“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
Our Legacy
Common Purpose Association – Meridian Program - Leadership Beyond Authority
The paths of the Social Value @Work team first crossed through the Meridian’s Leadership Beyond Authority Program, which began in 2008, in Türkiye.
Bringing together leaders from the public, private, and civil society sectors around a shared purpose, the program encourages participants to think from diverse perspectives, engage in solution-focused dialogue, and take initiative beyond positional authority. It invites participants not only to become leaders within their organizations but also to become agents of positive change within the communities they belong.
Much of what we bring into the Social Value Creation Workshop today is inspired by the teachings of the Common Purpose Meridian Leadership program. This includes cross-sectoral collaboration, commitment to creating mutually shared benefits, an inclusive living culture -especially without excluding anyone from the society, and the courage to initiate change.
Değiştiren Adımlar Association
The Değiştiren Adımlar Association (Steps That Change ) is the continuation of a vision that first emerged through the Renkli Kampüs (Campus of Colors ) leadership program. Its founders sought to create a program that would foster the development of youngsters, and to encourage them to be part of a sustainable structure where they themselves would own and lead.
Established in 2018, the association continues its work as a volunteer-driven NGO dedicated to promoting equal access to opportunities for youngsters, women, and individuals with disabilities.
Within its programs people from diverse backgrounds come together to learn, collaborate, and generate social impact. On a volunteering basis, young future-leaders team-up to gain hands-on experience in areas such as project development, fundraising, communications, human resources, and organizational management. Whilst doing that, they nurture their active citizenship skills towards becoming active agents in civil society.
Today, the association's leadership and many of its activities are led by graduates of the Campus of Colors program, creating a long-lasting ecosystem whose learners become the drivers and leaders of transformation.
Renkli Kampüs
Renkli Kampüs (Campus of Colors) is a youth development program designed around the vision of an inclusive, equitable society that embraces a culture of living together. The program was created to support university students in developing responsible leadership, social awareness, and active engagement in civil society.
Built on the belief that “our differences are our strength,” the program offers participants learning experiences in three core areas: personal development and leadership, preparation for professional life, and social impact projects. By collaborating with various civil society organizations, participants develop and implement projects that address social challenges and contribute to positive change.
Since 2015, the Campus of Colors Responsible Leadership Program has:
Delivered 12 program cohorts
Reached 553 university students
Graduated 393 participants
Brought together students from 64 different universities
Collaborated with 40 civil society organizations
Achieved a participant profile consisting of 61% women and 33% individuals with disabilities
According to the Campus of Colors Social Impact Assessment Report*:
Participants demonstrated:
Increased career awareness and development
Greater social responsibility awareness
Improved resilience and adaptability
Stronger ability to take initiative for equal opportunity and inclusion
Higher levels of life satisfaction and sense of purpose
Increased engagement in social responsibility activities
Enhanced teamwork and leadership skills
Greater willingness to become part of the solution
Additional outcomes include:
83% became members of a social responsibility organization
79% made donations to a social responsibility campaign
Several participant projects were adopted and implemented by civil society organizations
Many participants continued volunteering with the organizations they worked alongside
Some projects evolved into social entrepreneurship initiatives
*Based on survey data collected from 66 Campus of Colors alumni between 2016 and 2020.
Renkli Adımlar
Renkli Adımlar (Colorful Steps) was born from a powerful insight gained via the Campus of Colors experience: the earlier young people develop social awareness, responsible leadership, and a culture of coexistence, the greater will be their potential to create positive change for themselves and for society.
Built on this belief, Colorful Steps is a responsible leadership program designed for high school students, embracing the conviction that our differences are our greatest strength. Led by Campus of Colors alumni, volunteers, and supporters of the Steps That Change Association, the program aims to help young people develop leadership skills, engage with diverse life experiences, and cultivate a strong sense of social responsibility.
By bringing together students from different schools, socioeconomic backgrounds, and both disabled and non-disabled characteristics, the program strengthens a culture of learning and living together. Young participants gain greater awareness of career and university pathways. At the same time, through involvement in social initiatives, they develop employability skills such as project management and teamwork.
With the specially crafted workshops focused on accessibility, sustainability, gender equality, active citizenship, and future planning, young participants have opportunities to step beyond their familiar, and meet new perspectives, and build meaningful relationships across different environments.
To Date, Colorful Steps Has:
Delivered 4 program cohorts between 2021 and 2023
Graduated 66 high school students
Brought together participants from:
37 Anatolian High Schools
6 Vocational High Schools
1 Vocational High School for Islamic Studies
22 Private High Schools
Achieved a participant profile consisting of 67% women and 17% visually impaired individuals
Organized theColorful Steps Summer Camp, during which participants collectively developed the Youth Manifesto
According to the Colorful Steps Social Impact Assessment Report*:
Participants demonstrated:
Greater understanding of rights-based approaches
Increased awareness of social responsibility and active citizenship
Stronger social and interpersonal skills
More informed career and future planning
Enhanced ability to collaborate across differences
Greater openness to diverse perspectives and relationships
Reduced anxiety about the future
The program generated an SROI ratio of 1.91, meaning that every 1 TL invested created 1.91 TL of social value.
General Assessment:
The program provided an effective platform for learning and growth for the youngsters.
The impact of the program significantly deepened through its inclusive structure, the activities in diverse settings, and the active participation of visually impaired volunteers.
The commitment to assessing its impact provides an inspiring role model to small and medium-sized NGOs across Türkiye.
*Based on data collected through impact assessment studies conducted with 21 graduates of the second Colorful Steps cohort, held between November and December 2022.
Zero Project Award
The impact created by Campus of Colors in the areas of accessibility and inclusion received international recognition in 2024. The program was honored with a Zero Project Award, one of the world's most prestigious recognitions for innovative solutions advancing accessibility and disability inclusion.
As part of the 2024 Zero Project Awards, themed around Inclusive Education and ICT, Campus of Colors was selected as one of 77 award-winning initiatives from 523 nominations representing 97 countries. The award was presented at the Zero Project Conference held in Vienna, Austria, in February 2024, bringing together global leaders, innovators, policymakers, and practitioners committed to advancing accessibility and inclusion across the globe.
Zero Project recognizes initiatives that demonstrate measurable impact, provide inclusive and innovative solutions, and have the potential to be replicated and scaled across different countries and contexts.
To conclude;
The Social Value Creation Workshop is a continuum of the experiences accumulated over the years, grounded in our belief that accessibility is not a standalone practice but a fundamental design principle, that inclusion belongs at the heart of every process, and that meaningful impact created locally has the power to inspire change globally.
Our Impact
“İz bırakmak istiyorum.”
- Prof. Dr. Canan Dağdeviren
The Social Value Creation Workshop at ESAS Real Estate
Purpose
We delivered the Social Value Creation Workshop (SVCW) to bring the principles of social sustainability, social value, and social impact into the daily work and life practices of employees.
Our primary goal throughout this journey was to help participants internalize the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, develop greater awareness of social challenges, and transform that awareness into meaningful initiatives. The aim was to empower individuals to think through the lens of social sustainability, develop solutions, and design and implement projects capable of generating lasting social impact.
Action
Between July 2025 and March 2026, we delivered a four-month development journey comprising a total of 28 learning hours.
The program included:
1 Sustainability Panel
3 In-Person Workshops
7 Online Learning Sessions
1 Back to the Future Follow-Up Gathering
A total of 12 sessions were delivered as part of the journey.
The project engaged 30 managers representing seven regions across Türkiye
Working in two teams, participants developed and implemented two social impact projects designed to create tangible social value.
The first team launched “Nurture from its Roots, not Ashes”, a project developed in partnership with the TEMA Foundation. The initiative aimed to raise awareness about forest wild fires, strengthen environmental stewardship, and encourage donation of saplings as support for reforestation efforts.
The second team developed “A Drop of Oil Can Make an Ocean of Difference” in partnership with TURMEPA. The project promoted the recycling of household waste oil while generating resources to support marine conservation and sea-cleaning initiatives.
Throughout the program, participants went beyond developing projects. They built partnerships with stakeholders, collaborated with public institutions and various NGOs, and took consistent actions to see how their ideas could create real-world change.
Visible Impact
By the end of the workshop, participants had:
Strengthened their skills in teamworking, collaborative leadership, and cross-team collaboration.
Gained practical experience in sustainability, stakeholder engagement, and project design.
Increased their awareness of equality, accessibility, and inclusion.
Enhanced their agility, resilience, adaptability, and ability to navigate change.
Developed experience in collaborating with NGOs and public institutions.
Gained confidence in taking initiative and assuming responsibility for the common good.
Throughout the journey, participants demonstrated increasingly strong behaviors of solidarity, mutual support, collaboration, and commitment to a shared goal. Despite demanding workloads, teams consistently displayed resilience in overcoming challenges, finding alternative solutions, maintaining motivation, and progressing steadily toward their goals.
Perhaps the most meaningful outcome was that participants moved beyond simply executing an assigned project. Instead, they identified social issues they genuinely cared about, took ownership of those challenges, brought solutions, and witnessed the impact of their efforts.
Sustainable Social Impact
The projects developed during the workshop extended well beyond the duration of the program. Rather than remaining one-time initiatives, the teams demonstrated strong commitment to sustaining, further developing, and scaling their projects across different locations.
The program:
Created a strong culture of collaboration and solidarity, bringing together employees from different shopping centers through cross-functional teams.
Increased the organization's capacity to work toward a shared goal.
Demonstrated that creating social value contributes to not only communities, but also to employees life satisfaction and organizational culture.
Enabled participants to recognize that social impact first transforms the individual, then their teams, and ultimately the wider community around them.
Strengthened awareness of social sustainability, a culture of belonging, and the organization's capacity for transformation.
This experience reaffirmed a powerful truth:
When people take action on issues they genuinely care about, they go beyond creating projects. They create lasting social impact that transforms the people and communities around them.
