29 June 2009

Pedal-Powered Economic Development

Two-wheeled transit improves livelihoods in Africa, Asia and Latin America

One used bicycle transports three Honduran boys to and from school each day.

By Matt Herrick
Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — In many developing countries, motorized transport just doesn’t work. It is often unavailable or too expensive for rural residents and entrepreneurs to consider. Making matters worse, roads can be impassable. That’s why for 25 years, Keith Oberg has promoted bicycles as a means to save time, enhance productivity and generate additional income.

In 2005, Oberg started Bikes for the World (BfW), a Washington-area nonprofit that has shipped more than 34,000 bikes to Africa, Asia and Latin America. It is now the largest U.S. shipper of donated used bicycles to developing countries.

With a U.S. market value of roughly $45 per bike, the bikes shipped amount to $1.5 million in material goods. But the real value, Oberg said, is the pedal-powered economic development that results when a bike improves access to farms, markets, jobs, schools and health care for residents in hundreds of communities.

A NETWORK OF U.S. VOLUNTEERS

In a mall parking lot in northern Virginia, people are arriving with car trunks crammed and pickup beds stacked with bicycles. There are straight handlebars and curved handlebars, racing saddles and banana seats, mountain bikes and cruisers — more than 100 bikes are donated on this spring day. Oberg works with volunteers in five states and the city of Washington to organize hundreds of collection events each year. Fifteen-year-old Patrick Carey coordinated this event to earn his Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts youth group.

“I thought it sounded like a good idea to help people,” said Carey. “It’s different.”

At the sites, volunteers in red BfW T-shirts remove pedals and lower handlebars on roadworthy bikes to maximize shipping space, while less desirable bikes are put aside to be stripped of parts (cranks, wheels and inner tubes, which can be scarce in developing countries). Volunteers also ask donors to contribute $10 to help cover freight costs, which range from $4,500 to $8,500 per container of 450 bikes.

Besides these makeshift collection sites are stationary ones in small, independent bicycle shops dotting the East Coast. Bob Mallasch offers such a collection point at his retail store, Bob’s Bikes, in Maryland. He often wears a red BfW T-shirt and tells kids about the group’s “earn-a-bike” program for students who amass community-service hours.

“I like the organization,” Mallasch said. “It helps the developing countries. But they also sent bikes down to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina and to local kids that need them. It truly is bikes for the world.”

REACHING THOSE IN NEED

Village Bicycle Project founder David Peckham with shop owner and former student Bismark Agbeve in Ghana.

In 2008, BfW shipped nearly 10,000 bikes to eight countries.

Once bikes arrive at their destinations, partner organizations take charge. BfW partners with dozens of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in countries such as Ghana and Costa Rica that want to incorporate bicycle transportation into their community-development projects. Unlike cash grants, Oberg said, material goods like bikes compel NGOs to develop effective administrative skills.

For this reason, the bikes are not really being donated. Instead, they are sold for $25 to $35, because people “value what they earn,” according to Oberg. “If you start giving bikes away, people will line up and turn around and sell them for a windfall profit,” he said.

When the cost is prohibitive for a potential buyer, the NGO works with the buyer to arrange a micro-loan. Ideally, the transportation afforded by a bike increases a user’s productivity and wages, generating enough money to repay the loan and eventually help the buyer’s family.

A “FOUNDATION” ON TWO WHEELS

In 2005, BfW sent its first container of bikes to a partner NGO in Ghana called Village Bicycle Project. The U.S.-based nonprofit has distributed 36,000 bicycles and, during the past few years, the majority has come from BfW.

Afriyie Ekua purchased her bike a few years ago from Village Bicycle Project. An outreach nurse at the Buamadumasi clinic in Ghana, Ekua provides health services to 10 remote villages inaccessible to motorized vehicles. On foot, she could reach only a few villages each week. With her bike, Ekua visits each village once or twice a week.

Village Bicycle Project provides riding lessons for women and has trained more than 5,500 people in maintenance workshops. Volunteer instructors teach common-sense applications, such as maintaining greased chains, inflated tires and roadworthy bearings.

“People in lesser-developed places don’t understand that machinery needs maintenance,” said David Peckham, Village Bicycle Project founder. “We don’t provide enough training for someone to actually make a living,” he added, “but we have seen people motivated to take that next step.”

Bismark Agbeve took that step in 2005.

Agbeve is from Adaklu-Tokor in Ghana, which rests on lush Adaklu Mountain. He is a farmer, a father of four and an office manager for a community organization. Somehow he found time to take a bicycle-maintenance course offered by the project.

Agbeve purchased a bike as part of the maintenance workshop, which offers bikes to students for a discounted price of $15. He realized he has an affinity for bike repair and he opened a bike-repair shop in the village center. It now employs two mechanics.

“My bike is my foundation,” Agbeve said. “It is how I care for my family without so many difficulties.”