By Our Reporter
MTN Uganda has launched its staff volunteerism campaign dubbed 21 Days of Y’ello care following the MTN Group’s announcement of the resumption of its employee volunteering program after two years of Covid-19. The annual event aims to secure high participation levels of MTN staff in high-impact social projects to uplift and empower the local communities in which the company operates.
The campaign that is always executed within the first 21 days of June, will this year run under the theme: “Empowering Communities to Drive Economic Recovery”. The aim is to inspire MTN staff to upskill local communities in order to drive economic activity and participation through focusing on digital skills training and digital job creation. This is linked to MTN’s strategic priority to build digital skills for digital jobs aligned to the company’s Ambition 2025 Strategy.
While launching the MTN Uganda 2022 21 Days of Y’ello Care campaign at the Kiira Road Police grounds in Kampala, MTN Chief Executive Officer said that it was heart-warming for the staff of MTN Uganda to once again dedicate their time, financial resources, and skills, with the communities in a bid to uplift them socio-economically, especially now, following the drastic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Focusing on empowering communities to drive economic recovery after Covid-19 through training, upskilling, and knowledge sharing will create lasting and sustainable change in our communities”, Vanhelleputte said, at the inaugural activity of the 2022 MTN Uganda 21 days of Y’ello care campaign that doubled as the launch of this year’s campaign.
This year, MTN’s 21 Days of Y’ello care program will focus on upskilling and supporting women, youth, and disadvantaged populations groups across the country. 10 groups have been selected in; Lira, Jinja, Masaka, Fort Portal and Mbarara as well as the 5 divisions of Kampala i.e. Nakawa, Kawempe, Rubaga, Makindye and Central Division.
On Monday, two MTN Uganda staff teams interfaced with the Kamwokya Women tailoring group in the Kampala central division. The group members underwent digital upskilling training sessions delivered by MTN staff, to help them harness the power of digital usage to bolster their economic activities through various digital channels that resonate with the current digital era.
The MTN team also engaged in community cleaning sessions before handing over a cheque of Ugx. 8,000,000/= to support the group.
Lillian Cheptoek, the Kamwokya women’s team leader thanked MTN for reaching out to their group.
“Our group was badly affected during the pandemic. We are happy that MTN has reached out to support us. We have learnt how to manage our business better and how to market our products on social media. We shall use the money to buy tailoring equipment to boost our business,” Cheptoek said.
Other groups that shall be supported include; the Tesobar deaf carpentry group in Lira, the Masaka Diocese Youth, the Jinja based Tabulera Kawuma deaf carpentry, the disabled association of Fortportal, the Bunusya abarema twetungure association in Mbarara, the Glorious widows of Makindye, Focus for Life Development Link in Kawempe, Missionaries of the poor in Rubaga and the Nakawa Market Vendors association.
All the above groups will undergo a digital upskilling training and receive a financial recovery package to boost their businesses, from MTN Uganda staff, who will also engage in a cleaning activity in their areas of operation.