Volunteering is an opportunity for Bilim Pharmaceuticals!

An opportunity for employees to contribute to corporate responsibility… 

We established the Bilim Pharmaceuticals Community Volunteers platform in 2005 in order to place our approach to social responsibility at the heart of our corporate culture. We know that social responsibility transforms into a corporate living value only if it becomes a part of the corporate culture. Such transformation is possible only if our employees improve their social sensitivity on a platform of volunteering and popularize volunteering among all of our stakeholders and the community. Our employees have inspired us in our corporate responsibility efforts with the awards they received in the area of voluntarism and made a difference by touching the lives of 37,911 people.

• 2008 – People Management Award in the “Awards from the Heart” held by Corporate Volunteers Association (ÖSGD)
• 2009 – Most Successful Volunteering Program Award given by Corporate Volunteers Association (ÖSGD)
• 2009 – Grand Award in CSR Solutions in Turkey given by CSR Turkey and CSR Europe
• 2010 – Turkish Representative of CSR Europe Enterprise 2020
• 2011 – “The Most Successful Volunteer” Award in the “Awards from the Heart” held by Corporate Volunteers Association (ÖSGD)
• 2011 – “The Most Creative Project” Award in the “Awards from the Heart” held by Corporate Volunteers Association (ÖSGD)
  

An opportunity to produce added value for the community…

We have redefined “volunteerism” by sharing our employees’ intellectual capital, professional experience, high level of knowledge and expertise, and time with the community. Today, 55% of our employees prove to the whole world “what can be done by means the voluntary efforts of the professional labour force”, while carrying out their active volunteering work. We share our human resources, who are our most valuable asset in our volunteering platform, with the community by giving our employees “2 Orange Hours” per week. Our employees fulfil their social responsibility by spending more time than these orange hours. Our employees have so far contributed to the community by performing voluntary activities for a total of 26,614 orange hours.

An opportunity to contribute to employee loyalty, success and development...

Becoming a part of the solution is an important source of motivation and spiritual satisfaction for our highly intellectual and socially aware employees. With this source, the sky is the limit for what they can do in terms of their personal and social development. Moreover, those employees who voluntarily serve at the Bilim Pharmaceuticals Community Volunteers platform turn what they gain through voluntary projects into business success and competency development. Employees with high social responsibility awareness are one step ahead in recruitment, career criteria and training practices.

An opportunity to integrate social and environmental matters into our business processes...

Social responsibility is not only the responsibility of NGOs, governments or corporations, but the responsibility of every global citizen who lives on this planet. We are responsible for our world and future generations in each decision we make as a corporation, in each process we apply, with each stakeholder we work with and in each resource we use. Aiming to be a part of the solution of social and environmental problems, our employees, who have adopted social responsibility through 5 different areas and 9 different projects, add economic, ecological and sociological approaches to their jobs.

An important criterion and a big opportunity to create new generations with high social sensitivity...

For the first time in history, employees, whose values and approaches may be very different, share the same business atmosphere. In particular, in order to raise new generations with high social sensitivity, it is an important selection criterion and a source of loyalty and motivation to support voluntary activities, to give employees ‘orange hours’ and to make sure that they work with socially responsible leaders...

My Career Is In My Hands At the personal development congress, “Kariyerimin Kontrolü Bende”, Bilim Pharmaceuticals Community Volunteers gives university students the opportunity to receive certificated training from voluntary trainers, who give direction to the careers of private sector experts that are inquisitive and successful in their own areas. Bilim Pharmaceuticals Community Volunteers hit the ground running with the philosophy, “We would have begun our careers one step ahead if we had gained during our university years such talents as leadership, teamwork, effective presentation, etc., which are defined as the key to success in the professional business life...” This thought has taken the platform to the personal development congress, in which 15 professional trainers give 15 different full-day training sessions that are vitally important for their career development. The fourth of the “Kariyerimin Kontrolü Bende” program, which was previously organized at the Erzurum Atatürk University, the Eskişehir Anatolian University and the Kayseri Erciyes University, was held at the Diyarbakır Dicle University in 2011.

Remove the Obstacles "Turkey has a population of 70 million, and about 7 million of them are disabled. However, life is not designed for the disabled. Handicapped people do not have the necessary facilities and the appropriate environment to get outside. Then, we can at least volunteer to help them realize what they would like to do the most in their lives."   Our purpose is to create social environments, where there is no obstacle for handicapped children. Some the activites we have conducted within the framework of this project are as follows: 2010 – Alternative Camp 2009 – No-barriers disabled Football Match with Famous Football Players 2009 – Cortege March on April 23rd National Independence and Children’s Day 2009 – Ball for April 23rd National Independence and Children’s Day 2008 & 2009 – Bilim Pharmaceuticals Community Volunteers & SERÇEV (Association of Cerebral Palsy Children) Photo Exhibition 2007 – Healthy Life Festival 2006 – Engelleri Kaldırın (Remove the Obstacles) Festival 2005 – Establishment of a Gym for the School for the Mentally Disabled in Edirne Engelleri Kaldırın “Alternative Camp Project” Within the framework of the project, “Engelleri Kaldırın”, which we have been conducting since 2005, we organize events in which all the needs of handicapped children and youngsters are met by volunteers. At the Alternative Camp, which is regularly held every year, our mid-level manager candidates are on duty, striving to make sure that the handicapped guests have the best holiday of their lives. All services at this 4-star holiday camp are rendered by volunteers. This way, volunteers overcome their egos and the obstacles inside themselves. Engelleri Kaldırın Audio Book Project Another pillar of the project, “Engelleri Kaldırın”, is the “Audio Book” project, in which currently best-selling books are vocalized in order to support the personal development of our visually impaired citizens. Books are vocalized by volunteers and submitted to various NGOs like GETEM (Technology and Education Laboratory for the Visually Handicapped). Our project team provides all the necessary technical support to our volunteers, who want to vocalize books. Moreover, volunteers are provided training on proper vocalization, accentuation and breath-taking.

Bilim’s Fellowship Positioned as an umbrella (multi-layer project), this project aims to support the individual development of primary school pupils at schools in need and to provide them with support with regard to educational equipment and materials needed in their educational environment. Bilim Fellows at School Project A number of activities ranging from supplying primary school students’ personal needs like stationery, school uniforms, shoes, jackets, etc to providing schools with important educational facilities like libraries and computer laboratories are carried out by our volunteers. Since all activities related to the project are conducted in the same school, students are well acquainted with the volunteers; this way, they get the chance to learn about such people, who can serve as role models for them. Bilim Fellows “In Pursuit of Seeds” In this project, designed in 2011, a new education method was developed with the cooperation between the Ministry of National Education and Corporate Volunteers Association (ÖSGD). In the first phase of the project, the drama play entitled “Tohumun Peşinde” (In Pursuit of Seeds) which is written by Bilim Pharmaceuticals Community Volunteers aims to raise environmental awareness. A new education technique is planned to be created by combining this play with creative drama in elementary schools. This “learning by living” experience, which will be practiced by volunteers in groups of 40 people, can be applied to elementary school pupils through the efforts of all private sector employees in 8-hour programs. The related activities in classrooms will start in 2012. Bilim Fellows – “Curious Books, Creative Reading” Project When compared to developed countries, Turkey is among the countries with the lowest rate of reading. However, reading books is very important for personal development. This project aims to get children to love reading books and to turn reading into a habit. In this project, we encourage children to not just read, but also to experience what they read via drama. Children who read books by playing, dreaming and discussing together begin to love reading books, while improving their creativity. Bilim Fellows “At The Theater” Project All actors on this stage are volunteers and their families. They perform plays to children to contribute to the social development of the children, while the children of those families with financial problems can watch these plays free of charge. Trained for months, volunteers visit city by city and exhibit their plays with a far superior performance than professional actors. Adults who would like to watch the plays, on the other hand, are asked to donate a children’s book to enter. With these collected books, our volunteers build libraries in schools with no library.

Save a Life As Bilim Pharmaceuticals Community Volunteers, we launched the project, “Hayat Kurtar”, in memory of our colleagues who have died in traffic accidents or who were forced to discontinue their careers because of their physical disability after an accident. Complying with the European Road Safety Charter, this project was deemed as a European Union project. Our aim is to popularize the project first among Bilim Ailem and then throughout Turkey, and even the world. Approved as the Turkish leg of the European Union’ project, “25.000 lives to save”, our project “Hayat Kurtar” aims to connect 25,000 people to life every year. This project is an awareness raising move to take life-saving measures after accidents or natural disasters. With the project, our colleagues who cover 3 million km/month began to gain awareness on preventive measures and first aid. We aim to make our families, teachers and children to be a part of this awareness raising move, which would expand in full flood.

Eco-scientists Our project aims to engrain a love of nature and environmental awareness in our employees, their families and all of our stakeholders. For this purpose, we have provided all our children and stakeholders with “magical tablets”, with which they raise saplings from seeds and trees from saplings, in an applied science excercise.