Thursday 13th June 2019 – Bulambuli District, Eastern Uganda
Two weeks into its staff-driven Corporate Social Responsibility dubbed ‘21 Days of Y’ello care’ (21DOYC), MTN Uganda has lit up the entire resettlement of landslide survivors set up by the Office of the Prime Minister in Bulambuli district in its ‘Light up a village’ campaign.
Following the landslides in Bududa last year, the Office of the Prime Minister through the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness acquired land to construct 900 houses for purposes of resettling the affected families. As part of our Y’ello Care activities, MTN staff will participate in installing solar lighting in all the 110 existing houses in Bulambuli village.
The MTN staff will also plant trees to better the environment and donate clothing and foodstuffs to the families in the village. In a special arrangement, the youth in Bulambuli resettlement camp will also be reached and empowered with vocational skills.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Mr. Gordian Kyomukama, the Chief Technical Officer at MTN Uganda said that;
“As a trusted partner in the development of this nation, it gives us pride to participate further in the humanitarian initiatives fronted by the government. We stand with the survivors of the landslides in Bududa and are here to further improve the quality of their livelihood in this settlement. This is in line with our mission to make the lives of Ugandans better.”
In his keynote speech, the Minister of State for Relief and Disaster Preparedness, Hon. Musa Ecweru noted that the lighting provided by MTN will positively impact the lives of the people in the village.
“With this kind of infrastructure in place, I am sure the people in this area will not only live a comfortable life but they will be able to engage in power-driven income generating activities to better their lives,” Hon. Ecweru said.
21DOYC is global award-winning voluntary staff program that sees the MTN Uganda staff stepping out of their offices to make a difference in the lives of the communities within which they work in every year. This is the 13th edition of the annual program.
The three week-long program is an organic and voluntary corporate social responsibility
Platform that entails giving back to the community in various ways but not limited to community clean-ups, health center refurbishments and donations.
This year, the 21 Days of Y’ello Care focuses on one of the most critical issues affecting countries across the globe – Youth Empowerment – under the theme ‘Creating a Brighter Future’.
Uganda is the second youngest population in the world with 78 percent of the population below 30 years, second to Niger’s 83 percent (UNDP, 2016).
In Uganda, 30 percent of the youth who are qualified from tertiary institutions have difficulty transiting into the labour market. The situation is worse for youths that are semi-skilled or unskilled.
Evidence indicates that unemployed youths in Uganda engage in socio-economic ills like gambling (sports betting), drug abuse and also engage in criminal activities. Many times, it is such unemployed youth groups that have destabilized peace around the country engaging in demonstrations (ACODE, 2014).
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