Title	SUNSHINE PROJECT
Brand	TURK TELEKOM
Product/Service	SUNSHINE PROJECT
Category	B04. Business Citizenship / Corporate Responsibility
Entrant	TURK TELEKOM Istanbul, TURKEY
Idea Creation	TURK TELEKOM Istanbul, TURKEY
PR	TURK TELEKOM Istanbul, TURKEY
Additional Company	EFFECT GROUP Istanbul, TURKEY

Name	Company	Position
Pınar Karakaya	Turk Telekom	CSR Senior Specialist

The Campaign

Project Sunshine offers the first example of long distance low-vision education program made possible thanks to Turk Telekom’s technology and EY-DER’s educational experience. Sunshine was the first project implemented in Turkey to help kids with low vision to continue their lives as self-sufficient individuals, as well as to raise the social awareness. Project was introduced to the families and teachers through special meetings in various cities and press releases supported the cause and spread the word. R&D teams worked on the project and provided an educational app with 20 different games/levels. The app is both in English and Turkish and both the Android and iOS versions work independent from the operator. The kids’ very own artwork was used as a tool and a special internet site was created where the drawings were used including the testimonials/stories of the children. The drawings which are turned into postcards also bear the success

Execution

Unfortunately, there’s no gray area in Turkish society between total blindness and low vision. The society and education system don’t know how to deal with this situation. All the kids with limited vision below a certain degree were considered as “totally blind”. They were sent to special care and education facilities for blind specific education. Previously, this particular education was available only in few private education centers. Now in addition to the education to kids, consultation is also offered to teachers and families as a part of the project. Tablets and data connections are provided to children and their families to communicate with education professionals. An educational app was created for the kids to exercise and improve their vision. Additionally their drawings with their testimonials were used as postcards in order to increase awareness.

The total media coverage of the project is: After the launch since 2015, the news about the project were covered by 78 newspapers with a reach of 31,877,911. 81 TV coverages and 500 internet portal news were achieved. The internet site for the postcards was launched in August 2017and was visited by 10.181 people, 3.517 cards were sent, as a total reached 5.972.012 users and the social interaction is 1.542.847. After 7 month education, children do not need "the white cane"; they can walk without help by themselves. Moreover, they can paint, play piano, ride a bike, swim and use the public transportation and read the regular alphabet. They can play with their peers, go to same schools and have the same education. One of the students became valedictorian of the regular school she attended after Project Sunshine. Another Project Sunshine student learned reading and writing faster than her peers and started roller skating and swimming. Project Sunshine provides equal conditions to children with low vision. Sunshine Project has educated 500 children from all around the country, Turk Telekom and EY DER have the ambition to reach every potential individual by growing support from every aspect of the society including private corporations, government and non-profit organizations, health and education professionals and families.

The Situation

Various researches indicate that 290 million people around the world are visually impaired, but only 39 million of them are totally blind. Just near the edge of blindness, there is a notion of “low vision” which means that some people have some degree of sight or light perception. There are 800 thousand people that are estimated to visually-impaired in Turkey. Based on the worldwide statistics, 650 thousand of them have a sight below %10, or a light perception. Project Sunshine aims to train children with “low vision” in order to improve their vision and provide equal opportunities to discover their

The Strategy

With the help of the increased awareness and support, Project Sunshine aims reach every child with low vision and their families, support them physically and emotionally with the right tools, leverage the social consciousness, help them to continue their lives like non-disabled children and get an education with regular alphabet rather than “Braille” without relying on others. Teams hit the road and visit several cities in order to spread the word and handle separate meetings in order to meet new children and families. The Ministry of Education and Municipalities were contacted in order to seek help and this led to a successful joint of forces as each visit brought new students for the program.