Village Bicycle Project

"Making bicycles more accessible for Africa"  because we believe that bicycles are ideally suited for improving the well-being of people living in poverty.  Improved mobility means improved access to development; farm, market, schools, health care, jobs.  

VBP focuses on maintenance awareness, improved tools and skills for repairers, inclusion of women (especially teaching them to ride), improving parts and bikes networks, increasing the supply of quality bicycles and growing the ability of local mechanics and educators to promote bicycles.  

All of these efforts address the weaknesses of the bicycle infrastructure in the countries where we work, namely Ghana and Sierra Leone.  By 'bicycle infrastructure' we mean the supply of quality bicycles, replacement parts, specialized as well as general purpose tools, skilled repairers,  and cultural support for bicycling as well as riders' knowledge of how to maintain bicycles in good operating condition.  

VBP is also committed to avoiding corruption, and the 'hand-out' mentality, working with the strengths of the people and not the weakness of so much of the leadership.

We work with a number of organizations in Europe and North America, collecting repairable bicycles to send to Ghana and Sierra Leone.  See who at http://www.villagebicycleproject.org/how-we-do-it/bike-collection-partners/