ANKARA (ILO News) - The ILO Office for Türkiye organized a workshop training with the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO) on 27-28 February in Ankara, the key training centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy, to ensure all participants are well equipped in the key concepts and principles underpinning the decent work and social protection and ensure that they are able to create and communicate effective messages to different audiences, including decision makers, workers, employers, media and public. The training brought together 34 dedicated officials from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Directorate General of International Labour Force, Directorate of Guidance and Inspection, Social Security Institution, Turkish Employment Agency, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Mersin Metropolitan Municipality, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, Istanbul Sultanbeyli Municipality, Confederation of Public Workers’ Union, Turkish Confederation of the Union of Chamber of Tradesmen and Craftsmen, Gaziantep Union of Chambers of Tradesmen and Craftsmen, Konya Union of Chambers of Tradesmen and Craftsmen, Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions, Ankara Chamber of Industry, Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations, Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions.

The workshop training was organized as a part of the Project on Promoting Decent Work for Syrians under Temporary Protection and Turkish Citizens and delivered by ITCILO Social Protection, Governance and Tripartism Unit Activity Manager, Social Protection Programme Officer Costanza de Toma and Communication Specialist Alessandro Amerio to forge participants with the knowledge, skills and networks necessary to effectively communicate and advocate for policies and practices that underpin the principles of decent work and social protection as a human right and vital to decent work, with practical examples from specific context in Türkiye.

The first day of the workshop training focused on advocacy and communication as key tools as well as fundamental concepts, principles and values underpinning the ILO’s work in decent work and social protection, while the second day has advanced the skills acquired on the first day to develop and deliver effective messages for outreach and advocacy including a practical session on media and interview training. The workshop also provided insights into strategic approaches for influencing policy and decision makers. Through interactive sessions, participants learned how to craft persuasive arguments and build compelling advocacy campaigns that resonate with stakeholders and lead to meaningful change.

“We learned practical tools for effective communication with this training, we always knew it was important yet had never chance to delve into it in such a structured and professional way” says one of the participants Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality ISPER Project Manager Nilüfer Tatar.

“Advocacy is something that we all need to do in our daily activities while implementing our projects and addressing various audiences” commented another participant Mehmet Güller, Coordinator of the Gaziantep Chamber of Tradesmen and Craftsmen.

“We are excited to see the implementation of these newly acquired skills in our participants' future endeavours as they continue to advocate for change and impact their communities positively” said Alessandro Amerio, ITCILO Trainer, and Communication Specialist.

“We were here to empower participants to become agents of change, as advocacy is about change and communication is about making connections. We share a joint vision and goal: to forge stronger paths toward decent work and enhanced social protection for all” said Costanza de Toma, ITCILO Activity Manager.

“The workshop training was so useful to help participants to reinforce skills to better use communication and advocacy techniques for better project implementation and also to guide policy making, foster positive behavioural change and policy advocacy on decent work. We believe it also strengthened communication and cooperation among policy makers, social partners and implementing partners” said Emily Harwit, ILO Project Manager.

At the end of the two-days training, participants obtained an international certificate of the ITCILO upon also completion of a complementary online training and evaluation.