OSRAM Türkei (Osram Ampul Ticaret A.Ş.) - Osram Aydınlanma Hareketi (Osram’s Student Illumination Movement)

Background to the casestudy

Initial situation

Osram Turkey started its first social responsibility project on the 100th anniversary of Osram in 2006. Our Osram Student Illumination Movement (OSIM) is a long-term project which has every year a new theme. The annual concepts are surrounded of the topic education under poor conditions. We are the first ones in Turkey in our sector with a social responsibility project. Our goal is to meet the needs of the underdeveloped regions in Turkey.

Relationship to core business

Lamps and lighting systems from OSRAM provide the basis for a beautiful view of things, ensure safety and comfort, allowing for the efficient use of resources. For more than 100 years, OSRAM has been "passionate about intelligent light". As a globally operating company, we also explicitly encourage socially and environmentally responsible policies around the world - as well as sponsoring art and culture at home and abroad.

Our social responsibility project in Turkey is in line with our global mission. Even primary school children learn that energy saving is important for all our future and even through little action everybody can do his part to save the environment.

Intension of corporate citizenship

Description of the issue

Our education and environment oriented project started in 2006, when OSRAM celebrated its 100th birthday. In this year we visited 100 schools, which were in bad conditions and had poor lighting. We illuminated these schools by installing Energy Saving Solutions instead of solely incandescent lamps and where necessary, new fixtures to achieve ideal illumination. But this was only the beginning…

We revisited the same 100 schools in 2007. Our team checked the improvements after the installations and got positive feedbacks. This time we weren’t alone. Yalvaç Ural, the famous children book author (as famous as Janosch in Germany), joined us. Together we prepared a programme and teached the children about global warming and energy saving. A special prepared comic strip and a comic movie was produced to educate the students. With his pleasent charakter Mr. Ural easily gets in contact with children. The students listened carefully and learned with high motivation about global warming and energy saving lamps. This great experience of the students was carried home and shared with the families. Pictures and presents made this event unforgotten for them.

This year we went an unusual way. As target group we chose visually handicapped students who aren’t the main audience of Osram on the first view. Only 2,5% of 700.000 visually handicapped in Turkey have a proper education, most of them are only able to see just little. But with the right illumination at home and at school we have the possibility to increase their visual faculty in high rates. With this characteristics visually handicapped people became the target group of the ‘’OSIM’’. This autumn we installed in all existing schools for visually handicapped students in Turkey the right lighting solution to increase the quality of their education.

To get public attention for this social issue we hold the first ‘’Dining in the Dark’’ ever in Turkey. Journalists and opinion leaders experienced how it is to live in the dark for a certain time. Turkey’s biggest association for visually handicapped (6Nokta Körler Derneği) supported our experiment. We received only absolute positive feedbacks and reports in newspapers. Now the society is more aware of the problems that visually handicapped people face and at the same time of our social project. Our ‘’Dining in the Dark’’ press event was a total success. The biggest 15 national newspapers reported about our event and our project for about two weeks.

Turkey loves football (it is more religion than sport), even their visually handicapped teams are among the best in Europe. OSRAM Turkey supports the team of the biggest visually handicapped association (Altınokta Körler Derneği) in Turkey with the essential equipment. With this action we underline our engagement in this area and represent a social responsible OSRAM. In their new jerseys they became second at one of the most important tournaments of this kind in Turkey.

Our social engagement has been awarded since the beginning. The major aid organization regarding education (ÇYDD) awarded our project with honor. We also won the Osram Promotion Award 2007, the Sustainability Award 2007 and Siemens Turkey’s award for the most successful CSR – Project 2007.

Target group

Our target groups are children of the Anatolian Region in Turkey. They attend schools under difficult circumstances. In 2008 we chose a very special target group which isn’t the direct audience of Osram products and services, visually handicapped children. With our help this children get their education under better lighting which improved their educational quality rapidly.

Implementation

Strategy

Yalvaç Ural, the famous children book author (as famous as Janosch in Germany), joined us. Together we prepared a program and teached the children about global warming and energy saving. A special prepared comic strip and a comic movie was produced to educate the students. With his pleasent character and smart humor Mr. Ural easily gets in contact with children. The students listened carefully and learned with high motivation about global warming and energy saving lamps. This great experience of the students was carried home and shared with the families. Pictures and presents made this event unforgotten for them.

Resources

For 2006:

• Visit of 100 schools with poor education conditions
• Illumination of visited schools were changed
• Distributed Informative brochure: 100.000
• 5000 students were directly contacted and briefed about energy saving
• 6000 km tour through Turkey

For 2007:

• Distributed Informative brochure (for children): 50.000
• Distributed Informative brochure (for adults): 50.000
• Handed out comic book to students: 5.000
• 10.000 energy saving lamps were distributed to students for home-using

For 2008:

• Visit of all 14 schools for visual handicapped
• Illumination of the visited schools will be changed
• Dining in the Dark-press event, over 15 articles in more than 10 newspapers  were published
• Almost 700.000 visually handicapped people and their families will be contacted directly and indirectly
• 1500 handicapped student in special schools will be visited
• 7500 km tour through Turkey

Support of the most successful visually handicapped football team with special futsal equipment in Turkey, we are the first mover in this area.

Partners

2006 und 2007 ÇYDD (a major aid organization regarding education)
2008 Nokta Körler Derneği biggest Turkish association for visually handicapped.

Yalvaç Ural, the famous children book author (as famous as Janosch in Germany), joined us, too. 

Challenges

To work with and at school formalities at the ministry for education are essential. It is a time and energy costing work to get all the allowances. Additionally the director of the schools had to be convinced, too.

Achievement

Our social engagement has been awarded since the beginning. The major aid organization regarding education (ÇYDD) awarded our project with honor in 2006. We also won the Osram Promotion Award 2007 and got silver in 2008, the Sustainability Award 2007 and Siemens Turkey’s award for the most successful CSR – Project 2007.

In three years Osram’s social project was almost 200 times in the press. Our project reached a high awareness which led to further demands of schools.

Lessons learned

Generally social responsibility projects are welcome or are even demanded by the local authorities. Before you start your project, check the legal issues in detail and don’t misprize the burocracy. Turkey is the biggest European country, you also shouldn’t be aware of high travel costs.