Namibia

Pedaling Forward

A bike can change a life.

The benefits of a bike can range from awakening your inner child to being an eco-friendly commuter. In a developing country, however, the simple bike becomes a locally sustainable method of alleviating poverty and building healthy communities.

The bicycle means greater access to educational and economic opportunities. (Cool fact: A bike can go three or four times faster than the pedestrian and uses five times less energy.) But in communities where people make only a few hundred dollars a year, a bicycle that costs an average of $100 is financially out of reach.

To help bridge the gap, various organizations have sprung up as bicycle distributors for developing communities mostly in Africa.

World Bicycle Relief, an organization fighting the HIV/AIDS crisis in Zambia, describes the power of bicycles in its mission statement:

Simple, sustainable transportation is an essential element in disaster assistance and poverty relief. Bicycles fulfill basic needs by providing access to healthcare, education and economic development. Bicycles empower individuals, their families, and their communities. Our mission is to provide access to independence and livelihood through The Power of Bicycles.

Organizations like this depend on donated bikes, which they then ship to community-based organizations that employ and train locals as bike mechanics. In Namibia, the Bicycling Empowerment Network has bicycle workshops (called Bicycle Empowerment Centres) stocked with tools and bicycle parts that act as the hub for bike distribution and repairs.

Even grassroots groups in the U.S. have joined the cause. Bikes to Rwanda, a project supported by Stumptown Coffee in Portland, Ore., ships cargo bicycles to farmers in a Rwandan coffee cooperative.

With today’s gas prices, cycling is a more attractive alternative for residents of places from Amsterdam to Zambia. But bikes aren't limited to transport anymore. They can be modified to sharpen knives, double as an ambulance, and even filter and store water — all innovative adaptations geared towards positive social change.

Global Fashion in Rural Namibia

Topics: Globalization, Culture
Countries: Namibia

According to the Christian Science Monitor's January 30 article, Namibia's rug-weaving industry can provide us with a lesson on globalization.

African Economies Not Liberal Enough

Today the Economist posted a briefing on the 2008 Freedom of the World report published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, concluding that in recent years "African countries have made negligible progress liberalising their economies."

For the most part, although not without exception, the Heritage Foundation’s correlation between incomes per head and economic freedom holds good. Seven of the ten economically most free African economies (Mauritius, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Tunisia, Swaziland and Cape Verde) are, in fact, middle-income states. Uganda, Madagascar and Kenya, however, are very low-income countries.


Stories We're Watching

As Growth Slows, India Awakens to Need for Foreign Investment

International Herald Tribune - Wed, 02/08/2012 - 08:26
India’s central bank and economic analysts predict that growth will fall sharply to 7 percent this fiscal year and remain sluggish.

Social responsibility and a new world order

Washington Post - Innovations - Tue, 02/07/2012 - 07:56
Just before the New Year, the London-based Center for Economics and Business Research announced that Brazil had overtaken the United Kingdom as the world’s sixth largest economy. Furthermore, it predicted that by 2020, India and Russia will also have overtaken all the European economic powers.

Aid for trade policy rears its ugly head

The Guardian's Poverty Matters - Mon, 02/06/2012 - 01:41
The UK government's dismay at not being granted the contract for Typhoon fighter jets in India is an indication that its controversial aid for trade policy is still very much alive.

Liberia's battle to put the lights back on

The Guardian's Poverty Matters - Sun, 02/05/2012 - 23:00
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has set ambitious targets to restore the country's electricity supply. But will it meet them by 2015?

As Africa's consumers rise, so does inequality

Yale Global Online - Fri, 02/03/2012 - 10:17
Kenya struggles to spread the wealth from rapid growth.

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