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From Crisis to Renewal:
Lessons from Social Innovators in Times of Disruption
In February 2023, Türkiye was struck by two devastating earthquakes that affected 11 provinces and millions of lives. Crises can disrupt communities, but they can also catalyze transformation. For the various actors working towards social good in Türkiye, renewal is not about returning to what was lost, it is about rebuilding with deeper purpose, stronger solidarity, and a clearer sense of justice. This was the guiding spirit of the session “From Crisis to Renewal: The Role of Social Innovators” at Catalysing Change Week 2025.
The discussion brought together various voices from Türkiye’s social entrepreneurship ecosystem: Elif Muratoğlu from İstasyonTEDU Center for Social Innovation and Catalyst Now Türkiye Chapter, Zeynep Şölen Yıldız from Accessible Everything (Erişilebilir Her Şey) and Duygu Vatan from Impact Hub Ankara, exploring how social innovators turn disruption into opportunities for transformation, and how inclusion and solidarity underpin resilience.
The Power of Networks: Building Bridges
The session began with Elif Muratoğlu from İstasyonTEDU sharing how social enterprise support organizations across the country mobilized through the Turkey Social Entrepreneurship Network (TSEN). In this particular moment of crisis, rather than acting impulsively, the network paused to reflect on how they could create meaningful impact for the affected communities in the region. As Muratoğlu explained, “TSEN’s greatest asset was its extensive connections with social-good oriented actors across sectors and regions, its culture of solidarity and collaboration, and its ability to build bridges.”
This “bridge-building” became TSEN’s central mission during the crisis, first by connecting actors to address urgent needs such as shelter, food, and healthcare, and later by supporting social enterprises and cooperatives to rebuild livelihoods and restore local economies.
Through the TSEN Helpdesk coordinated by Impact Hub Ankara, TSEN members personally contacted social entrepreneurs in the affected region to identify their needs and link them to relevant partners. As a short term response, one cooperative reported their need for underwear from the region was quickly brought together with Ayma Active, a sustainable textile social enterprise.
Drawing on the cooperative’s knowledge of needs in the region, Ayma produced and distributed urgently needed clothing for women affected by the disaster. As a part of TSEN's long-term support initiatives, through collaboration with AHBAP Foundation and a Greek donor, TSEN facilitated €100,000 in equipment and machinery support for 11 women’s cooperatives. By November 2023, all supported cooperatives had resumed production — a powerful example of economic recovery initiative led by TSEN.
To share knowledge and strengthen preparedness for future crises, the network compiled an open-source Solutions Gallery featuring 144 social enterprises and their post-crisis innovations. Furthermore, it organized two webinars to highlight social innovation practices that have emerged in the region ranging from mobile schools to regenerative agriculture and inclusive housing models. The Solutions Gallery and the Webinars not only celebrated the ingenuity of local changemakers but also documented their approaches for others to learn from.
TSEN’s strong relationships, collaborative culture, and diverse partnerships enabled a rapid and coordinated response after the earthquakes. By leveraging trust and communication with local social enterprises, the network quickly identified needs and built effective partnerships to deliver assistance. Guided by solidarity and a long-term vision, it focused not only on urgent relief but also on sustainable socio-economic recovery in the region, documenting knowledge and making it accessible for future crisis responses.
Accessibility Must Never Be an Afterthought
One of the most moving parts of the session came from Zeynep Şölen Yıldız from Accessible Everything, a disabled-led social enterprise working to make products, services, and environments accessible for all. She reminded the participants that accessibility is not a luxury to be added later. Accessibility is not a privilege, as Yıldız emphasized, “it is a matter of human rights” that must be protected even in emergencies.
As a disabled-led social enterprise, Accessible Everything collaborates with businesses and institutions to design more inclusive environments. During the earthquake, however, the organization shifted its work to delivering immediate relief in the region. The team established one-on-one support lines for people who had lost assistive devices such as wheelchairs and hearing aids, ensuring that replacements reached those in need. Together with Tohum Autism and Ceviz Autism Foundations, they created a Mini Guide for Volunteers to teach effective and respectful ways of communicating with people with disabilities in crisis zones.
One of the most pressing issues was access to basic facilities. Partnering with Kale Group, Accessible Everything designed and installed accessible toilets in affected areas — small-scale interventions that restored dignity and independence to many. In the longer term, their focus shifted towards empowerment and advocacy.
The project “Share and Learn: Empower True Independence” offered workshops for young people who became disabled due to the earthquake, encouraging them to reclaim agency and envision futures beyond societal limitations. Another initiative, “Barriers Are Constructed”, used graffiti art in Hatay to remind decision-makers that accessibility must be embedded into every aspect of reconstruction.
The process highlighted that accessibility must be prioritized rather than treated as an afterthought. The earthquake made this need even more apparent. Activists, NGOs, and social entrepreneurs in the field of accessibility recognized that collaboration is essential to achieve meaningful impact. Engaging both decision-makers and disabled communities is crucial for effective mobilization and empowerment. Accessible Everything continues its efforts to work closely with these communities and leaders to advance accessibility at every possible scale and in the right direction.
Resilience as a Way of Being
The session concluded with Duygu Vatan, co-founder of Impact Hub Ankara, who explored the concept of resilience from a systems perspective. Her question framed the discussion:
“Why do social innovators never freeze in crisis, while others do?”
Vatan explained that resilience, for social innovators, is not merely a reaction to external shocks, it is a natural state of being. Their daily work already involves navigating uncertainty, resource constraints, and systemic complexity, and they are constantly practicing adaptability to such conditions. Vatan noted that this raised a further question: if resilience is so central to how social innovators operate, why has it received so little structural attention? In her view, resilience has largely become a popular term only in the aftermath of major crises, treated as an emergency skill rather than a foundational organisational capacity.
According to Vatan, the research revealed that independent and mission-driven organizations tend to demonstrate the strongest resilience. These organizations operate without institutional buffers, relying instead on self-generated resources, community trust and adaptive governance. Unlike institutionalized or venture-driven entities, these organizations are built around purpose rather than profit or bureaucracy. They know exactly why they exist and that clarity gives them direction and stability, even inside a crisis. Vatan concluded, “Resilience is not about surviving the storm. It’s about remembering why you started and keeping that purpose alive, no matter what changes around you.”
This insight emerged from Impact Hub Ankara’s research on organizational resilience, conducted within a European Union–funded project. The toolkit was shaped through field interviews with active, transformed and closed hubs, as well as collective failure-focused gatherings. The study examined how independent social innovation organizations sustain purpose, creativity, and collective well-being in volatile environments, and the findings were synthesized into the Resilience Toolkit — a practical framework designed to help organizations assess and strengthen their own resilience capacities. Through Impact Hub Ankara’s Resilience Toolkit, eight pillars are identified that sustain organizations during uncertainty: purpose alignment, financial health, partnerships, system awareness, team well-being, adaptive governance, and self-defined success measures, among others. The toolkit offers reflection exercises and diagnostic tools that help social innovators assess their sustainability and sense of direction, ensuring they remain grounded in purpose even in turbulent times. The toolkit is intentionally designed to be practical so that teams can use it in workshops, peer learning sessions, or even as part of annual strategic reviews.
Since its launch, the Resilience Toolkit has been adopted by creative hubs and social innovation centers across Türkiye, sparking new conversations about sustainability, mental health, and collaboration. At Impact Hub Ankara, it is now a core part of community learning events on well-being and organizational health.
About Us
İstasyonTEDU is a multifunctional open collaborative space that brings social impact oriented actors together for development of social innovation and social entrepreneurship ecosystems.
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Accessible Everything is a social enterprise that provides specific solutions with its mentorship and training services to everyone who wants to step into a more accessible life.
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Impact Hub Ankara is a People + Planet First certified social enterprise within the global Impact Hub network, a community of experts and a collaborative workspace that provides innovative and creative support to all actors working towards social good.
From Crisis to Renewal: What We Carry Forward
Crises, while devastating, reveal what truly matters. They test not only systems but also values, showing that innovation is not just about new ideas, it is about cross-sectoral and resilient relationships. In Türkiye, the February 6th earthquakes demonstrated how solidarity networks, inclusive design, and purpose-driven collaboration can not only restore what was lost but can also do it with greater strength and purpose. While social innovators cannot prevent every crisis, they can choose how to respond: to listen before acting, to rebuild inclusively, and to document, learn, and share so that future responses are wiser, faster, and more compassionate.