The aim of this review article is to introduce Project “Gemes” andto raise awareness about seafarer shortage and unemployment matter inTurkey. The Project “Gemes”, which is the Turkish acronym for “VocationalSeamanship Training for Proving Unemployed Youth Employment”, was aproject partially funded by EU and successfully completed by Dokuz EylulUniversity in Izmir, Turkey. The Project focused on providing jobs onboardships for a number of primary school graduates, unemployed young peoplebetween ages 18 and 24. The project mainly aims at making somecontributions to the reduction of the regional unemployment in the mediumand long term. Within this scope, another goal was to open up an opportunityfor the work force and the employers in the region to meet and contribute totheir coordination. The project was also designed to provide trainingprogram with high standards to bring up qualified employees in the maritimeindustry and set a model for curing the employment downfalls of the industry.In this context, it was initially intended to provide 120 beneficiaries withtraining and to ensure employment for a specific percentage. As planned during the preparation of the project, trainings are continued with the contribution of the infrastructure gained, for the sustainability of the project.

The aim of this review article is to introduce Project “Gemes” andto raise awareness about seafarer shortage and unemployment matter inTurkey. The Project “Gemes”, which is the Turkish acronym for “VocationalSeamanship Training for Proving Unemployed Youth Employment”, was aproject partially funded by EU and successfully completed by Dokuz EylulUniversity in Izmir, Turkey. The Project focused on providing jobs onboardships for a number of primary school graduates, unemployed young peoplebetween ages 18 and 24. The project mainly aims at making somecontributions to the reduction of the regional unemployment in the mediumand long term. Within this scope, another goal was to open up an opportunityfor the work force and the employers in the region to meet and contribute totheir coordination. The project was also designed to provide trainingprogram with high standards to bring up qualified employees in the maritimeindustry and set a model for curing the employment downfalls of the industry.In this context, it was initially intended to provide 120 beneficiaries withtraining and to ensure employment for a specific percentage. As planned during the preparation of the project, trainings are continued with the contribution of the infrastructure gained, for the sustainability of the project.