| Workshop EC 3, Tuesday 20 June, 16.00 - 17.30 |
| Cycling and poverty alleviation |
| Esseghairi
Kamel,
Executive Director, Tunisian NGO Women for Sustainable Development
General
Secretary, The Afro-Mediterranean Movement for Sustainable Development
Bardo Tunisia & Khaouja Mellouli, co-director Tunisian Institue for Sustainable Development and NGO Mangement Women NGO Advocating for and Implementing Bicycle Use 5 Year Experience Evaluation and Proposal for Further Use The Tunisian Bicycle for a Healthier Environment Program has been set up to increase the use of bicycles throughout the country. Besides the obvious anti-pollution purpose of the Program, it clearly touches on ecological, health, economic and behavioral issues. The program has been set up under the auspices of the Tunisian Non-Governmental Organization "Women for Sustainable Development" (WFSD). The objectives of the programme are as follows: (1) To disseminate in plain language information about the benefits and advantages of using the bicycle as transport, and thereby to raise awareness of and stimulate interest in the topic. This objective will be achieved through games, theater plays, paintings, rallies, awards and prizes, booklets, conferences, seminars and workshops. The media will play an important role. The target groups will be pre-primary and primary school children, secondary school pupils, university students, and different groups making up Tunisian society. (2) To identify influential women and to establish with them activities addressing the first objective with specific reference to the use of bicycles by women. (3) To create an non-governmental multi-disciplinary national team, including sociologists, economists, ecologists, lawyers, and epidemiologists. (4) To identify in each of Heavily Urbanized a key person motivated for the topic and prepared to get involved in regional data collection. (5) To evaluate both the process of and the impact of the Program. This presentation will describe the genesis, the implementation of 5 years phase one and its evaluation. We will also present a proposal describing furthering the use of bicycle as a mean of transportation and emphasizing the importance of fostering ties with sister organizations worldwide in order to sustain our efforts and contribute to the establishment of a sustainable transportation system. Finally, we will emphasize the relevance of replicating to other fields and neighboring countries. |
| Gustav
Erlank and Elisabeth Mavundla
Small Business Development Projects in the Cycle Industry and their impact on Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Gauteng, S. Africa. This paper reviews preliminary findings of a study to determine the impact of several bicycling promotion projects in the Gauteng, S.Africa. Did they lead to any demonstrable impact on project participant incomes? The paper analyses the costs and benefits of the programatic approach relative to other transport sector interventions aimed at poverty alleviation. Further, it assesses the degree to which these projects have stimulated the development of private sector commercial activity in the bicycle industry in South Africa, and proposes potential modifications in this and other standard bike promotion projects to increase their long run effectiveness. Over 80% of South Africans are 'captive' users of inadequate non-motorized and public transport: In urban areas such as Johannesburg, low-quality public transport consumes 20%-25% of household income, and contributes to unemployment rates estimated at 40% in South Africa. While various factors have inhibited bike use in Johannesburg, such as safety, the geographical legacy of apartheid and cultural resistance to women riding bikes, many feasible cycling trips are not undertaken for lack of access to cycles and training. Soweto, a township of 4 million people, is devoid of any utility cycling resources and has no retail bicycle industry to speak of. |
| Jürgen Heyen-Perschon, Jugendhilfe Ostafrika, Germany Richard Kisamadu, FABIO/BSPW, Uganda How can the bicycle assist in poverty eradication and social development in Africa? Position paper |
| Thomas Krag Report Workshop EC 3 |