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World Bicycle Relief has donated it’s 100,000th bicycle to poverty stricken areas and the tally is still rising – since we received the press release yesterday the tally has risen to 100,063.
The SRAM scheme was created in 2005 and initially began delivering bicycles to the tsunami hit region of Sri Lanka. Since then bicycles have been delivered across poverty hit regions in Africa.
"What we found in Africa was a fundamental gap in the market of quality, sturdy and culturally appropriate bicycles to the millions of its residents living at the bottom of the market." says F.K. Day, founder and president of World Bicycle Relief. “Affordable, reliable transportation is no doubt one of the most valuable, but unrecognized tools of relief and development work there is. A bicycle is an industrial revolution in an individual’s life."
The organisation’s work has enabled HIV and aids healthcare workers to reach more people in remote villages, students to get to school safely and efficiently, and farmers to carry more goods to and from markets.
World Bicycle Relief has also trained more than 750 local field mechanics in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda.
The 100,000 bikes have been distributed as follows:
24,376 bicycles sent foloowing the aftermath of the 2004 East Indian Ocean tsunami
23,000 bicycles sent to healthcare workers tasked with helping those with the HIV and aids virus.
17,046 bicycles sent to African students (70% to girls) in order to assist them in safe and faster journeys to and from schools.
3,837 bicycles through local Microfinance Institutions for local farmers and entrepreneurs to improve their productivity and economic opportunities by getting their goods to market in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.
32,272 bikes have been purchased by non-profit corporations, farms and individuals. These World Bicycle Relief bicycles are primarily used to power other non-profit organization’s programs. For example, Wildlands Conservation Trust uses the bicycles in South Africa to help improve the environment.
