ANNUAL REPORT 2009 - Summary -
CYCLING OUT OF POVERTY
FOUNDATION
Cycling out of Poverty Foundation
Kasteelselaan 4
6574 AJ Ubbergen
The Netherlands
www.cyclingoutofpoverty.cm
Chamber of Commerce registration 09167973
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Introduction
Cycling out of Poverty is growing and developing. Many new projects started in 2009, targeting
women, small entrepreneurs, students and health workers. By now more than 1,000 bicycles have
been given out from the starting capital Cycling out of Poverty provided. The fund raising activities in
the Netherlands reached €145.000. New partnerships started with KLM, Impulsis and Cordaid, and
the partnership with NCDO was renewed. And we are delighted that our ambassador Frank van Rijn
started with a bicycle tour to some of our projects in Uganda and Kenya.
Our partners in Africa indicate that making bicycles available means the world to them: students
reach school less tired and have better results, patients reach health centres more easily and quicker,
and small entrepreneurs see their profits increase. At the same time, they indicate that the bicycles
in Africa are not fit for the heavy loads they are expected to carry. The development of appropriate
bicycles therefore became an important element in our work. We are experimenting with bicycle
designs that are tuned to the needs and requirements of the African bicycle users. Also, bicycle
workshops are established to produce these bicycles which opens up employment opportunities.
This, and more is described in the Annual report 2009. The report is only available in Dutch, the
current document is the English summary. The Annual report was approved by the board on March
2nd
2010.
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1 Basics of Cycling out of Poverty
1.1 Introduction Cycling out of Poverty Foundation is a fund raising charity. The foundation was established on February
1st, 2007 and is registered at the Chamber of Commerce with registration number 09167973. The
objective of Cycling out of Poverty Foundation is to financially support bicycle projects in developing
countries by raising funds and dividing the funds among selected projects.
1.2 Board In 2009 the board structure changed from cooperating board to (6-person) supervising board:
- Marieke de Wild, chair person
- Ineke Leenders, treasurer
- Corry Leenders, secretary
- Sander Mom
- Luc de Bont
- Gerard van der Sterre
The board members do not receive remuneration for their work.
The board delegated a number of tasks to the titular board. In 2009 Luuk Eickmans became director of
the foundation. Vodafone Foundation has given Luuk the opportunity to work on part time basis for
Cycling out of Poverty during 2010 and 2011.
1.3 Mission The mission of Cycling out of Poverty is to improve the availability and accessibility of bicycles as a
means to fight poverty, and to demonstrate the opportunities of bicycle interventions to improve the
lives of African families. Cycling out of Poverty believes that the bicycle plays a major role to improve
(access to) entrepreneurship, education and health care.
Entrepreneurship
Many poor Africans lack money to buy a bicycle but do have a view on how a bicycle could be used to
earn a livelihood. Our local partner organisations in Africa make modified bicycles (tuned to the needs
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of small entrepreneurs) available via a credit system. For many small entrepreneurs (bicycle taxi drivers,
street vendors, traders, etc.) this access to a bicycle means that they can save on transport costs and/or
increase their income so they can improve their lives.
Education
Access to education has a lot to do with the means of transportation between home and school. Many
African students are captive walkers. That is why they reach school exhausted and are not able to give
full attention during the classes. The time consuming walking trip to school is also a very common
reason why children drop out of school. This especially applies to girls, because they often have the
responsibility to household chores like fetching water, etc. A bicycle (on credit) therefore creates
conditions which can improve the performance and access to education for both students and
teachers.
Health care
Distances to health centres, opportunity costs and road infrastructure and a weak health (transport)
system have negative impact on the health care situation in Africa. Many African families live far from
the nearest health care facility which with a weak health (transport) and outreach system can lead to
highly dangerous medical emergency situations. A bicycle and bicycle ambulance can create a fast and
efficient first aid emergency transport system and bicycles can improve the mobility of health workers
for health checks, emergency visits and counselling services.
1.4 Vision Access to income generation opportunities, education and health care are essential in development.
Services and facilities might be of good standards, but if you cannot access them, they are useless.
Accessibility is key in poverty reduction.
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Poverty constraints the mobility options of the African poor. It is a typical African sight, to see an
African woman or child walking long distance with water or firewood on their heads. Or to see women
who market their products in the village where they live since they don’t have an option to sell at a
market where prices are better. A bicycle can break the visious circle, and offer these Africans the
opportunity to break out of poverty. For those Africans who have the drive to move up, a bicycle can be
a tool to fight poverty.
Bicycle use contributes to the millennium development goals (MDG) which are set up by the United
Nations (see box). In relation to walking, a bicycle offers the opportunity to:
- generate more income: e.g. because more products can be transported to the market, people can
go to markets more often and have more time to work on the fields, for less cost than public
transport [MDG 1]
- diversify the sources of income: e.g. besides cultivating bananas more time is available for making
handycrafts, making the income less vulnerable for shocks such as banana deceases [MDG 1]
- explore new opportunities on the labour market: e.g. bicycle taxi [MDG 1]
- improve access to schools and health centres [MDGs 2, 5, 6].
- expend the catchment area of medical staff and teachers and to move about and reach
destinations quicker [MDGs 4, 5, 6].
- more gender equality within the household, due to the fact that men and children use the bicycle
to do household tasks [MDG 3].
Additionally, the bicycle is non-poluting and therefore enhances sustainable development [MDG 7].
By offering poor Africans who have a view on how they can use a bicycle to uplift their situation the
opportunity toin realising their ambitions, Cycling out of Poverty aims to support them in cycling ‘up’
out of their poverty situation.
Millennium Development Goals
Adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions.
The MDGs also provide a framework for the entire international community to work together towards a
common end – making sure that human development reaches everyone, everywhere. If these goals are
achieved, world poverty will be cut by half, tens of millions of lives will be saved, and billions more people will
have the opportunity to benefit from the global economy. The eight MDGs break down into 21 quantifiable
targets that are measured by 60 indicators.
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality Goal 5: Improve maternal health Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
http://www.undp.org/mdg/
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2 Bicycle projects in Africa
Highlights 2009:
- Around 300 bicycles-on-credit given out to women, small entrepreneurs, students and health
workers in Burkina Faso, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya
- Launch of Cycle to School project in Kenya
- Meeting of African partner organisations from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda in July in
Naivasha Kenya
- Launch of the African Bicycle Network: network of African organisations working on bicycle projects
- Acquisition of land for bicycle workshop in Kenya
- € 41,435 was spent on bicycle projects in Africa.
This chapter gives a schematic overview of all bicycle projects in
Africa, discussed per country. The activities per month are
highlighted in the tables with the colours as shown on the right.
2.1 Burkina Faso: AVO Projects in Burkina Faso in 2009
with AVO
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2008 Bicycles-on-credit
(Women & entrepreneurs)
2009 Bicycles-on-credit
(Women & entrepreneurs)
Bicycle workshop
Tricycle for AID(S)
Problem identification
Context - / problem analyses
Project planning
Fund raising
Implementation
Monitoring and evaluation
Reporting and follow-up
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2.2 Uganda: FABIO, HAU en BSPW
Projects in Uganda in 2009 with
FABIO
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Cycle-to-school project in
Katakwi Uganda
Bicycle ambulances in Katakwi
Uganda
Bicycle-on-credit project in
Butagaya Uganda
Cycle-to-school project in Iganga
Uganda
Bicycle (ambulances) for health
workers
Co-creation center in Uganda
Projects in Uganda in 2009 with
HAU
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Cycle-to-school project and small
bicycle workshop in Kisozi
Projects in Uganda in 2009 with
BSPW
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Bicycles-on-credit project in
Budondo & Baitambogwe
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2.3 Kenya: Uvumbuzi, VBBS (and Cordaid Urban Matters)
Projecten in Kenya in 2009 with
Uvumbuzi
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Bicycles-on-credit project in
Mwea Kenya
Projects in Kenia in 2009 with
VBBS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Cycle-to-school in Kisumu Kenya
Bicycle workshop in Kisumu
Kenya
Training centre in Kisumu Kenya
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2.4 Rwanda: NVR
Projects in Rwanda in 2009 with
NVR
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2008 bicycles-on-credit project in
Ngeruka Rwanda
Bicycle-on-credit project in
Ngeruka Rwanda
Bicycle-on-credit project in
Gakenke Rwanda
2.5 Cross-cutting projects
- African Bicycle Network was launched. The goal is that more African citizens can cycle and want to
cycle to fight many of Africa’s challenges”. The network offers strong support to pioneers, currently
working on limited resources with scares information, and empower them and already established
CSOs to reach these objectives in their own cities and countries.
- Bicycle-on-credit meeting. As a follow-up of the meetings in 2007 and 2008, Cycling out of Poverty
organised a partner meeting in 2009.
- African Bicycle Design. Cycling out of Poverty started partnership with Delft Technical University in
exploring designs for street vendors.
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3 Fundraising
Highlights:
- Total fundraising for Cycling out of Poverty projects: € 145.000
- KLM supports project in Kenya: Cycling Blue for Kenya
- Grant from Vodafone Foundation for exploring public private partnerships
- Cyclists raise funds with range of activities such as bicycle tours around the world
- Subsidy from ‘MFS’ organisations NCDO, Impulsis, I-CE
4 Awareness raising and PR
Highlights:
- 2nd
edition of Good News Paper
- Cycling out of Poverty on social network Hyves
- Website Cycling out of Poverty bi-lingual: Dutch (http://www.eenfietsmaakthetverschil.nl ) and
English ( http://www.cyclingoutofpoverty.com)
- Cycling out of Poverty on Newscast in Burkina Faso
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5 Financial statements
5.1 Balance sheet as at 31 December 2009
Balance sheet as at 31 December 2009 2009 2008
Assets € €
Financial assets 104.859 6.482
Total assets 104.859 6.482
Liabilities € €
Reserves and funds 101.860 5.499
Loans 3.000 983
Total liabilities 104.860 6.482
5.2 Profit and loss account as at 31 December 2009
Profit and loss account 2009 Actual 2009 Budgeted 2009 2008
Incoming resources € € €
Income from own fundraising activities 101.987 11.500 6.929
Income from third-party campaigns 14.549 31.000 8.268
Other income - - 2.500
Income from ‘MFS’organisations 28.500 36.000 23.259
Total incoming resources 145.036 78.500 40.956
Resources expended € € €
Operational cost 638 4.000 2.277
Fundraising cost 689 485 123
On charitable activities 47.350 44.850 37.797
Total resources expended 48.676 49.335 40.197
Result 96.360 29.165 759