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A community centre has been established, by the Danish Refugee Council, in the Hatay region, Turkey, bordered by Syria – and plans for another centre are taking place. Approximately 400,000 Syrian refugees are now in Turkey, and DRC is targeting both the Syrian refugees and the host communities in order to meet the needs in a holistic way.
In April, 2013, recreational and psychosocial activities in the community centre, set up by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), in Hatay region have reached 300 beneficiaries, with the aim at reaching 10,000 people with future activities conducted in both community centers. There will also be outreach activities in the communities to ensure both host communities and the refugees will be targeted by DRC’s intervention. Some of the outreach activities – involving extracurricular activities - will be carried out in schools and non-formal educational facilities. Recreational activities also are an important means of targeting persons or groups who are directly affected by conflict.
“The recreational activities help beneficiaries to distress and get a better understanding of what they are living through - without talking directly about the war,” says Alexandre Adam, Programme Manager, DRC Turkey.
The community centers work will consist of five different components in order to adopt a holistic approach to the needs of the refugees. This will include: psychosocial activities; counseling; life skills training; awareness raising, and intercultural understanding targeting both refugees and host communities. The host communities have expressed interest in learning Arabic in order to communicate with refugees – and the refugees will receive Turkish lessons, so that intercultural understanding and awareness will be increased. At the time being, the centre in Hatay is in the final stage of being completed.
“Right now our focus is to ensure all components of the program are up and running. Staff is hired and volunteers are being mobilized and trained,” says Alexandre Adam.
Assessments are ongoing to find the right place for another centre, which will be placed in another province. This centre will focus on delivering the same components – and all together the centers and outreach activities are expected to reach 10,000 beneficiaries.
DRC is implementing part of the program in Turkey through a national organization, Support to Life (Hayata Destek)
