I’m delighted and proud to have organized such a magnificent event. Two months ago, when we decided to hold this summit, almost everyone in our close circle of experts in organizing the event expressed their concern that the timeframe was too short and that organizing such an event in such a tight timeframe would be extremely difficult. To reassure their legitimate concerns, I assured them that “the hotel, and above all, the international and national companies that have supported us for years, were ready.” Ultimately, the board of directors approved of this event, which I insisted on, and we embarked on the organization.
Time has proven me right. Despite the change of general manager in January and the replacement of 30% of the team, we were able to quickly pull the event together thanks to the solid work of the existing team and the unwavering support of the organizations we’ve worked with for years. I owe them a debt of gratitude right at the beginning of this article: CarrefourSA, Chep, Barilla, Cargill, Procat, and GEN3 Creative.
I can’t help but mention the support of our volunteers. Without volunteerism, there’s no civil society. I’d like to thank them for all their professional and moral support.
A photo we took with our volunteers
Having our strategic partner Sürakademi with us has further strengthened our strength. Many thanks also to the valued professionals of Sürakademi.
New sponsors of our event
I would also like to thank our sponsors who have recently joined our ranks or who quickly grasped the importance of this event and provided their full support.
Let’s start with our main sponsor: Denizbank
Media sponsor: Doğuş Media Group (NTV and Star TV)
Venue sponsor: Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul
Organization sponsor: Coop Event Management
Technical equipment sponsor: Technichane
Stage and stand design sponsor: Solution House
Vehicle sponsor: Inter Limousine
I would also like to personally thank Sevinç Satıroğlu, who put in a tremendous effort throughout the day and delivered a flawless presentation without expecting anything in return.
Finally, I would also like to personally thank Özkan Zere, who delivered the closing speech pro bono.
Attendance far exceeded our expectations
Now, let’s get to the event itself… Frankly, I was thinking, “This is a first-time event, firsts are rarely appreciated, and it will take time for us to catch on; therefore, even 100 people would have been fine.” However, according to official data, the number of attendees was well over 200. We didn’t print out enough badges.
The hall was packed until 3:30 PM, with some standing. After 3:30 PM, people worried about getting caught in rush hour traffic caused the hall to empty out somewhat. Still, a significant number remained for the final panel, which concluded at 6:30 PM.
In short, the 1st Food Banking Summit, organized by the Basic Needs Association and sponsored by Denizbank to ensure the impartial, transparent, honest, and sustainable operation of the food banking system and its expansion in Türkiye, took place at The Ritz Carlton Hotel Istanbul with broad participation from the public, private sector, and civil society organizations.
Opening and First Speeches
The summit discussed food banking models in Türkiye and around the world, legal regulations, zero waste initiatives, and the impact of food banking on the economy.
Except for a few minor hiccups, everything went smoothly. That morning, there was a lot of fog in Istanbul. Due to heavy traffic that morning, participants arrived a bit late. Therefore, the event, originally scheduled to begin at 10:30, only began around 10:30. As you can see from the program below, our Chairman of the Board, Hande Tibuk, delivered the first opening speech.
http://www.gidabankaciligizirvesi.org/tur/program
Hande presented a short, concise, and engaging opening speech outlining our principles. I then took the floor. I would like to share the content of my speech, which contained important messages, with you:
- I began with our history. I explained that 8-9 food companies and their representatives founded this association in 2010, and that our initial goal was to distribute our surplus produce to those in need.
- I emphasized that until 2014, we operated as a traditional food bank, but in 2014, we shifted our model from simply “giving fish” to “teaching people how to fish while giving fish.”
- I explained that we built our entire structure around integrating two key visions:
o Preventing waste
o Enabling those in need to become self-sufficient
- I then added that we aim to expand the TİDER Model across Türkiye, to nearly 1,000 districts.
Summit Objectives
I continued by explaining our goals with Türkiye’s first national food banking summit (I also discussed our goals in my previous blog post, which you can find at https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/turkiyede-tarihi-bir-ilk-gida-bankaciligi-zirvesi) :
- To connect food banks with the private sector and ensure they receive more regular donations,
- To ensure that food banks embrace our principles of impartiality, transparency, honesty, and sustainability (I made a separate point here and mentioned that there are those who exploit the system for their own benefit and the existence of companies disguised as social enterprises that generate commission income from donations. Unfortunately, fraudulent structures created by manipulative individuals are seriously damaging the civil society sector, which is built on trust, and social enterprises that do their job properly. I emphasized that we shall fight these unhealthy structures to the very end). 3. To ensure that the public is properly informed and to help ensure that relevant laws and regulations meet international standards soon.
- To explain to private sector representatives contributing to the system that this work not only has a moral aspect but also has legal benefits, such as a ‘reduction in tax base,’ and to encourage them to donate more.
- To explain how food banking is done globally and to demonstrate different models, practices, and technologies to food banks in Türkiye.
- To honor and thank the food banking organizations, private sector representatives, and public officials who have contributed greatly to this work.
- To bring together those who contribute to aid efforts and share everyone’s collective efforts.
I concluded by saying, “May the 1st National Food Banking Summit be beneficial for the country, the nation, and humanity!”
Following my speech, Murat Sungur Bursa, General Secretary of Sürakademi, took the floor. Mr. Murat shared his experiences in sustainability and social assistance and provided practical examples. “The lack of effective food banking renders all sustainability activities meaningless: According to our religious and cultural traditions, it is not permissible for us to go to bed with a full stomach while our neighbors go to bed hungry. Today, instead of acting with a sense of justice, we have become corrupters of our neighbors,” he said.
Nemitz’s words honoring TİDER…
After this engaging speech, Craig Nemitz, Director of the Global Foodbanking Network (GFN), took the floor. He spoke about our history, emphasizing how harmoniously GFN and TİDER have worked together since the beginning and how much they value our relationship. He also explained that we made history by winning GFN’s first innovation award. Finally, he emphasized our shared goal: to live in a world without hunger.
With his engaging and positive personality, Nemitz enriched the content by explaining the technical details of food banking, first in his opening remarks and then in the first panel, adding a touch of color to the conversations.
Now, let’s move on to the panels… All of the panels were vibrant and informative. I would like to briefly summarize my comments here.
The Need for Legislation for Food Banking
The first panel featured Craig Nemitz, Director of the GFN, and Ayşegül Selışık, Deputy Representative of the FAO to the United Nations. I moderated the panel, where we learned about both the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and GFN. We had the opportunity to hear the perspectives of these globally active NGOs on waste, poverty, and food banking. We also had the opportunity to compare different models from around the world. Ayşegül Selışık, Representative of the FAO, touched upon project collaborations between Türkiye and Central Asia, emphasizing the need for systematized food banking in Türkiye, mandatory implementation, and legalization. She also emphasized the importance of raising awareness and training on all these social welfare issues.
Following the coffee break following the first panel, we had the opportunity to hear from our general manager, Nil Tibukoğlu, and our HR manager, Duygu Bekiroğlu, about the ‘Support Cloud’ and ‘Support HR’ platforms. Following these presentations, the last panel before noon was entitled ‘Legal Regulations, Zero Waste and Practices in Food Banking in Türkiye.’
Following the lunch break, a collaboration protocol was signed with Mert Fırat, founding partner of Needs Map, and Hande Tibuk, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Basic Needs Association. Similarly, we signed the IDEMA-TİDER collaboration agreement with Güler Altınsoy, General Manager and Founding Partner of IDEMA and Needs Map. Everyone gave a warm speech after the signing ceremony. I personally expressed the following about IDEMA: Beyond the excellent rapport between Needs Map, IDEMA, and TİDER, and the fact that everyone involved is like a brother, my mindset is “innovate, show me something different, eat my heart.” That’s why I’m personally delighted to sign a collaboration agreement with an organization like IDEMA, which is developing innovative models in social work.
After these historic moments, the next panel moved on.
Our Supporters’ Panel
In the panel of food banking supporters, executives from CarrefourSA (Brand, Corporate Communications Manager, Melis Karatay Ebin), Barilla (Customer Services and Demand Planning Manager, Buket Yıldırım), and CHEP (Corporate Communications Manager, Serhat Enyüce) spoke. This panel also had a very valuable moderator: The Ekonomist Editor-in-Chief Talat Yeşiloğlu, who was willing to take over the panel with these esteemed speakers. Everyone shared what their companies are doing in Türkiye and globally. Seeing the importance these global companies place on food banking, and their actions truly gives one hope. Furthermore, Serhan Hacısüleyman, Group Manager of Agricultural Banking Sales and Performance Management at Denizbank, the main sponsor of the summit, stated that 750,000 tons of wheat are wasted annually due to a lack of technical equipment, and that they support agricultural banking to reduce such significant waste items. They talked about their projects.
Complementary Models and ‘Zero Waste’
Following this panel, moderated by Dilara Koçak (Nutritionist, FAO Zero Waste, Zero Hunger Project Supporter), I joined a panel featuring esteemed organizations such as Hayata Sarıl (Hold Life), the Deliler ve Veliler Association (Deliler and Parents Association), and İDEMA/İhtiyaç Harita (Needs Map) to discuss TİDER’s Support Market model. Ayşe Tükrükçü and Ali Denizci explained the soup kitchen and community center models in their unique style. What I appreciated about this style was their sincerity. I was personally delighted to speak on the same panel with these big-hearted individuals who have endured great hardships and never lost touch with life.
We explained how the map-based Needs Map, which brings a digitalization model to NGOs, and TİDER’s physical model systems can work together, and how both models complement each other. Güler explained their work, emphasizing the importance of civil society solidarity and how we can complement each other. He drew. Incidentally, the moderator of this panel, Dilara Koçak, is one of Türkiye’s leading nutrition experts and, in addition to her role at the FAO, she also supports us in many ways as a goodwill ambassador for TİDER. Most recently, she arranged for the sale of the shopping bags she designed to be used on behalf of TİDER. Thank you.
After the coffee break, the final panel discussed the ‘Zero Waste Vision.’ This panel was moderated by Murat Sungur Bursa, President of the Sustainability Academy. We were delighted to see Sürakademi supporting us as a strategic partner and to see Murat Bey personally take an active role throughout the event. I believe our strategic partnership with Sürakademi will strengthen and create synergy for all parties. The panel featured distinguished speakers in their respective fields. Following Murat Bey’s opening speech, Hande Tibuk, Chair of the Board of TİDER, explained our vision for preventing waste. Accordingly, I would like to share the following matrix with you once again:
Following this, Prof. Dr. Nilgün, Coordinator of the Boğaziçi University Sustainable Development and Cleaner Production Center, Cılız explained what Boğaziçi University is doing towards its zero-waste vision and discussed its implementation. HayKonfed Official Nihal Aydın also discussed their operations and addressed the cruelty animals face, stating that there’s still a long way to go in this area. A video was even shown on the subject. Biyoder Board Member Mehmet Ali Nalçacıoğlu gave a compelling presentation on biogas and compost. In other words, all parties involved in the issue—TİDER, the umbrella organization for food banking; HayKonfed, the Confederation for the Rights of Animal Life; and Biyoder, the sectoral association of companies in the biogas and compost business—discussed the ‘Zero Waste Vision’ from every angle.
Note: After the Food Banking Summit, numerous news reports about the event appeared in national, local, and sectoral media (both print and broadcast). I’d like to take this opportunity to share these with you:
http://share.interpress.com/download/video/finanscafe25022019ntv.mp4
https://www.ntv.com.tr/video/ekonomi/istanbulda-1-gida-bankaciligi-zirvesi,kc-i6H8a0kCkQnNNn-3pXw
https://www.gidaturk.com.tr/2019/02/1-gida-bankaciligi-zirvesi-gerceklestirildi/
