Anti-poverty programmes implemented in Turkey since 1980: The social risk mitigation programme (SRMP) example ? the practise of Aydın province

The main objectives of the study are to examine the anti-poverty programmes implemented in Turkey since 1980, and both governmental and non-governmental organizations established to reduce poverty, to study the effects of social aids made by the government to reduce poverty, to review the implementation of the World Bank supported Social Risk Mitigation Programme (SRMP) started in 2001, and to discuss the effects of SRMP Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) and Local Initiatives components in Aydın province. In this study, firstly, a time series analysis is done in order to see the effects of social aids in reducing poverty, and then two surveys, related to the implementation of SRMP-CCTs and SRMP-Local Initiatives components in Aydın, are carried out.In the first survey, it is found that the CCTs contribute to the reducing child poverty, the school enrollment and the attendance especially for the girls, the improvement of the health indicators, and the empowerment of the women in the family.In the second survey, it is found that the Local Initiative Projects create opportunity for the poor to reach cheap credit. As a result, they could initiate their own bussinesses and be more productive, and increase their income and consumption.