGIDER revitalized network’s capacities by advocating for a law in line with its previous practices about the Women in public procurement. Thus women entrepreneurs represent only 13% of entrepreneurs in Turkey and this number can be increased only through a positive discrimination that could be paved through this kind of support. The Women Business Network Project, which aims at the development of civil society through more active and democratic participation, aimed to guarantee status of women in Turkey Women organizations have been advocating for an increasing presence in the business world, as well.

To strengthen the capacities and networking among organised active citizens and CSOs as well as the cooperation between public sector and CSOs; search conferences, workshops and public visits were held throughout the Project. The participant CSOs of the women entrepreneurship network are focal points for women to get services and consultancy and to express their opinions that are channelled to a national scale creating a wider audience. Within the Project goals, the data of the meeting participants are collected and uploaded KAGIDER’s portal named www.ticaretinkadinlari.com and this platform constitutes a communication channel for women networks. The web platform stands out as a powerful tool for women to be successful in public procurements, have access to the necessary information and markets in accordance with the aims of this grant program. With the portal, women will have a platform to support each other where they can find cooperation and do business with each other as well as with institutions that are willing to do business with entrepreneurs. Moreover, within the scope of Project goals, a Virtual Fair was organized to improve trade opportunities of women. The virtual fair has concluded with great success.

The Project aims included submitting a law proposal after a draft being negotiated with the public sector, provide services and counseling to W-BUN participants, NGOs, participating women and to develop the capacities of other existing organizations at national and international scale.

In the light of the information above, the list of the integrated educational modules can be found in the KAGIDER Compass website.