We established the first Imece Village in 2017 on a block of land just outside of the small coastal town of Çeşme, Turkey. The village was designed to be a place for Turkish people, volunteers and displaced persons to come together. We all lived on site and were responsible for the building, maintenance and growth of the land. Our team worked together to build living and community spaces and to manage the land to grow our food.

The village is a sanctuary — a place of equality, free from any form of segregation or discrimination. It is a fair and just, community-based living environment where we sustain ourselves, take only what we need, and share any surplus with others.

The village is a place to heal, grow, and give back — to people and to the land. Sustainable and eco-friendly practices are integrated into daily life wherever possible.

We host our educational activities and the Back to Home programme at the village. Refugee women and their children participate in extended courses and community-based activities, gaining access to a safe and inclusive space that supports learning, skill-building, and meaningful connection.

We see the village as both an information hub and a place to facilitate impactful, positive change.

Imece Village is currently active and continues to serve as a space for community-based learning, production, and solidarity. Built on the experience and knowledge gained over the past years, the village reflects our commitment to sustainable, long-term solutions rather than temporary responses.
Today, Imece Village hosts a range of activities focused on education, community support, and ecological practices. The site is maintained and developed through the collective effort of our team and a dedicated group of volunteers.
We are currently welcoming volunteers who wish to contribute their time, skills, and energy to ongoing activities and the further development of the village. With the support of architects, permaculture practitioners, and community members, Imece Village continues to grow as a living space shaped by collaboration and shared responsibility.

There are three main categories of population living in Izmir:

1- Syrian refugees registered in Izmir. They have access to the temporary protection
status, which allows them to access for free all the Turkish public service systems
(and schools) as well as support from international NGOs

2-Syrians and other nationalities registered in other cities under temporary or
international protection. They can access public services… but only in their registered city.

3- Undocumented migrants. They are divided into two main groups: people on the
migration route and settled ones. It is not possible to predict the number of these
groups, however both of them are quite visible in the Basmane district. They don’t
have access to rights, health and education.

Our program focuses on settled families from groups 2 and 3, as their children do not have access to school. To have the best impact the selection criteria are only the motivation to join of child and his/her parents. Nationality or legal status of the child is not and will never be a selection criteria.
During our previous activities in Basmane, we realized that migrants coming from the African Continent are the most isolated and rarely have access to support from other NGOs. This is why we give our focus to them.

n this difficult context, educational activities are necessary but not enough.
That is why we also provide support to the children’s families. It includes among other things access to medical services, and support in residence permit requests.

We always work to provide the best support possible.

Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world - There are currently an estimated 6.05 million displaced people living in Turkey. The vast majority are from Syria and are under temporary protection status. They have access to Turkish public services (hospital, schools, etc.) in the province where they have registered, but not outside.

Imece works with many refugees who have moved away from their original registration province. Often, they are unable to re-register, especially due to low Turkish language skills and burdensome administrative procedures, leaving them without access to public health and education services.

The unofficial refugee camps are made up of basic tent structures built on dirt floors with no protection from the weather. These settlements are up to six years old and many tents are severely damaged. There is often nothing in the way of clean running water, waste management or electricity. Small stoves are used inside the tents for cooking and heating in the winter. In winter, temperatures drop below zero and heavy rainfall turns the campsites to mud. It is impossible to keep the tents dry and clean and this raises serious health concerns for the refugee residents.

Since 2015, we have been distributing life-saving items to unofficial camps across the Izmir area. While we strive to move beyond an emergency-response model of aid, the level of need remains too great to stop. We receive donations such as stoves, rain boots, tent waterproofing materials, and hygiene supplies from organizations and individuals. We also maintain continuous communication with residents to assess emerging needs and use donated funds to purchase urgent supplies when necessary.

In addition, following the 6 February earthquakes, our emergency distributions have extended to earthquake-affected regions in Turkey, as well as to disaster, crisis, and conflict-affected areas outside of Turkey, where needs continue to arise.

Volunteers have implemented the garden in the previous Imece villages and organised the harvest in cooperation with our trained staff. They received lessons in permaculture and designed the garden according to the seasons and the needs of the residents of the Imece village. This work will continue in the new Imece village in 2023, as we currently only have a small permaculture garden in Basmane.
In general, the volunteers are able to discover a new way of sustainable agriculture without the use of chemical fertilisers. For example, they learn how to sort waste from the community kitchen to make compost that becomes fertiliser. The aim is to create a sustainable ecosystem and raise people's awareness of this issue.

When volunteers have enough knowledge in permaculture and ecology, they can give courses to other volunteers and to the people we work with. Permaculture is a way of farming and consuming that preserves nature and the environment and helps it to be more diverse and powerful. Through education and training we want to spread this approach.

Winters in Turkey can be harsh and most nights in winter the Izmir region reaches sub-zero temperatures. It’s not uncommon to see babies and children in the settlements in ill-fitting clothing that is not appropriate for the cold. Unlike adults, babies are unable to regulate their body temperature so require layers of warm, dry clothing at all times. Wool is an ideal material for baby clothes as it’s warm and insulating.

The 2020 lockdown saw knitters knitting more than ever with nowhere for their items to go. It was the quick thinking of our incredible Imece partners who decided to put a call out online for baby and children’s clothing as we entered a very cold winter. We asked and the knitters answered! To date we have received knitting from several countries across Europe and plan to keep this project running ongoing.

If you’re a knitter or part of a club and would like to contribute clothing to keep children warm then we would love to receive it. We have collection stations in the UK, France and Germany you can post your items to or if you would like to post them directly to Turkey that’s even better. For more information on current needs, details on what we can and can’t accept and where to send knitting please send us an email.

The vulnerable groups we work with have been in crisis mode for years, focused only on getting through another day. The youngest of these groups have never known anything but this struggle for survival. Research shows that when a person's basic needs are not met, their ability to grow and learn is severely impaired. In close cooperation with the people in the camps, we have developed an educational programme, the "Back to School" programme. This takes into account that the children have never had contact with formal education and that their families often do not have the time, resources or education themselves to support the children.

When we start the mobile education activities in the camps, the initial focus is on teaching the children basic skills about hygiene, language and communication. For example, we organise activities such as brushing teeth and washing hands, as well as lessons in Turkish. Psychosocial components, such as dealing with anger and aggression, are practised in games.

As a provision of Turkey’s Temporary Protection Regulation refugee children are legally entitled to enter state education but many factors act as barriers to this becoming a reality. The first being the need for a basic level of Turkish comprehension. In order to enter formal schooling and also participate in everyday life, being able to communicate is paramount. The Back to School Programme provides lessons in reading, writing and basic maths and science. Further to the lessons themselves the children learn to sit and focus for extended periods and unfamiliar school appropriate etiquette like taking instruction from a teacher and allowing others a turn to speak.

After E.F.E Solar Powerbanks our new family member is E.F.E Energy Bars. We produce healthy and nutritious energy bars together with disadvantaged women from Africa.

With E.F.E EnergyBars we aim to support their economic independence and empower them to contribute to society. Our other aim is to meet the daily calorie needs of disadvantaged people living in humanitarian aid regions and offer them a healthy life.

Each energy bar carries the labor and love of these women. E.F.E stands for ''Energy For Everyone'' and we are determined to spread this energy with the power of women!

At our Basmane Community Center, we host seminars covering various topics tailored to our women beneficiaries. Our goal is to provide a safe and open space where they can freely discuss matters that may be challenging to address in their everyday lives, and access information that may otherwise be inaccessible. In the past, we've organized seminars focusing on sexual health, hygiene, and protective measures

Millions of displaced people have made perilous land and sea crossings since the start of the refugee crisis and many more are still making these life-threatening journeys every day. The EFE was designed with these trips in mind. It is a portable powerbank rechargable via standard plug-in electricity or solar energy and features two strong LED lights. Having a portable source of energy means mobile phones can be charged at any time to keep contact with close ones and facilitate life-saving communication.

The first prototypes of the EFE solar power banks were distributed to refugees in Turkey in 2019. We are committed to listening to the users and constantly improving the EFEs to meet the maximum needs of these people. For this reason, we have developed a second model that has quadrupled battery capacity and has the charging cables directly on the EFE.

In 2022, we have distributed more than 300 EFE solar powerbanks in Turkey, Bosnia and on the borders of Ukraine.

This fall 2022, we are conducting a study on the borders of the Balkans that will allow us to assess the energy needs of displaced people in the mountainous region and better adapt the EFE.

The vast majority of Turkey’s refugees are women and children and a large proportion of them have no income. With these people often being single mothers, economic independence is a struggle. We recognised the need for practical, employable skills and began work on a program to open a new door for refugee women​​.

We host displaced women and children in our community center in Basmane, a deprived neighborhood of Izmir. The children follow a dedicated program aimed at providing them with the necessary knowledge to re-enter the school system.

The women, or "Solar Ladies" learn the basics of solar engineering, solar panel manufacturing and EFE solar batteries. These practical skills aim to facilitate access to economic independence.

The programme provides the participating women with transferable skills for everyday life and the world of work, as well as a sense of self-confidence and empowerment.

After E.F.E Solar Powerbanks our new family member is E.F.E Energy Bars. We produce healthy and nutritious energy bars together with disadvantaged women from Africa.

With E.F.E EnergyBars we aim to support their economic independence and empower them to contribute to society. Our other aim is to meet the daily calorie needs of disadvantaged people living in humanitarian aid regions and offer them a healthy life.

Each energy bar carries the labor and love of these women. E.F.E stands for ''Energy For Everyone'' and we are determined to spread this energy with the power of women!

At our Basmane Community Center, we host seminars covering various topics tailored to our women beneficiaries. Our goal is to provide a safe and open space where they can freely discuss matters that may be challenging to address in their everyday lives, and access information that may otherwise be inaccessible. In the past, we've organized seminars focusing on sexual health, hygiene, and protective measures

For many Syrian families, returning home is no longer a matter of choice but of urgency. However, destroyed infrastructure, lost jobs, and limited economic opportunities make return highly uncertain. Without access to skills, income, and support systems, going back can mean starting again from nothing. This initiative addresses the critical question of how return can become safe, dignified, and sustainable.

Women, particularly mothers, are at the center of family survival and recovery. Yet they are often excluded from economic opportunities and vocational education. By focusing on young Syrian women, this initiative recognizes women not as passive recipients of aid, but as active agents of reconstruction. Empowering women strengthens families, accelerates recovery, and lays the foundation for resilient communities.

Practical, hands-on vocational training forms the foundation of this initiative. The workshops are designed to respond directly to reconstruction needs while creating real and sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Basic Home Electricity
Training in household electrical systems, wiring, and basic maintenance to support safe and functional living spaces.

Renewable Energy & Solar Systems
Hands-on education in solar energy installation, energy efficiency, and sustainable power solutions.

Carpentry & Home Construction
Practical skills in basic construction, woodworking, and home repair to support rebuilding efforts.

Sustainable Agriculture & Soil Restoration
Training in drought-resistant farming, composting, permaculture practices, and food security solutions.

Within a holistic, family-centered approach, children participate in structured educational and developmental activities while their mothers receive vocational training. These activities are designed to support children’s overall well-being and ensure their active inclusion in the return and rebuilding process.

Language Development Activities
Sessions that support children’s communication skills, vocabulary development, and expressive abilities in a safe and encouraging learning environment.

Psychosocial Support Sessions
Group-based activities that promote emotional well-being, resilience, and social skills through age-appropriate guidance and support.

Art-Based Wood Workshops
Creative, hands-on activities using wood and natural materials that encourage self-expression, fine motor skills, and imagination.

Hope on its own is fragile. This initiative turns hope into action through a structured approach that combines vocational skills, education, and long-term guidance. Moving beyond temporary assistance, it creates a clear pathway toward sustainable livelihoods, community rebuilding, and a dignified return home.