Accra, Ghana//-MTN Ghana today announced that its staff volunteers are lacing their boots to drill boreholes in Senior High Schools (SHSs) in a project dubbed Quench and Connect as part of this year’s 30 Days of Y’ello Care which coincides with the company’s 30th anniversary.
The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana CEO, Stephen Blewett who announced this at the launch of the 30 Days of Y’ello Care instead of the usual 21 Days, explained: “The boreholes will be drilled in selected schools across the 16 regions facing water crises”.
We hope that providing these boreholes will alleviate the burden on the beneficiary schools and allow students to focus on their studies”.
The campaign, which is running from June 1st to June 30th, 2024, is themed: ‘Education for Rural and Remote Communities – Learn Today, Lead Tomorrow’.
Mr Blewett added that their initiatives would also include ICT-enabled programmes to enhance education, the establishment of gardens to support school feeding programmes, and the organization of digital literacy workshops to teach crucial digital skills to students and teachers.
“Through these projects, we hope to improve the quality of teaching and learning in our schools”, he emphasised.
The theme of the month-long event emphasises the important role education plays in transforming our communities, strengthening socio-economic growth and prosperity, and preparing the youth with the necessary knowledge, skills, and resources for the future.
“We believe that the 2024 edition of 30 Days of Y’ello Care campaign will significantly impact the communities we serve, help bridge some of the educational gaps and barriers faced in our rural communities, and ultimately help shape an equitable digital future for our country”, the CEO said.
To help create the change they want to see in Ghana and across Africa, Mr Blewett explained that MTNers through the 30 Days of Y’ello Care would help to expand education systems with more infrastructure and provide resources and materials for teachers to succeed in the classroom.
The CEO who performed the launch of the event further added that they would equip deprived schools with digital tools to bridge the digital divide and improve educational outcomes.
They would also empower learners with sustainable initiatives that encourage them to stay in school and build valuable skills, he indicated.
In her welcome address, MTN Ghana Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, Ms Adwoa Wiafe said: “For our beneficiary communities, Y’ello Care is another opportunity for them to experience the care that MTN provides.
MTN employees in all three business districts will have the opportunity to share knowledge and transferable skills with students and young people in our communities.”
She continued: “Today, we will share details of this year’s activities, and we hope that all of you will join us in showing our communities that MTN cares”.
Let’s sign up for programs that interest us while keeping in mind that we need to strike a good balance between work and volunteering activities to ensure that both our community work and the needs of our customers are met”.
Instructively, the 21 Days of Y’ello Care is an annual staff volunteer programme instituted 17 years ago to allow MTN staff to volunteer their skills and services freely for the benefit of the community while investing in identified Community improvement projects.
The interesting thing about Y’ello Care is that it is what the CEO called a “competition for good” element so the winning country gets a cool $100 thousand.
MTN Ghana, having previously won the Y’ello Care Challenge in 2010 and 2011, is well-positioned to win the challenge for the third time as it celebrates MTN’s 30th anniversary.
