H.E. Ms. Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk

HE Ms. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK, a national of the Republic of Türkiye, is the current and sixth Director General of SESRIC. She assumed the position of Director General of SESRIC on 27 March 2023.
Ms. Selçuk holds a BA degree in Economics with summa cum laudefrom İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University(Ankara –Türkiye), an MSc degree in Accounting and Information Management from University of Texas at Dallas(USA).

Started as researcher, Ms. Selçuk has worked as Senior Researcher and Director of Statistics and Information Department of SESRIC, as well. During her previous tenure at SESRIC, Ms. Selçuk led projects related to sustainable development goals, development assistance, poverty measurement, Islamic finance, gender, education, science-technology-innovation, energy, tourism, health, food security, peer review mechanisms, census, capacity building, and e-learning.

As author and editor, Ms. Selçuk has also contributed to numerous statistical and research publications of SESRIC ranging from Statistical Yearbook of OIC Member Countries, SWOT Outlook on OIC Member Countries, Sustainable Development Goals, Gender and Family Well-Being, Poverty Alleviation, Science and Innovation, Al-Quds Al-Sharif City, and Annual Economic Report on the OIC Countries.
On 9 July 2018, Ms. Selçuk has been appointed by HE Mr. Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN, President of the Republic of Türkiye, as the first Minister of Family, Labour, and Social Services of the 66thGovernment of the Republic of Türkiye. During her Ministerial term, Ms. Selçuk has introduced significant programmes and projects to bolster social protection in the country. Ms. 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 Ms. 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. Ms.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.

Conscious of its importance in bringing communities together for collective action, Ms.Selçuk is also active in the civil society organisations.