Exploring Care as an Ecosystem
Care is often understood as an individual responsibility or a collection of services. Yet the care that sustains everyday life extends far beyond these boundaries. It connects homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, public institutions, animals, plants, and the environments in which we live through a complex web of relationships.
At İhtimam Association, we understand this web—and care itself—as an ecosystem.
Why Do We Think About Care as an Ecosystem?
Viewing care as an ecosystem moves it beyond the realm of individual actors and linear policy interventions. Care emerges through ongoing interactions among families, communities, service providers, public institutions, and the actors that support the wider ecosystem.
The outcomes produced within this system are neither fully controllable nor entirely random. Past experiences, social inequalities, feedback loops, economic conditions, and environmental disruptions continuously shape how care is organized and experienced. Sometimes these dynamics generate new forms of solidarity; at other times they create vulnerabilities and points of breakdown.
For this reason, we approach care not as a fixed structure but as a constantly evolving network of relationships. An ecosystem perspective encourages us to ask not only:
“Who provides care?”
but also:
“How is care organized?”
“Through which relationships is it sustained?”
“Who remains invisible?”
“Where does the system become stronger, and where does it struggle?”
For us, this perspective is not only about improving care services. It is also about rethinking how care is organized in order to build more equitable, inclusive, and resilient systems.
Why Did We Create the Turkey Care Ecosystem Map?
We developed the Turkey Care Ecosystem Map to make visible the different ways care is organized and to create a shared reference point for everyone working in the field of care.
The map makes it possible to view within a single ecosystem:
- Close personal networks, including family, kinship, and non-family care relationships
- Neighborhood and community-based structures
- Service providers
- Public institutions
- Research, advocacy, funding, and knowledge actors that support the care ecosystem
The map also recognizes that care is not limited to relationships between people. The care of animals, plants, and the environments we inhabit is considered an integral part of the broader care ecosystem.
This is not intended to be a complete directory of every actor in the care field. Rather, it is designed as a living mapping initiative that helps users explore the ecosystem, identify relationships, recognize gaps, and discover new connections.
What Can You Do on the Map?
The Turkey Care Ecosystem Map is an interactive tool designed to explore the care ecosystem from multiple perspectives.
Using the map, you can:
- Filter by care-related thematic areas
- Search for organizations, institutions, and communities
- Explore the ecosystem through different visualizations
- View actor profiles
- Contribute by suggesting new actors to be included
We see the map as a living resource that will continue to grow alongside the care ecosystem through new actors, new relationships, and community contributions.
Why Mapping?
Mapping is not simply a method of collecting information.
It is also a way of making the invisible visible, revealing relationships, and creating opportunities for collective reflection.
When we can see who contributes labor, who makes decisions, where gaps emerge, and how different actors support one another, care becomes visible not merely as an individual burden but as a collective responsibility and a public concern.
For this reason, we view the Turkey Care Ecosystem Map not only as a database but also as a shared platform for research, advocacy, policy development, and collaboration.
A Living Map
The care ecosystem is constantly evolving. New initiatives emerge, new forms of solidarity develop, institutions change, and new needs arise.
The Turkey Care Ecosystem Map is designed to evolve alongside these transformations.
Contributions are therefore essential.
If you believe an organization, community, initiative, or actor is missing from the map, you can submit a suggestion through the Suggest a New Actor feature. In this way, the map can continue to grow through the collective contributions of those working across the care field.
Rethinking Care Together
The Turkey Care Ecosystem Map invites us to rethink care not as a burden carried by individuals, but as a shared, relational, and transformable part of collective life.
Making visible how care is organized, by whom, and through which relationships is one of the first steps toward developing more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable care policies and practices.
We share this map as an invitation to see care together, think about care together, and transform care together.
