BigCat Research

I Can Manage My Money Project - From Labor to Basket Women Cooperatives

We analyzed the process of strengthening financial literacy capabilities among women cooperatives and measured its contribution to economic empowerment.

Client / partners: Habitat Association

Year: 2022

Project type: Social Impact Analysis

Status: Completed

Project impact: Financial empowerment and economic independence measurement.

The UNDP release reports that BigCat Research analysis found a twofold social return per 1 TL invested and increases in sales, e-commerce, and partnership indicators among participating cooperatives.

Background from public sources

Programme and partners

The Women's Cooperatives Support Programme (Emekten Sepete) is part of "I Can Manage My Money", a programme funded by Visa and run by UNDP together with Habitat Association. According to UNDP, the strand for women's cooperatives started in early 2021, while the COVID-19 pandemic was still under way. The parent programme began in 2009 as Türkiye's first financial literacy initiative. By 2022 it had trained almost 2 million people in the basics of finance and banking.[1][2][3]

Support for cooperatives

The programme dealt with every stage of e-commerce: setting up a website, accepting digital payments, branding, visibility and logistics. Each cooperative was given a computer and help with setting up its e-business infrastructure. Cooperatives also got help promoting themselves on online marketplaces and communicating on social media. According to a Vatan news report, they mainly produce food, gift items and textiles.[1][2][3]

Scale

In the first year, 14 women's cooperatives received support with going digital. At an event in Istanbul on 7 June 2022, the partners announced that 12 more cooperatives would join for the second year, which brought the total to 26. Vatan reports that these 26 cooperatives come from 19 provinces.[1][2][3]

Impact analysis and findings

According to UNDP's press release, an analysis by BigCat Research found that every lira invested in the programme produced twice that amount in social return. The first-year results in the release show that 86 percent of the cooperatives increased their sales and 93 percent formed new partnerships. Within a year, 76 percent had started e-commerce, 71 percent had diversified their sales channels and 47 percent had begun targeting exports. Vatan also reports that 93 percent of the cooperatives had never taken part in a programme like this before.[1][2][3]

Sources

  1. UNDP Türkiye, Women's cooperatives thrive thanks to digital tools, 2022-06-07. Accessed 2026-10-15
  2. UNDP Türkiye, Kadın kooperatifleri dijital araçlar sayesinde hızla gelişiyor, 2022-06-07. Accessed 2026-10-15
  3. Gazete Vatan, Kadın kooperatifleri için dijital dönüşüm hamlesi, 2022-06-08. Accessed 2026-10-15