The challenge—cleaning up your city
Boryana Dzhoneva has been working at SoftServe in Sofia for six years. In 2019, Boryana together with her colleagues launched the Trashtag challenge. The initiative spread throughout the company and was picked up by various offices in Ukraine and Poland. The project involves picking up litter at parks and other public spaces, taking “before” and “after” pictures, and then passing on the baton.
“In the Bulgarian office, we organized this event. We were inspired by social networks—at that time it was very popular to take “before” and “after” pictures to show the results of your work. In less than 3 hours, we had 40 bags full of garbage,” says Boryana Dzhoneva.
Over 20 people took part in the clean-up. The municipality of Sofia helped with the removal of the rubbish. The event was so popular with the company’s employees that other SoftServe locations also took part in the Trashtag challenge.
"We supported various public organizations financially, but then we decided to launch our own project. As every big city there is a lot of pollution this is why we cleaned the area around our office. The air is very polluted in Sofia city, especially in the area around our office. We wanted to make our neighborhood community feel better, so we decided to get involved,” Boryana Dzhoneva explains.
Small ideas with a big heart
Boryana Dzhoneva says that most CSR projects implemented in the company and Sofia are initiated by the employees. This allows the company and its management to see what issues their employees care and feel passionate about.
It’s very inspiring, since our associates have a myriad of ideas. Most of them are related to environmental protection and helping people in need. We help in many ways, and this shows how caring, open, and responsible our associates are. They are very committed and eager to support others. I believe that SoftServe needs to take care of the environment, as this is everyone’s responsibility. And we are happy that the company supports our ambitions.
According to Boryana, the best motivation for employees to initiate and implement their own CSR projects is the example set by their colleagues. It inspires and encourages them to get past their inhibitions and put forward their proposals.
“I believe that small projects can gradually make a big difference. For instance, our cleaning up the local public space was well received by the neighbors. It was important for the whole community,” says Boryana.
More trees
SoftServe’s Sofia office plans to continue initiating ecological projects and supporting global corporate environmental goals. According to Boryana Dzhoneva, a tree-planting campaign is set to be the next such large-scale project for Bulgarian associates.
“The company has already implemented similar projects in various locations, but nothing like this has ever been done in Sofia. We are growing bigger, opening offices in several new locations in Bulgaria, and now can have even bigger positive impact,” she says.
This project requires more careful preparation and more time for its organization, and the company is ready to devote the time and resources, understanding that the benefits of this initiative will be considerable. To plant trees, you need to get permission from the city administration and environmental services of Bulgaria. “You can’t just buy trees and plant them wherever. You must follow strict guidelines on where exactly you can do it,” Boryana Dzhoneva explains.
SoftServe wants to see new trees on Vitosha Mountain near Sofia. This area was recently affected by forest fires, and now the associates in Sofia hope to compensate for this loss at least in some way. After all, even a single tree can help to restore an entire forest.