Country Projects: Turkey

Overview

A member of Parliament initiated food banking in Turkey in 2004 after he met with representatives from Feeding America and visited a number of food banks in the United States. After his experience, he returned to Turkey to work in the Parliament to create Good Samaritan legislation and tax incentives to promote food donations from the food and grocery industry to the poor.

Approximately 4 million of the 76 million residents of Turkey are undernourished.  Nearly 3.5% of children are underweight.

GFN’s Involvement

This member of Parliament began to develop food banks in various cities and requested assistance from GFN to expand the capacity and scope of operations in his country. We provided scholarships to attend the H-E-B/GFN Food Bank Leadership Institute for two years, along with long-distance technical assistance.  A visit to Turkey in 2007 helped secure stronger partnership with a several food donors.

Progress

There are now approximately 100 food banks throughout Turkey.  GFN is currently collaborating with Turkish food bank representatives to broaden their partnerships with the food and grocery industry and to create a national network that will coordinate the work of the individual food banks.