Cycling out or Poverty is supporting small entrepreneurs (BIKE4WORK), students (CYCLE2SCHOOL) and health workers (BIKE4CARE) in Africa with bicycles. Many poor Africans lack money to buy a bicycle but do have a view on how a bicycle could be used to earn a livelihood, improve access to schools and health care. Therefore, our local partner organisations in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda are providing bicycles on credit and are exploring innovative bicycle designs. Read more about our projects on the projects page. Support us by donating or volunteering. Your donation enables African farmers to multiply their income, students to perform better in school and patients to get to hospital quicker.
9 July 2010
Wiki-bike is inviting students, designers and other interested people to submit their ideas for durable and sustainable bicycles and join the African Bicycle Design Contest 2010-2011. A professional jury will judge all contributions and select 5 design ideas in October 2010. The five winning contributions will be awarded with a design team who will develop the design ideas into prototypes and maybe one of these prototypes will be the bicycles that makes a difference in Africa. The design team which is delivering the best prototype will win a 10 day trip to Kenya to train and assist a Kenyan team in producing this bicycle (conditions apply). Go to www.wiki-bike.com for more information.
27 June 2010
This year Velocity Global, a global conference on cycling, took place in Copenhagen. Jagi Gakunju, patron of Uvumbuzi Kenya, one of the partner organisations of Cycling out of Poverty, presented on cycling in Kenya. His argument was that cycling in Kenya is often viewed as something for the poor, but that a new agenda is arising. Because cycling can be an important tool to fight against health issues arising from the large scale use of motorised transport. This causes that cycling is not only important for the poor, but for the whole population. The video shown on the right was shown during his presentation last week.
24 June 2010
The weather wasnīt very nice, but this didnīt hamper 133 cyclists who participated in the Langszy bicycle tour. Cyclists cycled 80 or 125 km around Nijmegen in the Netherlands. After the tour a raffle was held for Cycling out of Poverty, with prizes related to cycling and Africa. The proceeds go to the project for small entrepreneurs in Uganda.
22 June 2010
A second group of beneficiaries have been able to receive a bicycle on credit in Ngeruka Rwanda. 19 people have received a bicycle on the 7th of May. Before that day they received a training on saving and credit (13 April) and bicycle repair and maintenance (27 April). The beneficiaries pay of the bicycle in months. Our local partner organisation Nouvelle Vie au Rwanda is coordinating this project. They have been able to purchase the bicycles for this second group of beneficiaries from the revolving funds, the payments, of the first group of beneficiaries. This project is supported by Impulsis.
19 June 2010
From the 18th to the 25th of August, Erik Heijn is going to cycle 900 kilometre in Flanders for Cycling out of Poverty. He is still looking for sponsors. Will you help him accomplish his tour? Check out his GeefSamen page (Dutch) for more info. Do you want to organise a sponsor activity for Cycling out of Poverty, just like Erik? Contact us on info@cyclingoutofpoverty.com.
12 June 2010
Our cycling ambassador, Frank van Rijn, has written a fantastic story for the Dutch magazine Op pad. In his unique style he describes the tour in which he visits some of the bicycle projects of Cycling out of Poverty in Uganda and Kenya. Frank van Rijn has made a photo presentation of this trip, from Cairo to Nairobi, that he is willing to present to interested parties, donating the profit to Cycling out of Poverty. If you are interested in a lecture from Frank van Rijn, please contact us on info@cyclingoutofpoverty.com. The video of Frank van Rijnīs cycle tour can be found here.
9 June 2010
Last March, Lions Club Delft Antoni van Leeuwenhoek organised a RPM event for Cycling out of Poverty. Groups of cyclists cycled in the gym to the beat of the music. With this event they raised 620 euro. Yesterday evening the cheque was presented to Cycling out of Poverty. This donation has enabled the students from Delft Institute for Technology to develop the CooP bike for small entrepreneurs in Africa. Have a look at a video of the first prototype and a video of the second prototype on YouTube.
8 June 2010
On the 20th of June, Langszij is organising a cycling tour around Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Ride the most spectacular routes around Nijmegen and support Cycling out of Poverty at the same time. There are two routes, of 80 and 125 km. Participation is open to everyone. You can register the same morning at Cafe Frowijn in Nijmegen. After the tour, a raffle is held for Cycling out of Poverty. For more information see http://www.langszij.nl.
5 June 2010
Our partner organisation AVO in Burkina Faso has bought the first tricycles for women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. This Tricycle for AID(S) project offers families living with HIV/AIDS the opportunity to start a small business. By a small investment of the families (being part of the profit of the small three wheeled enterprise) they can generate more income, without starting with a debt. AVO invests their share of the profit in expanding the project and and in a fund to overcome unexpected temporary setbacks within the families of the beneficiaries. Only 1,147 euros is remaining to complete the budget of this project. This project is supported by Impulsis.
31 May 2010
In 2009 the CooP bike was designed and prototypes were made. Now the first 8 CooP bikes have been taken into production in the Cycling Blue Workshop in Kisumu Kenya. The CooP bikes are specifically designed for small entrepreneurs to carry large loads on a bicycle. The CooP bikes can be ordered from the Cycling Blue workshop or via cyclingblue@gmail.com. Also see http://cyclingblue.wordpress.com.
For more news items of 2010, please go to the 2010 news archive.
And click for the news archive 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006.
Click here for films about events, bicycle ceremonies, evaluations, etc. of Cycling out of poverty.