We are excited to announce that our Gender Equality Fund is awarding two new grants to support gender equality initiatives in Türkiye.
This year’s call for applications, launched in partnership with the Support Foundation for Civil Society (Sivil Toplum için Destek Vakfı – STDV), received 80 eligible applications from 22 cities across Türkiye. For the 2025–26 period, in collaboration with STDV and the One Step Foundation (Bir Adım Var Vakfı), a total of 1,864,300 TL is allocated to two civil society organisations listed below. Türkiye Mozaik Foundation contributed £16,650 to the fund in this cycle.
Meet our new grantee partners and learn about their projects:
Foundation for Women’s Solidarity (Kadın Dayanışma Vakfı)
The Foundation for Women’s Solidarity is an independent feminist organisation combating violence against women and gender inequality since 1993. Through its women’s counselling centre, it provides free social, psychological, and legal counselling to women subjected to violence, while also delivering awareness-raising workshops for volunteers, students, CSO staff, and public sector employees. The Foundation monitors the implementation of national and international mechanisms to combat violence and advocates for stronger policies by making women’s experiences visible.
With the grant support, the Foundation will implement the project “From Counselling Centres to Solidarity Networks: A Capacity Building Model for Local Women’s Organisations,” aimed at strengthening the capacities of two local organisations — Çanakkale Handicrafts Evaluation Association (ELDER) and the Kocaeli Lotus Women’s Solidarity and Life Association — to establish and run Women’s Counselling Centers (WCCs) in line with feminist principles. The project will develop a training module on WCC operations, deliver capacity-building workshops, and provide seven months of online mentorship, alongside support for safe and systematic data collection to enhance advocacy efforts. The training module will also be shared as a resource with other women’s organisations, contributing to stronger feminist solidarity networks and more holistic, rights-based support for women.
Open Space Association (Açık Alan Derneği)
Founded in Istanbul in 2018, the Open Space Association works to combat deep poverty and create lasting, rights-based change for individuals and families. Alongside providing direct support—such as food, hygiene products, and educational resources—it addresses the structural drivers of poverty through field research, advocacy, and public awareness. Since establishing the Çimenev Science and Art Centre and launching the Deep Poverty Network, the association has supported thousands of households and continues to advocate for sustainable policy solutions on issues such as child, women’s, and elderly poverty, food inflation, and malnutrition.
With the grant support, the association will implement the project “Single Mothers Empowerment Program: Women Are Not Equal Even in Poverty,” which focuses on single mothers experiencing deep poverty in Istanbul. The project will provide monthly cash support to 20 mothers for one year, while also connecting them with public institutions and CSOs for psychological support, legal counseling, childcare, and vocational training. Through bi-weekly follow-up meetings and a flexible emergency support system, the project aims to improve mothers’ and children’s quality of life and strengthen their access to services. In addition, the association will produce monitoring reports and policy recommendations based on collected data, advocating for systemic solutions to address the intersection of gender inequality and poverty.
We look forward to sharing updates on these projects as they progress. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news and stories from the field.
