Cavidan Yılmaz Advocates the Women Rights in the Northern City of Trabzon

On 7 October 2010 Sabancı Foundation "Turkey's Changemakers" program hosts Cavidan Yılmaz, who has become the voice of Trabzon women.

Cavidan Yılmaz is a women's rights advocate who travels from village to village in Trabzon. She is an executive board member of the Trabzon Branch of the Turkish Mothers Association, an organization that aims to provide counseling and employment opportunities to women, girls, and especially mothers. Through the Association, Cavidan Yılmaz works on women-related projects.

One such project is the "Journey to Woman-Friendly Villages", which was funded by the Sabancı Foundation Grants Program of the United Nations Joint Program (UNJP). The project aims to raise awareness of the issues of women's rights and women's health among both men and women in the targeted villages and then share women's problems with public authorities, NGOs, and the press to make sure that their voices are heard.

Yılmaz traveled to the Salpazarı, Maçka, Köprübaşı, and Düzköy townships of Trabzon by a mobile vehicle, where she reached over 500 women and 150 men and informed them on women's rights and health. The project identified the women in need of psychological and legal support and then reported the outcomes to the related divisions of the Governorship of Trabzon. The final report of the project was shared with local authorities, other women's organizations, and the local media, and the field report was covered on local TV.