Bicycles help empower women in rural Uganda

Summary of story from IPS news, cheap March 24, and 2001

More than two hundred women from around the Bwindi National Park in southwestern Uganda have been taking part in a two-week course on bicycle repair, organized by the group Ride 4 a Woman.

The workshop is aimed at giving disadvantaged women new, marketable skills and at the same time promoting an environmentally-friendly form of travel.

The workshop is part of the Social Bike Business Program, now being developed in Uganda.  The program was originally developed by One Street, an international cycle advocacy based in the United States.

For the women who participated in the Ugandan workshop, it was an eye opener to the multiple possibilities of the bicycle.

Feredisa Kamahanga, one of the participants said, “I am very excited about this. For the first time I can now remove a tyre from a bicycle and put it back.”

She added, “I have gained training as a bike mechanic … and I can’t wait to fix my first bicycle!”

In Uganda, women are often discouraged from mechanical activities or from riding a bicycle.

Sue Knaup, director of One Street, came to Uganda to hold the workshop and said she “was impressed at how quickly the women picked up on the idea.

“Next is job training, which will give the women professional skills to earn a much better income and hopefully break out of the cycle of dawn-to-dark work,” explained Knaup.

Ride 4 a Woman’s executive director Denis Rubalema said, “We have already begun construction of the first phase of the women’s centre on their property, which is due for completion in November.”

The centre will house a venue for training courses, a bike repair station, a bike shop, and eventually a bike manufacturing section. It will also be the hub of all local activity, where other skills such as crafts, can be learnt.

“The project will have a profound impact on the livelihoods of the women and their families,” says Rubalema.

Tourism also features prominently as part of the centre’s grand plan. Guided bike rides are offered to tourists visiting the national park or venturing into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, which provides a home for gorillas.

The area is known for its endangered mountain gorillas and has been described as one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth.

Rubalema underscores the high potential that the bicycle has in store for the programme and for the women of southwestern Uganda. “Our biggest dream is to see the women in the area become empowered women.

“After all, that is how our mission reads: to empower women using bicycles.”