Tiafi Community Centre is an inclusive hub operating since 2017 from an old shoe factory in Tepecik, an underprivileged, multicultural neighbourhood on the outskirts of Izmir. Tiafi promotes self-sufficiency & empowerment, & facilitates integration via services accessed by more than 6,000 displaced & disenfranchised local residents per year.

One hour south east of Tiafi is a smaller & more transient Syrian base in Torbali, where the community primarily work as seasonal farmers. Tiafi supports a self initiated education program here for up to forty children. 

Whilst the two communities differ in their contexts, they share many challenges: exclusion from state education and healthcare; impacts of trauma hinder learning by traditional methods; space is limited & the quality is insufficient for physical and mental wellbeing; lack of childcare creates a barrier for parents.

Plug+Play School addresses these challenges & bridges the sites through a series of self-build modules for play, therapy and learning; providing a holistic, trauma sensitive education offering enhanced by digital connections. Additionally, the scheme incorporates the installation of vital sanitation infrastructure upgrades & accessibility ramps in both sites. Due to the precarious nature of building leases & landlord relations, installations must be demountable. The proposal builds on needs identified within the framework of the Wellbeing, Housing & Infrastructure in Turkey research project funded by GCRF.

Turkey is host to 4 million Syrian refugees. With scarce resources, tensions between communities are high. Syrians often struggle to access the services necessary to integrate. Plug+Play School contributes to integration efforts by providing trauma sensitive education for children & adults, enabling them to thrive. 

In Tiafi’s Izmir centre, new roof modules will provide spaces for play & sheltered outdoor learning, early years childcare so parents can attend classes, physical exercise with specialist care for those with disabilities, & an urban garden to cultivate herbs & plants used in traditional cooking & natural medicines. This will alleviate pressure in lower areas of the building so other programs can expand, including a digital suite that connects to Torbali. The interventions are expected to grow teaching capacity by a third, while the roof garden will become a beacon of hope for a quickly changing neighbourhood. The modules will be built with the community, creating opportunities to develop new valuable skills in construction & management. 

In Torbali, urgent sanitation upgrades are a priority to ensure the health and safety of residents & students in addition to an accessibility ramp. The single classroom will be refurbished, including installing a digital connection & demountable Plug+Play modules will be replicated to provide breakout spaces that support trauma sensitive learning for the transient child population. Out of school hours the spaces transform into a nurturing social environment for adults & elderly residents to gather.

Anne O’Rorke is director & founder of Tiafi Community Centre, the project client who has coordinated a formally constituted project advisory group consisting of members from the Syrian, Turkish, Kurdish and Romani communities.

Tiafi is the local research partner for WHIT: ‘Wellbeing, Infrastructure and Housing in Turkey’, a GCRF funded research project. WHIT brings together partners including: Prof. Robert Mull who is co-investigator; The Institute of Development Studies, UK; Professor Hanif Kara, Harvard; AKT II; Yasar University, Izmir; Students of Yasar University and Umea University (UMA). 

Tiafi’s teaching & therapeutic support members provide specialised and contextual knowledge of trauma sensitive education: 

• Ibrahim Khadal, Syria: primary school teacher (Torbali site)
• Halil El Hac Ibrahim, Syria: primary school teacher
• Muhammed Alsairavan, Syria: physiotherapist and therapeutic support worker 
• Hala Almasri, Syria: counselling services
• Hiba Alheraky, Syria: counselling services
• Derya Çetin, Turkey: primary school teacher
• Hatice Getizmen, Turkey: Montessori pre-school teacher

Office of Displaced Designers provides project management & design oversight and will lead on the community based implementation strategy providing construction training & capacity building opportunities to collaborators:

• Elizabeth Cunningham: on-site project management; lead designer; advisory group coordinator
• Robert Mull: project direction with WHIT; fundraising; design advice
• Mark Pearce: fundraising; construction advise
• Shareen Elnaschie: design; community engagement and training; project admin