Hygiene Movement On The World Hygiene Day
To generate hygiene awareness for Micro Enterprises ‘OUR BUSINESS IS CLEAN PROJECT’
"Our Business Is Clean Project" developed by OPET with support of the Ministry of Education General Directorate of Lifelong Learning, and Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Women Entrepreneurs Council comes to life. By means of the “Our Business Is Clean Project” hygiene training programs will be formed for micro enterprises operating in the service sector and support will be provided for the sustainability of their activities. In scope of this project, where pilot studies have been initiated in three provinces, the aim is to reach 31.500 businesses operating in the fields of food, beverage, accommodation and transportation in the first place and to document hygiene norms with the certificate to be given at the end of the trainings. Disseminating such trainings all over Turkey and making this project sustainable by not limiting it just to the pandemic period are the targets.
Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Women Entrepreneurs Council initiated the “Our Business Is Clean Project” with the aim of creating equal opportunities for the sustainability of their business by increasing the hygiene capacity of micro enterprises and pilot projects are being started in Izmir, Mugla and Antalya which are the most dynamic regions in terms of Turkey's tourism. With the leadership of TOBB's Women Entrepreneurs Council, the Ministry ofi EducationGeneral Directorate of Lifelong Learning and OPET, which has extensive experience in this area with its 21-year long Clean Toilet Campaign, have initiated "Our Business Is Clean Project" for the micro enterprises in the service sector and through hygiene-focused training programs, the aim is to establish businesses that offer clean, hygienic and healthy services all over Turkey. By means of "Our Business Is Clean Project" the aim is to enhance the hygiene capacities of the micro enterprises, with an annual employment of less than 10 persons and whose annual net sales revenue or any of their financial balance do not exceed 3 million TL, and to increase their revenues along with their job satisfaction. p>
The Training Program That Will Make A Difference in Accommodation, Transportation And Food Industries
In this project that will be developed for micro enterprises to make a difference and to work within the norms, special structured hygiene-oriented training programs will be put into place in cooperation with the Ministry of Education General Directorate of Lifelong Learning. These training programs will be brought together with micro enterprises by the trainers of the Public Education Center in the pilot provinces through the Distance Education Platform of the General Directorate of Lifelong Learning. In this project that was initiated in provinces of Izmir, Antalya and Muğla where there is a high potential in tourism, micro enterprises that operate in areas of food and beverages, accommodation and transportation will be supported to make them stand out. This project that aims at reaching a total of 31,500 businesses in three provinces will continue until the end of June 2022. The project which will be extended to the whole of Turkey after working in the pilot provinces will benefit from OPET's experience in this area based on its Clean Toilet Project campaign for 21 years, reaching more than 10 million people and taking important steps for establishing hygiene awareness.
The press conference of "Our Business is Clean Project" was held on January 15, 2021 with the participation of TOBB President M.Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Ministry of Education General Manager of Lifelong Learning Yusuf Büyük, OPET Board of Directors Founding Member and TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Board President Nurten Öztürk in consideration that the next day was the World Hygiene Day.
TOBB President M. Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu: "Cleanliness is A Must For A Healthy Life And A Healthy Generation. And A Healthy Generation is The Future Of The Country"
TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said the following at the meeting: "We are launching "Our Business Is Clearn Project" under the leadership of Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Women Entrepreneurs Council President Mr. Nurten Öztürk. The project is implemented with the contributions of TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council, Ministry of Education General Directorate of Lifelong Learning and OPET. As you know, the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations aim to achieve a better and more sustainable future for everyone. In this context, the private sector, civil society and citizens should come together for a common purpose in order to leave a better world to future generations. We were raised with the words that cleanliness comes from faith. Cleanliness is a must for a healthy life and a healthy generation. And a healthy generation is the future of the country. The importance of hygiene has increased during the pandemic period. A serious increase in awareness of cleanliness and hygiene has been established in every part of the society, at all ages in this period. By means of Our Business Is Clean Project, micro enterprises operating in the food and beverage, accommodation and transportation sector will be supported to stand out especially in this critical period. We will deliver the project, which was initiated in 3 pilot provinces due to the World Hygiene Day with our TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Board Members, which is one of the largest women entrepreneur networks in the world with 7000 members in 81 provinces, to entire provinces in every part of our country."
Ministry Of Education Lifelong Learning General Manager Yusuf Büyük: "Our Business is Clean Project, Will Be A New Beginning Of Hygiene, Which Has Gained More Significance in This Period"
Ministry of Education Lifelong Learning General Manager Yusuf Büyük mentioned that their mission is providing guidance services to everyone, anytime, anywhere in the process of transformation into a learning society; supporting the individual to take responsibility in the development of humanity by improving his/her competencies; presenting quality trainings that can be documented and traced and stated their gratitude for a new start in the field of hygiene by means of the Our Business Is Clean Project that will be implemented with the collaboration of Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges Women Entrepreneurs Council and OPET's support. Büyük, stated that they carried out many studies regarding hygiene education and practices during the epidemic period as the General Directorate, and said that the training programs to be developed within the scope of this project will be delivered to micro enterprises by the instructors of the public education center through the distance learning portal of the General Directorate of Lifelong Learning. Büyük also said, “By means of the Our Business Is Clean Project, which is a new beginning with the work on hygiene that has gained even more significance during the pandemic period, our goal is to create norms of hygiene for micro enterprises operating in the services sector, to develop training programs for the internalization of these norms and to raise awareness throughout Turkey under the said hygiene norms.”
Nurten Öztürk, Chairman Of The Tobb Women Entrepreneurs Board: "We Aim To Increase The Capacity And Revenues Of Micro Enterprises In This Difficult Period By Creating Awareness On Hygiene"
Nurten Öztürk, Chairman of TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Board and Founding Member of OPET Board of Directors said that every individual and company, especially public institutions and organizations, has a basic duty and responsibility in protecting and improving public health, improving the quality of life, and raising healthy generations that have received adequate training in cleanliness and hygiene. Öztürk said, “As OPET, we produce long-term projects that are 'living' and that seek solutions to social problems, and we also provide full support to many others based on stakeholder participation. In virtue of the Clean Toilet Campaign, which we have been conducting since 2000 in order to create a clean and healthy society, we have provided cleanliness and hygiene training to more than 10 million people so far. These difficult days with the pandemic, once again revealed how important the space-human relationship is in contamination and how hygiene is a requisite for every environment. Hygiene is a healthy environment that is created with safe cleaning and it should be the first priority issue in terms of workplace and employee safety in all large and small communal living areas. In the Our Business Is Clean Project, we aim for micro enterprises to provide clean, hygienic and healthy services by conducting hygiene trainings for the service sector together with our project partners. We have the objective of a national transformation throughout Turkey. We want to make our hospitality, which is one of the most important values of our country, our people and our tourism, safer with hygienic rules. We aim to increase the capacities of micro enterprises and increase their income in this difficult period by creating awareness in the society."
A Total Of 31,500 Businesses Will Be Given Hygiene Training in Three Provinces
Within the scope of the project, a total of 18,000 micro enterprises including 6,000 from the food and beverage sector, 6,000 from the accommodation sector and 6,000 from the transportation sector in İzmir, and a total of 9,000 micro enterprises including 3,000 from the food and beverage sector, 3,000 from the accommodation sector and 3,000 from the transportation sector in Antalya, and a total of 4,500 micro enterprises, including 1,500 from the food and beverage sector, 1,500 from the accommodation sector and 1,500 from the transportation sector in Muğla, as a whole, 31,500 micro enterprises in total will be given hygiene trainings for establishing and operating hygienic conditions that are vital for public health. By means of this project, which will consist of online workshops for three different areas, the knowledge, attitude and transformation of the target audience will be reported through the researches conducted before and after the trainings. Those who have completed their training will be entitled to receive the "Hygiene Training Certificate", and their business will be able to display the "Our Business Is Clean, Hygiene Training" certificate in a visible location at their company. In addition, a social impact study will be conducted to measure the impact it has created during the project process. Hygiene trainings and other project implementations specific to 3 different sectors to be developed within the scope of the project will be carried out in the pilot provinces İzmir, Antalya and Muğla; and in virtue of the developed online educational content, the Ministry of Education aims at disseminating the trainings throughout Turkey through an online educational platform.
Expectations With A High Priority Have Been Determined With The Research
Within the scope of the project, a qualitative research was carried out to determine the insights of micro enterprises and those receiving service from micro enterprises in the service sector on cleaning and hygiene. As a result of the research, it was designated that the perceptions of hygiene and cleanliness have changed within the corona virus period, and especially the need of participants who receive services to feel secure, peaceful and safe in environments is standing out. In parallel with this, it was observed that the level of hygiene expected by the service receivers from a business after the pandemic became a higher priority than before the pandemic. In addition, it was observed that business owners as well as the participants who received services developed methods themselves outside of routine measures. In this direction, according to the findings in the research:
- When it comes to cleanliness for the accommodation sector, the most important factors are associated with the whiteness of the furnishings and the pleasant smell of the environment;
- For the cafe-restaurant sector, personnel wearing caps, gloves, and equipment, etc. being compatible with observable indicators.
- And for the transportation sector, concrete indicators such as the cleanliness of the exterior setting, the air conditioning and pleasant smell come to the fore.
- The common expectation in these 3 sectors with intense human traffic is again; taking special precautions for the surfaces that people are in contact with the most (door handles, faucet handles and heads, cruets, holders, etc.) ...
On the other hand, those serving in the research stated that there is a need to prepare a training program which is structured on the training of the personnel and includes recommendations on implementation. Micro enterprise owners emphasized that they are aware of a number of hygiene certificates even though they do not know their names and contents, but they can not show interest to these due to their busy work pace. Business owners have stated that they will attach importance to the trainings offered in scope of the Ministry of Education's certificate for the Our Business Is Clean Project. They shared their views that with these trainings, they will contribute to creating awareness on how to do the right cleaning and to establish hygiene, and also people would become more aware of their businesses and this would in return create a sense of trust in the consumer mind. While the online training received a positive reaction, it was emphasized that the support given to the project by the public and private sectors increased its credibility.
