United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Problem: According to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Turkey is the leading country hosting 2.5 millions of Syrian refugees. The European Union's executive arm confirmed in November 2015 that they will set up a 3 billion euro aid facility to help Turkey support Syrian refugees and so help stem the influx of migrants seeking to enter the EU. In other words, EU made a deal with Turkish Government to control and block the immigration from Syria to Europe and make them stay in Turkey. Syrian refugees were forced to work to a very low price, sometimes free of charge in Turkey. Some of them moved to big cities and earn their lives as beggars. Turkish Government is expected to use this €3 bn helping the refugees, but, the government has not yet presented any structured programme to the public opinion. In the light of this brief information, your midterm task is to come up with a project proposal with the aim of helping Syrian refugees to integrate into the Turkish economy. What would you innovate to make them survive and produce in the Turkish market? How would you plan with what project? And, how their integration might be beneficial for Turkish economy? How can their knowhow and/or craftsmanship be an asset for Turkish market? Can Syrian refugees economical integration might be a new opportunity between Turkey and Europe or other countries? How can you convince that you will be doing more with less with your proposal? You can think like a member of a NGO, or an entrepreneur, or a philanthropist, or a group of people just want to help these refugees. The key issue is to develop the essential features and components of this project considering the current market dynamics and infrastructure of Turkey, cultural composition , regional opportunities, and so on. Your project proposal should be based on a solid analysis of the market, Syrian refugees profiles, opportunity analysis, and so on (You can reach to these informations from various sources: from academic articles to business analysis, UNCHR and TUIK date, and similar) Please keep in mind that your task is to prepare a project proposal not the whole project. In this context, I expect you to come with a clear problem statement of your proposal based on the problem stated above. You are required to investigate how a project proposal should be. You are required to support your innovative idea with strong data and an initial business plan. Think like you will be going to an investor with this project proposal and you are expected to convince in order to get financial support.