Needs Analysis of Refugee Women Living in Esenyurt District to Access Services

Since MaviKalem started working with Syrian refugees in Istanbul in 2017, it has been conducting various field researches to learn about current needs and to structure our work based on the analysis of these needs.

With this approach, we conducted a field research between January and March 2025 to determine the current needs of refugee/asylum seeker women in terms of accessing services. We conducted this research with 30 women, most of whom are refugees, living in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul with face-to-face, in-depth interview technique.

This research was carried out within the scope of the “Women’s Counselling Center and Mentoring Project” carried out under the “Development of Community-Based Social Services for Refugees and Host Communities (CLIP 2)  Project of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

The Women’s Counselling Center and Mentoring for Local NGOs Project has been operating in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul since 2019 to support refugee and local women’s access to basic rights and services and non-formal education opportunities, to strengthen social cohesion among their communities, and to support the implementation capacities of local non-governmental organizations. The basis of our project was our approach to ensuring gender equality and working based on the field/local.

With the Women’s Counseling Center, we have created a space in Esenyurt where we can talk and share, have fun while learning, and get stronger together. Around our project, the volunteer network consisting of Turkish and Syrian women has been at the center of solidarity and empowerment among women.

In our in-depth interviews with 30 women, including women from our volunteer network, we asked and listened to their level of access to basic needs, health, education and justice services, their economic situation and their thoughts on returning to Syria  for the “Needs Analysis of Refugee Women Living in Esenyurt District to Access Services”.

Some of the highlights of the analysis of the interviews are:

• The income that goes into the houses is not enough.
• Basic needs cannot be met. Rent and bills cover a large part of income, and food and clothing are cut.
• The most important barriers to not being able to access the health system are inability to get an appointment, registration, and economic inadequacy.
• Two-thirds of women are not in good mental health. Women and their families continue to need psychological support.
• Two-thirds of the children of the women interviewed attend school. Among the reasons why boys drop out of school, contributing to family income stands out.

You can find detailed information about the findings and analyzes in our report here;

Refugee women living in Esenyurt district need analysis for access to services