Hasan Çetin Works for Better Lives of Migrant Farm Workers

On 21 October 2010 Sabancı Foundation's "Turkey's Changemakers" hosts Hasan Çetin, a primary school teacher. Hasan Çetin aims to improve the living conditions of migrant farmworkers who are settled in a campsite accommodating 2000 workers.

In 2009, Hasan Çetin proposed a project to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security for migrant farmworker families who are settled in Polatlı, Ankara. Funded and implemented by the Ministry the project has become a model for others. Migrant farmworkers constitute an important component of the agricultural economy in Turkey. However, in Turkey and many other counties, they represent a marginalized group of people who are often denied their basic rights to education, health, shelter, sanitation, work, and social security. Within this context, Hasan Çetin's project intends to ensure migrant farmworkers' basic rights: access to clean water, education, and health services.

The project built a 135-ton water tank, constructed a sewage system and electrical infrastructure, and manufactured toilet and shower facilities at the campsite. 132 children had access to education and mobile health service units for families have been underway. Hasan Çetin's project has become a model for other host provinces and districts where worker families migrate seasonally. Two villages in Ankara, Yassıhöyük, and Sazılar have already started to implement this model project. It is envisioned that the project will scale up in 2010 and 5 other villages will complete the infrastructure to reach 7000 migrant farmworkers in Polatlı, Ankara.