Sulukule Volunteers Association (SGD) was founded in 2010 by volunteers from the Sulukule Platform to support children affected by the area’s urban transformation. The association works to create child-friendly, inclusive spaces and prevent school dropout through holistic, rights-based approaches that engage not just children but also caregivers and educators.
With our grant support, SGD is implementing a project that addresses how poverty affects children’s health, wellbeing, and access to education. Through school-based activities and public advocacy, the project aims to raise awareness about children’s right to nutritious food and the urgent need for free school meals as public policy. It will also build support networks among children, families, and schools to help prevent social exclusion and early school leaving.
Read our interview to learn more about how economic hardship affects children’s education in Türkiye, and why free school meals must become a nationwide policy.
How do worsening economic conditions impact children’s access to education and school attendance? What can be done to prevent school dropout in this challenging period?
At Sulukule Volunteers Association (SGD), our primary focus is children. But we work holistically — supporting caregivers, teachers, and others who are part of children’s lives.
The deepening economic crisis is creating serious poverty. According to UNICEF’s 2021 State of the World’s Children report, 356 million children — 17.5% of all children globally — were living in extreme poverty in 2020. Eurostat’s 2022 data shows that nearly half of all children in Türkiye (43.6%) are growing up in poverty.
Poverty is multi-dimensional and closely linked to other challenges, especially in terms of access to education. Even when primary education is officially free, families still face ongoing costs: school meals, stationery, uniforms, and transportation — all of which make staying in school difficult.
One major issue we observe is nutrition. Many children we work with arrive at school without breakfast or skip meals during the day. Poor nutrition impacts their physical, emotional, and cognitive development. It affects learning, concentration, and energy levels — often resulting in labels like “inattentive,” “sleepy,” or “underachieving.”
School meal programmes are known to strengthen children’s connection with school and reduce dropout risk.
Another hidden dimension of poverty is emotional and social exclusion. Children facing hunger or lacking basic supplies often feel stigmatised, which affects peer relationships and weakens their ties to school. Over time, this can lead to disengagement and dropping out.
In many cases, children take on adult responsibilities at home — working to support the household or taking care of siblings. Those out of school are also at greater risk of street life or involvement in crime.
To prevent school dropout, we need child-centred, supportive, and safe school environments that respond to evolving needs. School meal programmes are known to strengthen children’s connection with school and reduce dropout risk. But poverty is not just an economic issue — it deeply affects children’s development and their sense of belonging. Any solution must be equally multi-faceted.
What are the main challenges in the field of children’s rights in Türkiye? What is the level of public awareness around child poverty and social exclusion? How effective are public policies in addressing these issues? Can you share SGD’s recommendations and work in this field?
A major challenge is how children are perceived. They’re often seen as passive recipients of help, not as individuals with rights. This mindset makes it harder for them to participate in decisions affecting their lives and blocks public recognition of their needs as rights.
When there’s no rights-based approach, social exclusion and rights violations are often explained away as personal or cultural problems. This makes structural inequalities invisible — and eventually accepted.
Our observations at SGD echo this. Poverty is typically framed as a financial issue, with little understanding of its impact on children’s social, cultural, or economic rights. Some even reject the concept of “child poverty” on the grounds that children don’t earn an income.
In 2023, during our nutrition rights workshops with caregivers, we often heard nutrition described as only the family’s – especially the mother’s – duty. The state’s responsibility is rarely recognised. And when we raise this point, caregivers may feel ashamed or inadequate — reinforcing the idea that poverty is a private family matter, rather than a structural issue.
We believe free school meals must become a public policy.
Local authorities and public institutions have taken some steps to address child poverty and social exclusion, and municipalities in Istanbul have piloted food assistance programmes. However, these efforts are often limited, short-term, and not inclusive. What’s needed is a long-term, sustainable, and rights-based policy on children.
Since our founding, SGD has provided food support in schools where we work to prevent school dropout and social exclusion. We’ve also tried to shift the public narrative — framing nutrition as a right, not charity. In 2023, we ran a social media campaign and published a report titled Free School Meals, Equal Education.
In addition to food support, we run regular art and sports workshops for children — ensuring gender balance with mixed groups. These sessions help children strengthen peer relationships, boost emotional learning, and feel more connected to school.
The most urgent step is turning free school meals into official policy. These meals should be designed to meet children’s age-specific and individual needs.
With our grant support, you are implementing the project Nutrition Right: Equal Opportunities. What are the project’s main goals and activities?
This project aims to reduce the negative impact of child poverty on children’s wellbeing, with a particular focus on the link between nutrition rights and social exclusion.
The project has two main components. First, we aim to increase awareness of children’s right to nutrition through a social media campaign. Our core message is this: ensuring children’s nutrition rights in schools requires a holistic, collaborative model. We’ll also visit institutions, including local authorities, to promote the model outlined in our Free School Meals, Equal Education report.
Second, we will organise workshops for children and caregivers to address the social exclusion caused by poverty. Workshop topics include oral and dental hygiene, basic health practices, balanced diets, food literacy, healthy living and physical activity, and the emotional role of food. We also plan to organise two trips to help increase children’s access to social and cultural rights.
The most urgent step is turning free school meals into official policy.
You recently published the Free School Meals, Equal Education report. Based on your findings, what are the main challenges around nutrition rights in schools? What solutions do you propose?
We have been working on nutrition rights for over 15 years. Our efforts began during the demolition of Sulukule, when volunteers noticed that children were becoming disconnected from school. They started preparing sandwiches at home and delivering them to schools. Today, this support continues regularly in three schools.
The system has evolved — children now receive food vouchers from school guidance services to redeem meals at the canteen. But this comes with problems: receiving a voucher can cause embarrassment or lead to stigmatisation. That’s why we insist that unless this becomes a formal policy, the issue won’t be resolved. Nutrition must be recognised not as charity, but as a right.
There are also major physical limitations. Many schools don’t have dining halls, or even canteens. Breaks are too short, and there are no shared spaces for children to eat together. But eating together is important for building peer connections. The food children can access at school is often limited to packaged snacks. Healthy, balanced, and inclusive options are rare.
We developed a model that can adapt to the specific circumstances of each school. Whether a school has a canteen or not, the model outlines different approaches accordingly.
We also believe nutrition rights should be integrated into the curriculum. To make this happen, collaboration is needed between the Ministries of Education and Health, as well as schools, local governments, logistics companies, and professional chambers. Oversight should include the Ministry of Family and Social Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, civil society, and professional bodies — with funding from the government, the private sector, and international donors.
Do you have a message for individuals or organisations who want to support your work?
We’d like to respond with the words of those we’ve worked with. A canteen manager described the reality of child poverty in stark terms:
“There are 600 students at this school, and some I’ve never even seen. One day I asked a child, ‘Are you at this school?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ ‘I’ve never seen you before.’ They replied, ‘I never come to the canteen.’ Why? Because they simply can’t afford to.”
A guidance counsellor told us how much impact the food support has had:
“This food support has really encouraged many children to come to school.”
And a caregiver explained how the support helped their household:
“We used the money we saved to cover other needs — school supplies or small things they wanted.”
Finally, a child summed it up in the simplest terms:
“I’m full. It feels good.”
We believe access to free school meals is one of the most effective and immediate ways to address child poverty and school dropout. We ended our campaign last year with a simple but powerful message:
Let children eat at school — as their right.
