Context
The municipality of Izmir has decided to set up a project to help disadvantaged families in the city's priority neighbourhoods, targeting young children. The project has several objectives: to combat malnutrition among children in the city's poor neighbourhoods and to support local milk producers. The scheme has been adapted to include the children of Syrian refugees since 2017.
The project
The aim of the project is to support producers and improve children's health. The municipality of Izmir has been buying milk from the Tire Süt cooperative since 2007, with the dual aim of helping the region's milk producers and ensuring that children drink healthy milk.
Milk was regularly distributed to 220,000 children in 250 schools between 2008 and 2012 under the Okul sütü project. Following its implementation by the Ministry of National Education, the municipality of Izmir renamed the project 'Süt Kuzusu' for children aged 1 to 5. Under this project, which has been running since 2012, 2 litres of quality milk are distributed every week to children aged 1 to 5 directly in their homes, and the scheme reaches 122,000 households.
Results
Thanks to this major support provided by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality to producers, milk production in Turkey has increased by 70% over the last 10 years, and in Izmir this rate has even reached 440%. The milk producers supported by the local government have been awarded the "World's Best Rural Development Model Prize" by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The municipality of Izmir, which launched the project in 2012 with 46,000 families, has grown to 122,000 families in 2017 and has included Syrian children in the project. In the Konak district, milk distribution has begun for around 3,000 Syrian children aged between 1 and 5.
Who is it for ?
The scheme is aimed at children aged between 1 and 5 in the Izmir region. The child's parents may be Turkish or foreign, and the scheme has recently been extended to migrants of Syrian origin.
Sources
This initiative sheet was written by Yohan Taris, LFC intern in February 2023.
Last modification : 12 Jun 2023.
Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir
The "Milk Lamb" or "Milk for Children" project was set up by the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir in 2007. The municipality aims to provide an innovative municipal service that uses the power it receives from the public to address the common interests and sustainable development of the city. Through the Süt Kuzusu project, it is supporting local farmers and safeguarding the health of Izmir's children.