Case Studies
Improving Access to EducationAyşen and Hüsnü's philanthropy is underpinned by a serious belief in the importance of education. As Hüsnü recounted to a journalist in 2007: "The most important problem that Turkey has is education." Even though women's education levels have been rising in the past two decades, the country has a persistent gap in the primary education enrollment rate between girls and boys. Only 88% of girls are enrolled in primary education, compared with 92% of boys, according to 2007 statistics from the Ministry of National Education. This gap grows over time as children age, due to cultural and economic biases that can prevent girls from continuing their studies. Hüsnü's goals are ambitious. The organizations that he supports target every stage of the education "life cycle" – from early childhood education through post-secondary education at the Özyeǧin University. Hüsnü has said, "I want Turkey to have the same education levels as Europe 25 years from now." Though some of these initiatives focus on both genders, others have a strong and almost exclusive focus on women. The Mother Child Education Foundation (known by its Turkish acronym, AÇEV) provides early childhood education programs by engaging mothers in their children's education. In one of the organization's core programs, mothers of preschool-aged children attend a weekly training program over six months that provides tactical methods to support the holistic development of their children. As a result, mothers become empowered with the skills and attitudes that will have a positive effect on them and their children. "I believe that our most important responsibility is to provide a more equal start to life. The earliest years are the most formative for an individual and that is why we have invested most at AÇEV in different forms of early childhood programs throughout Turkey," Mrs. Özyeǧin explains. Another program that the Özyeǧin Foundation supports is direct scholarships for higher education in Turkey and abroad. A sizeable percentage of the scholarships are provided to women. Scholarship recipients are eligible to receive a range of support services – including internships and permanent positions with Özyeǧin's private enterprises.
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In Turkey, many girls must leave their communities to attend secondary school. One intervention that has been shown to increase secondary school attendance is to provide dedicated housing to girls. Towards that end, the Özyeǧin Foundation has completed 27 dormitories throughout Turkey since 2005 that have provided about 5,000 girls per year with quality housing and access to secondary education. These dormitories are built in close coordination with the government, in the country's poorest regions. During a field visit to one such dorm in Diyarbakır in southeastern Turkey, teenage girls in school uniforms milled around the halls and then gathered for lunch in the clean, well stocked cafeteria. "I am very happy to be here. I want to be a lawyer one day," said one girl while eating a watermelon. She came from a poor household and was the first girl in her family to attend secondary school. It was not that difficult for her parents to send her away, she explained, because both her housing and her meals were paid for.
In September 2008, the Özyeǧin University opened its doors to its inaugural class of students. The university admits young men and women with the aspiration that graduates will be among the most "sought-after individuals in society." The University has ambitious plans to support budding women entrepreneurs. In late 2009, Hüsnü announced a new partnership with the Goldman Sachs 
