Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk

H.E. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK is the current and sixth Director General of SESRIC. She holds a BA degree with summa cum laude in Economics from İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University and an MSc degree in Accounting and Information Management from University of Texas Dallas.
H.E. SELÇUK has held positions as Researcher, Senior Researcher, and Director at the Statistics and Information Department of SESRIC. During her time in SESRIC, she has led projects related to sustainable development goals, development assistance, poverty measurement, Islamic finance, women empowerment, education, science-technology-innovation, energy, tourism, health, food security, peer review mechanisms, population and housing census, capacity development, and
e-learning. She has also authored and co-authored statistical and research publications of SESRIC ranging from Statistical Yearbook of OIC Member Countries, SWOT Outlook on OIC Member Countries, Sustainable Development Goals, Women and Family Well-Being, Poverty Alleviation, Science and Innovation, Al-Quds Al-Sharif City, and Annual Economic Report on the OIC Countries.

H.E. SELÇUK was appointed as the first Minister of Family, Labour, and Social Services in the 66^th Government of Türkiye in July 2018. During her term, significant programmes and projects to bolster social protection in the country. H.E. SELÇUK has strengthened the social dialogue with labour unions and confederations and enforced regulations in close cooperation with these stakeholders. Among those regulations, “Employment Shield Package” facilitated the Ministry to address the structural problems and rigidities in the labour market. The policies to enhance the coverage and scope of the social security system during H.E. SELÇUK’s tenure resulted a simultaneous improvement in the efficiency of the General Health Insurance (GHI). The new social assistance programmes launched and the efforts to tighten the ties between social assistance and employment in this period contributed to the poverty reduction in the country. The concurrent capacity building of social service institutions yielded a more effective framework in implementation of preventive and protective measures for family, children, women, elderly and disabled, as well. H.E. SELÇUK has designed and steered the “Social Protection Shield” in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, including unique and unconventional measures in labour market, social security, social assistance and social services in the Republic of Türkiye.

Following her ministerial tenure, H.E. SELÇUK has been appointed as the first woman to assume the position of Director General of SESRIC by the OIC General Secretariat in March 2023.