Türkiye

İmece

TÜRKİYE collective mutual-aid work; shared task allocation for a concrete need

Resilience Mechanism

When a need exceeds the capacity of one household or institution, local networks quickly distribute labour, resources and information. This turns the willingness to help into organised collective action.

What It Means

Solidarity organised around a concrete task

In this context, İmece is a Turkish term for collective work and mutual assistance organised around a concrete need. It is more than solidarity as a feeling. It answers practical questions: who works, transports, cooks, gathers information, provides space or connects people with institutions?

Its strength lies in task-sharing. Many people can make different manageable contributions that together produce an outcome beyond the capacity of one actor.

How It Works in a Crisis

In the first hours of a crisis, scattered signals must quickly become verified tasks.

Trusted local networks gather and verify information, identify needs and distribute tasks among people able to provide transport, food, medicine, blankets, temporary accommodation or other support. After the 2023 earthquakes, digital platforms helped convert scattered reports into maps, task lists and supply routes. Drivers, cooks, donors, volunteers and hosts carried out different parts of the same response. Rapid action by local networks must still be coordinated with AFAD, professional rescue teams, municipalities and other public authorities.

What happens

Scattered reports and overwhelming needs
What we focus on

A verified and specific need
How we act

Information, labour and resources are distributed
What it gives

Rapid help connected to the official system

A Lesson for Other Countries

Local networks should be connected to official systems in advance

During the first hours of a crisis, central systems may not immediately reach every community. Trusted local networks can gather information, distribute bounded tasks and direct available resources to places of need. These networks should, however, be connected with official systems in advance.

Effective interfaces require clear communication channels, information verification, safety rules, role boundaries and procedures for transferring complex tasks to professional responders. The strength of imece lies in combining local knowledge, trust and rapid task-sharing.

The strength of imece lies in combining trust, local knowledge and rapid task-sharing.

Where It Comes From

İmece is rooted in agrarian mutual aid, when neighbours worked together to harvest crops, repair homes or complete another task too large for one household. In contemporary Türkiye, the same logic extends beyond rural life.

It appears in urban neighbourhood support, civic initiatives, volunteering, local aid hubs and digital solidarity networks during economic crises and large-scale disasters.

What It Looks Like Today

Today, imece appears through neighbourhood volunteers, municipal and civic initiatives, donation campaigns, local hubs and digital coordination.

AFAD remains the official disaster-management authority and has its own system of trained volunteers. Civic initiative is strongest when clear interfaces allow it to complement rather than complicate professional response.

Limits of the Concept

İmece should not be presented as picturesque rural folklore or as an inexhaustible feature of Turkish society.

Informal support depends on connectivity, reliable information, safety and coordination, and it can exhaust citizens. Shared work cannot replace resilient infrastructure, professional rescue, compensation, social protection or long-term recovery policy. The state retains responsibility, while imece works best as a rapid and locally informed complement to accountable public systems.

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