Our History

Uluntu Community Foundation (UCF) was conceptualised by a group of development enthusiasts and professionals in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, to spearhead development in Zimbabwe using the Matabeleland region as an entry point. UCF was registered as a Foundation in 2008.

Uluntu was registered in 2008 to provide a people centered mechanism for community development and empowerment in Matabeleland Provinces. The Foundation serves as a convener, a broker and catalyst for community empowerment through training and grant making.

Uluntu is a SiNdebele word meaning people. The name embodies the spirit of gathering, sharing and expanding resources and togetherness. At Uluntu we believe in fostering positive community change through capacity building, training and philanthropy in the area of education, food security and livelihoods, social entrepreneurship, research and also taking into account the issues of gender, HIV/AIDS and the environment.

True to the adage that Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu ( I am because you are) at Uluntu we are convinced that sound education and sustained livelihoods and care for our environment are the corner stones of any human development, be it indigenous knowledge or knowledge acquired through formal education. We believe in human development through the application of practical poverty alleviation strategies. This is so because community development is not an individual effort but a participatory process that embraces many people. Community development to us is driven by the community and not by individuals.

The Foundation is therefore committed to galvanizing community support in furthering sustained livelihoods in the Matabeleland South and North Province of Zimbabwe.