BICYCLES FOR EDUCATION

What do we want to achieve?

Since 2015, the Bicycles Without Borders Foundation has developed the Bicycles for Education project in Senegal. The project aims to:

Facilitate the access to education for students living in rural areas in Senegal

What are the results?

With the implementation of the project, its recipients obtain the following results:

• School absenteeism is reduced;

• Students arrive on time to class;

• Pupils are less tired ( 1);

• Pupils Increase their school performance ( 2).

(1) Energy consumption is five times lower when you ride a bike than when you walk.

(2) The Lycée de Palmarin has obtained in 2017 the highest number of BAC (University access) pass in the entire Fatick region (57% success rate vs a national average of 31%)

How do we do it?

The project consists in:

• Delivering bicycles to Senegalese institutes for the students who live the farthest from the school;

• Building a bicycle workshop in each institute;

• Training a mechanic for each workshop;

• Building a parking lot for bicycles;

• Involving the families to contribute to pay the mechanic's salary so the project can be self-sustainable;

• Raising awareness and educating pupils and the community about the use and maintenance of the bicycles;

• Accompanying each center during the first years of project implementation;

• Continuously evaluating the project and collecting impact data in order to introduce improvements.

As a first step, the workshop and parking lot are built, and a mechanic is selected and trained. They will be in charge of reparing the bikes on a daily basis and keeping the fleet in perfect condition. 

​

The school then communicates and spreads the information on the project to students, families and the community and opens the enrollment process so that interested pupils can register. Once the list of students has been completed, the bikes are delivered to the school, which distributes them to the pupils who live farthest from the school.

​

Families pay an annual fee of 6,000 CFA (€ 9) to finance the mechanic's salary and spare parts.

​

​

All these actors are involved in the implementation of the project:

• The Senegalese high school management team

• The students, their families and the entire community

• The sponsors

• The Bicycles without Borders Foundation