When Small Must Become Mighty 

In March 2024, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) and UN Women Türkiye traveled to Gaziantep to visit the Amal Healing and Advocacy Center (AHAC), a small women-led organization working on the frontlines to support refugee women and girls. AHAC is one of 24 grantee partners under the UN Trust Fund’s 26th cohort. Founded in 2014 by Amal Al Nasin, a Syrian woman survivor of violence and lawyer, AHAC has just ten staff, all of whom have lived through the realities of a refugee. Since 2011, Türkiye has registered approximately 3.6 million people who fled Syria.[1] These refugees often do not have access to critical resources, especially those in most need such as survivors of violence and organizations like AHAC are critical support mechanisms for them.

AHAC in action 

Among the specialist services provided by AHAC are referrals, a hotline, legal assistance, psychological counselling and sessions on navigating life in Türkiye, all much needed by Syrian refugees. The team has already provided psychological support to around 150 women and girls. 

Resit Kurde, AHAC’s Case Management Officer, said, “I work on about 100 cases per month. We also refer to external services provided by our partners in the area if the requests are beyond our capacity.” 

Sharing the office next to his, lawyers Besma Mehmercik and Najlaa Rahalsaod highlighted the challenges refugees face, including racism and limited access to government services.

They work to provide legal pathways for cases of violence and help women understand their rights in Türkiye. During the UN Trust Fund’s visit, the phones in their office were constantly ringing. 

In another room, psychologist Aya Iskifoglu and psychological support officer Razan Al Awad spoke about how they support survivors of violence, including by building trust and emotional connections as well as shared identity. Both said that younger women seeking assistance were reporting rising levels of harassment, emotional blackmail and digital violence. [2] This prompted AHAC to expand its digital campaigns to ensure young Syrians know where to find help in Türkiye.  

Making connections to strengthen impact and resilience 

The ongoing arrival of Syrian women into Türkiye and the challenges faced by those already settled underscore the ongoing impact of displacement. The volume of daily requests that come to AHAC is tremendous and a clear proof that the impact of displacement as a direct result of crises continues even 13 years later. We know that AHAC does not and cannot do this work alone. Consequently, while in Gaziantep, the UN Trust Fund furthered conversations with AHAC and UN Women Türkiye, which has long been advancing the work of women’s rights and civil society partner organizations in the country. Through this connection, AHAC found mutual partners. 

Under a six-year European Union-funded project (2021-2027), “Strong Civic Space for Gender Equality”, UN Women Türkiye is providing technical and financial support in multiple forms, including: thematic projects on ending violence against women and girls; economic empowerment; small grants; data collection; capacity development on evidence-based advocacy and disaster risk management; and movement building powered particularly by marginalized groups.  

Irmak İnan Çınar, Programme Analyst at UN Women Türkiye, said:  

“Civil society and the women’s movement are vital strategic partners to UN Women… UN Women remains dedicated to securing and providing direct, flexible and long-term funding for civil society organizations advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.” 

At its new office, located in a building housing multiple non-profit organizations supporting Syrian refugees, AHAC is organically expanding its network of referral services. Each team member, all Syrian refugees themselves, builds connections with other organizations to enhance support services. Since 2014, when the UN Trust Fund introduced its small grant modality, small, women-led and women’s rights organizations have brought life-changing impact to women and girls at local levels. Investing in small organizations like AHAC means investing in the rights and safety of particularly marginalized and hard-to-reach women and girls through context-specific initiatives and adaptations. 

Find out more about the UN Trust Fund’s approach to resourcing organizational resilience here. 

[1] https://www.unhcr.org/tr/en/refugees-and-asylum-seekers-in-turkey 

[2] Known as technology-facilitated gender-based violence.