Program Description
The bicycles serve as a tool for income generating activities, community cooperation, and access to social services –such as healthcare, water, and education. In this region bicycles allow individuals to transport goods between their farms, homes, and larger markets with more profitable sales.
BAP's Goals & Objectives
- To utilize the bicycle as a tool for income generating activities. Rather than distributing traditional aid, BAP supply a means for individuals to acquire capital themselves.
- To improve accessibility to trading markets, farms, water, and basic social services, such as health care.
- To use the bicycle loan agreement to encourage responsible money management, community cooperation, and creative usage of the bicycle towards economic ends.
- To research additional ways for simple technology to assist those in developing nations.
Basic Project Components
- Monthly payments of $2-4 per month
- Payment periods last 12-18 months
- The repayments equate to 50-65% of the total cost of the bicycle
- Each BAP participant attends two workshops, taught by local community members, to improve their skills. These include lessons in bicycle repair and in micro-credit management and savings.
BAP has already distributed 386 bicycles and reaches over 2,000 individuals on a weekly basis. Our reach extends further than just the 386 program participants because people often share it with their household, neighbors, and other community members. The focus on sharing helps further our mission of community development, particularly important in northern Uganda as it recently experienced a two-decade civil war in the region.
