Uganda: Bulungi Bwansi Company‑Wide Volunteer Month

Bulungi Bwansi Company‑Wide Volunteer Month, Uganda

In Uganda’s Buganda Kingdom, the term bulungi bwansi refers to communal work done “for the good of the community,” and in this chapter we use the Luganda forms bulungi bwansi (lowercase) and ng’oma (drum) consistently as our style choice. Bulungi Bwansi, meaning “for the good of the community,” was a tradition where villagers regularly gathered to do shared work – from clearing paths to digging wells – for everyone’s benefit * *. For many participants it was not experienced as drudgery; it also functioned as social glue, though experiences varied by time and authority. On appointed days, a drum signal (ng’oma) would boom at dawn, calling community members to pause their tasks and convene in the center of town *. Side by side, they toiled and traded stories. Young people learned practical skills such as weaving, carving, and farming regardless of gender, couples sometimes sought guidance from elders, and community issues were discussed and addressed together. When the work was done, the event often became a mini‑festival where people shared their harvests and celebrated births or upcoming weddings; while some gatherings served local banana brew (tonto), corporate volunteer days should observe a no‑alcohol policy. In short, bulungi bwansi was as much about bonding as about building, while recognizing that in some periods tasks were organized by chiefs or local officials and participation could be expected, so modern adaptations should prioritize consent and community‑led priorities.

Modern urban life left less time for village chores, and by the 2000s the tradition had waned – so much so that Uganda’s prime minister publicly urged its revival in 2024 *. Yet the core idea survived, transplanting itself into new soil. Today, in some urban settings you may see that spirit of communal service expressed in corporate volunteer days and team outings, particularly in Buganda and with analogous practices in other regions under different names. From bank staff painting a rural clinic to hotel employees planting trees on National Cleanup Day, many organizations in Uganda showcase contemporary outlets for working together, and analogous communal work practices exist in other regions with different names and norms. One striking example comes from an unlikely source: the high-tech telecom sector, where an old spirit lives on in a bright yellow uniform.

Meet MTN Uganda

Founded in 1998, MTN Uganda grew from a scrappy mobile startup to the country’s leading telecom, connecting 17 million subscribers from Kampala’s skyscrapers to the shores of Lake Victoria. Despite rapid growth and a South African parent company, MTN Uganda nurtured a culture that blends global ambition with local heart. In 2007, the company’s leaders launched an experiment in employee-led nation building: 21 Days of Y’ello Care. For three weeks every June, staff would swap their office roles for volunteer gigs in underserved communities * *. What began as a humble corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative soon gained momentum. Engineers, accountants, and call-center reps all pulled on yellow t-shirts and fanned out to schools, hospitals, and village centers across Uganda – many recognizing it as a modern form of bulungi bwansi (even if the CEO didn’t speak Luganda).

Now in its 18th year, Y’ello Care has grown from a small internal project into a widely visible volunteer program across Uganda *. By 2024, MTN Uganda’s volunteer brigade was so energized that the company extended the “21 days” to a full 30 days to mark MTN’s 30th anniversary *. That year, employees partnered with 35 different organizations – from NGOs to government ministries – to maximize impact *. Teams crisscrossed the country: installing solar-powered computer labs in remote schools, mentoring youth startups, even collaborating with cultural institutions (like the Busoga Kingdom’s palace) to host digital skills workshops for rural teens *. The MTN Uganda CEO, Sylvia Mulinge, personally joined a coding class on Kalangala Island, supporting girls’ first lines of HTML alongside teachers and vetted facilitators under safeguarding protocols. Her presence sent a clear message: whether you are an intern or the chief executive, people work side by side in practical roles suited to their abilities. This all-hands commitment hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2023, MTN Uganda beat out 18 sister operations (from Nigeria to Rwanda) to win the MTN Group’s “Y’ello Care” top award, recognizing the Ugandan team’s outstanding volunteer projects that year *. At home, the company’s community-first ethos helped it earn Gold as Uganda’s Employer of the Year in 2024 * and a #3 spot on the “most respected companies” list *. By many accounts, investing in bulungi bwansi–style service has become a visible part of MTN’s identity and a strategic differentiator aligned with doing good.

Y’ello Care Day — Step-by-Step

Time	Scene & Activity	Purpose and Team Effect
08:00	Rally at dawn: Volunteers meet at HQ; pile into buses with shovels, laptops, and paint. A brief safety talk led by a trained supervisor—covering site‑specific risk assessment points, PPE, roles, tool handling, emergency protocols, insured transport, first‑aid coverage, and any required waivers or insurance confirmations—and an optional, clearly opt‑in group cheer kick off the day.	Focus & unity – Transitions team from office mindset to mission mode; everyone wears the same tee, erasing hierarchy.
10:00	Work squads on site: Split into groups for tasks – one plants trees along a clinic yard, another installs routers in a digital hub, another leads a basic finance class for villagers. Local community members join in, working alongside staff on co‑designed tasks, with paid roles for local artisans where appropriate and without displacing existing paid roles.	Collaboration & pride – Cross-department teams gel; employees see immediate results from their efforts and learn from community partners.
13:00	Matooke lunch break: All groups reconvene under a big mango tree for a simple shared meal (think matooke banana mash, beans, and chapati). Laughter erupts as a normally reserved IT manager recounts slipping in the mud. An intern finds herself chatting casually with the COO over a bottle of water.	Bonding & equality – Breaking bread together flattens remaining silos. Stories and local food fuel personal connections that the office environment seldom sparks.
14:00	Handover ceremony: Work wraps up. The team presents the project – “200 seedlings planted!” or “New computer lab online!” – to local leaders. A village elder or school head gives thanks, and maintenance and handover plans are reviewed and agreed with community partners. Sometimes there is a planned performance by a licensed cultural troupe, and any participation by volunteers is opt‑in; activities involving minors follow partner‑vetted safeguarding that includes background‑checked facilitators or chaperones, a two‑adult rule, no one‑to‑one unsupervised time, written guardian consent for participation and photos, and a simple MoU with schools or NGOs outlining roles and incident reporting. Group photos are taken only with consent, visible opt‑out choices are respected, and words of appreciation are exchanged.	Recognition & meaning – Celebrating together cements a sense of accomplishment. Volunteers feel appreciated by the community, and cultural exchanges (dances, songs) add joy and a touch of local tradition to the experience.
16:00	Return & reflection: On the bus ride back, sun-tired but happy, teams swap phone numbers and ideas. Someone suggests, “Why don’t we do this every quarter?” Back at the office, teams display photos only from participants who opted in to media consent, use visible opt‑out badges to protect those who decline, and add the images to a “Y’ello Heroes” wall with a defined 12–18 month retention period.	Reflection & continuity – The ride home allows debrief and personal reflection. Back at work, visible mementos keep the experience alive, inspiring those who stayed behind to join next time.

(Each June, variations of this play out daily across the 21 (now 30) days. Non‑field staff can opt in through no‑cost or low‑exertion roles such as organizing logistics or remote support, and any donations are strictly voluntary and private.)

Why It Works — The Science of Service and Solidarity

Volunteering does not only feel good; it is associated with psychological and physiological benefits for many participants. Some research suggests that helping others is associated with neurochemical and affective responses related to bonding and positive mood, including oxytocin and dopamine, although evidence in workplace settings remains correlational. Psychologists sometimes describe the mild euphoria after a day of doing good as a “helper’s high.” For the MTN team, these effects are expected to correlate with greater trust and lower strain among colleagues rather than prove direct causation. One Canadian manager described it perfectly: “When a group of people are together, working on a goal for the good of others, bonds form quickly…teams always walk away with a heart-warming experience like no other” *.

Crucially, the Y’ello Care ritual follows a separation–liminality–incorporation arc that helps flatten workplace hierarchy, with separation at the dawn rally and bus ride, liminality during fieldwork and the shared meal, and incorporation at the handover ceremony and office recognition. As the Canadian Western Bank noted, when you’re all in old jeans planting trees, titles don’t matter; you get to know people “on a different level and in another context” *. For many participants in Buganda, this resonates with the bulungi bwansi ethic that service is shared across roles without elevating titles. During volunteer projects, a junior sales rep might discover the “natural leadership ability” of a quiet back-office colleague when he sees her organizing villagers to form an efficient bucket brigade *. Such moments build respect that carries back to the office, improving day-to-day teamwork.

There’s also a powerful purpose effect at play. Behavioral scientists find that employees who feel their work has meaning beyond profit are more engaged and resilient. Y’ello Care injects a dose of purpose into MTN’s culture: a radio network optimizer who spends a day teaching digital skills to rural youth returns to his normal job with a renewed sense of why their connectivity mission matters. And because the initiative repeats every year (sometimes with multiple mini-drives in between), it creates an ongoing cycle of positivity. As one expert put it, “Acts of kindness have to be repeated…you can’t live on a 3-minute oxytocin boost” * * – so making service an annual ritual ensures the kindness high, and its team-bonding benefits, never wear off.

Outcomes & Impact

The tangible impact of MTN Uganda’s volunteer tradition is immense – both externally and internally. On the ground, the numbers speak volumes. In the 2024 edition alone, projects spanned five regions and benefited thousands: five under-resourced secondary schools got new computer labs or solar lighting, a health center was renovated, and hundreds of trees now shade what were barren compounds * *. Kingdom partnerships meant tailored solutions – e.g. in Tooro, volunteers set up a digital tourism portal to boost rural ecotourism, while in Alur, teams introduced e-learning aimed at curbing teen pregnancy through better awareness *. These efforts, valued at over USh 500 million in total support, illustrate how a company’s day(s) out can move the needle on national development priorities *. Local officials often laud the program as a model of public‑private synergy – the Deputy Director of Kampala’s community services department called it “proof of the powerful impact of collaboration” in delivering education and healthcare gains *.

Inside the company, the ripple effects are tracked through a simple mechanism chain—belonging leading to help‑seeking leading to more cross‑team Jira issues resolved per week—so progress is measurable. MTN’s HR data indicate observational associations in which employees who participate in Y’ello Care report higher engagement and lower turnover than non‑participants, without implying causation and with anonymized reporting and appropriate privacy safeguards in place. It is easy to see why: working together in person to fix a school or plant trees can foster camaraderie that videoconferences may not create. Many new hires mention the volunteer culture as a selling point – evidence that the company “lives its values” rather than just framing them on the wall * *. The company’s reputation has improved accordingly in several public rankings. In a 2024 national index of trusted brands, MTN Uganda ranked #3 overall alongside banks and breweries decades older *. That same year, MTN Uganda clinched Gold in the Federation of Uganda Employers’ awards *, with judges specifically praising its employee development and community programs. And in-house, the accolades keep coming: MTN Uganda’s staff have won the MTN Group’s Y’ello Care “President’s Award” multiple times, outshining bigger operations *. This friendly competition with sister companies further fuels pride among MTN Uganda teams, who feel that leaning into bulungi bwansi values gives them an edge. Perhaps the most telling metric is the simplest: each year, the volunteer roster fills up faster than the last. What started as a niche CSR experiment is now a widely anticipated fixture of the work calendar, and many participants return tired but satisfied.

Lessons for Global Team Leaders

Principle	Why It Matters	How to Apply Globally
Root in local culture	Traditions stick when they resonate with home values. MTN’s volunteer days revived a Ugandan ethos, so employees embraced them with pride.	Find a cultural touchstone in your region and build your team ritual around that theme while crediting origins, co‑designing with local partners, obtaining consent for names and symbols (and avoiding the use of “bulungi bwansi” as a program name outside Buganda without local partner permission), and compensating participating community organizations.
All hands, all levels	When the CEO and interns sweat together, hierarchy melts away, unlocking authentic communication and trust *.	Model participation from the top. Have leaders serve coffee at your “fika” or join the coding hackathon. Make sure no one is “too important” for the activity.
Structured recurrence	A one-off event gives a brief morale bump; a repeated ritual reshapes culture and habits *.	Schedule your bonding activity at a regular cadence (weekly, monthly, annually) and stick to it. Consistency makes it an expected and cherished part of work life, not an ad hoc stunt.
Partner for impact	Working with local orgs/communities adds meaning and credibility; teams see real-world outcomes and feel greater purpose.	Invite nonprofit partners, community leaders, or clients to co‑design the ritual, budget for partner compensation and materials, and agree in advance on site selection, roles, safety, and maintenance plans. Shared projects (charity drives, public performances) amplify both impact and team pride.
Celebrate and storytell	Storytelling turns short-term memory into long-term lore, reinforcing values and recognition.	Publish a one‑page communication that explains why now, confirms voluntariness and opt‑out, clarifies time, place, and norms, and outlines how feedback and photos will be used. Share opt‑in photos and testimonials with explicit consent, state a 12–18 month retention window, and avoid identifying non‑participants. Archive “ritual legends” (e.g. “the time we built a playground in a day”) to inspire future generations of employees.

Implementation Playbook

Gauge interest with a pulse check. Survey your team: “If we had 1 day for community or team activities, what would you love to do together?” Use the input to choose a ritual that excites people, identify the first two pilot teams, and note any exclusions such as night shifts or peak customer‑support windows – buy‑in starts from day zero.
Start with a 6–8 week pilot within paid hours that runs 2–3 small 60–90 minute events, with a named facilitator, a named safety officer, and pre‑defined success thresholds and stop criteria. Dedicate 60–90 minutes for each minimum‑viable pilot volunteer project or cultural celebration to minimize disruption and cost. Keep it simple and local (e.g., clean a park or invite a licensed cultural troupe to perform at work) so logistics do not overwhelm goodwill and safety protocols are easy to manage.
Make it inclusive and safe with clear accommodations, accessibility, and opt‑in norms. Provide options to accommodate all abilities and comfort levels, including PPE, shade, hydration, accessible transport, rest areas, dietary choices, and scheduled prayer breaks. Not everyone can perform physically demanding tasks or energetic dancing, so offer varied roles such as planning, teaching, documentation, or remote micro‑volunteering, and be clear that all contributions matter.
Leverage local traditions. Sprinkle in a familiar cultural element: you might open with a customary greeting or an optional moment of silence, share inclusive traditional foods, and end with a group photo using a local gesture, ensuring participation is opt‑in and avoiding sacred rites or restricted regalia without explicit permission. These touches deepen emotional resonance.
Institutionalize and iterate. After the pilot, gather feedback, run a brief pre‑/post‑pulse (e.g., three‑item belonging and four‑item psychological safety), and estimate the all‑in cost per participant (time × loaded cost plus materials/vendors) to inform scale decisions. What clicked? What could improve? Adjust the format, then lock it into the calendar within paid hours (with no unpaid overtime) and in coordination with shift coverage and any union or works‑council requirements. Give the ritual a name and identity and assign an accountable owner with RACI roles for facilitation, safety, communications, and data, with Legal/HR review of consent, privacy, and partner MoUs, so it feels like a staple and is well governed. Over time, consider scaling up – more frequency, bigger scope, or wider invite (maybe families or customers join in) – as long as quality and authenticity hold.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Tokenism: Don’t do it for the press release. Teams will smell insincerity a mile away. Ensure leadership truly cares about the activity, not just the optics. (If the CEO ducks out right after the photo op, the magic is lost.)
Mandatory fun: Bulungi bwansi worked because villagers believed in it; it wasn’t a cynical checkbox. Likewise, frame your ritual as an opportunity, not an obligation. Encouragement and enthusiasm will yield far better turnout than ultimatums.
One-size-fits-all approach: Be mindful of cultural and individual differences. What’s joyous for one person (a public dance or ice-bucket challenge) might be mortifying for another. Provide alternatives and respect boundaries – the goal is to bond, not to alienate.
Neglecting follow-up: The day after your big event, don’t let it fade into a black hole. A quick debrief (even a fun email recap or Slack thread of photos) helps cement the positive vibes and learnings, and sets the stage for the next round.

Reflection & Call to Action

Uganda’s experience teaches us that powerful workplace rituals often arise from reimagining local traditions in a modern context. A century ago, communities here bonded by clapping hoes into hard earth and sharing a gourd of brew at dusk. Today, an ICT company unites its employees by wiring schools and planting saplings. The settings changed, but the essence – people coming together to contribute to something bigger than themselves – remains intact. As you consider your own team, ask: what “ritual of togetherness” can we start? It could be as grand as a yearly volunteer day or as humble as a 15-minute Friday coffee circle. The form matters less than the sincerity.

Start small, but do start. Borrow inspiration from Uganda’s bulungi bwansi, crediting its Buganda origins and adapting with local partners rather than using the name itself without consent: find that one thing your team can do regularly, collectively, with hearts and hands fully engaged. Over time, that ritual might just become the heartbeat of your culture. And who knows – years from now, your organization’s folklore may include the tale of how a handful of colleagues on a whim decided to “give back” one afternoon and ended up igniting a tradition that binds generations. One MTN volunteer reflected that Y’ello Care reflects how they work and what they believe in. When your team ritual can earn a statement like that, you’ll know it’s no longer just an activity – it’s part of who you are.