A closing meeting was held within the scope of the “Strengthening Economic Opportunities for Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTP) and Turkish Citizens in Selected Localities Project”, financed by the European Union and carried out by the World Bank between 2019-2023. The project, focusing on assessing the demand for skills, strengthening the capacity for evaluating skill demand, job creation, and supporting entrepreneurship  in selected provinces with a high prevalence of SuTP, brought together the Social Entrepreneurship Community of Practice (SECoP) and social cooperatives. The initiative facilitated the sharing of best practices in addressing operational knowledge, practical experience, and implementation challenges. It also supported knowledge exchange by bringing together key stakeholders such as representatives from public institutions, and local and international organisations in Türkiye.

At the 18th SECoP Meeting, Tuğçe Söğüt, the General Secretary of EYDK, participated as a speaker in the panel titled “Financial Opportunities for Social Enterprises, Unlocking Access to Funding” which was organised as the closing event of the project and focused on the theme ” Leveraging Evidence for Social Entrepreneurship”. The panel was moderated by Ayşe Arıak Tunaboylu from the World Bank and featured panellists Berivan Eliş from Impact Hub Ankara, Aytül Güngör from Ankara Development Agency, Mahfus Çetin from KOSGEB, Sıla Ültanır from the Ministry of Trade, Birten Akyıldız from FONGOGO and Ferdiye Erdoğan from Arya Woman Investment Platform. In the panel discussion on funding sources such as grants, investments, crowdfunding, and innovative financing models that social enterprises can benefit from was held, Tuğçe Söğüt emphasised the critical role of impact investment in enabling social entrepreneurs to access the necessary funding for creating sustainable impact. She highlighted that impact investment and social entrepreneurship share common goals in creating positive environmental and social impact, serving complementary approaches that align with the same purpose. Söğüt underscored the importance of impact investment in supporting social entrepreneurs in achieving sustainable impact.