Eerste 70 fietsen uitgegeven in Oeganda

This page is not available in English. The news items on this page were written in 2007. By that time this website was only available in Dutch.

Op zaterdag 19 mei zijn 70 door Cycling out of Poverty-gesubsidieerde fietsen in Oeganda uitgegeven. De doelgroep van het project in Oeganda is vrouwen in het voormalige oorlogsgebied rondom Katakwi in het noordoosten van Oeganda. Wegens de toch weer opgelaaide onrust in het gebied was de geplande uitgiftedatum van 5 mei op verzoek van de regering uitgesteld tot 19 mei. Gelukkig bleek de situatie op 19 mei stabiel genoeg om het project te starten. Hieronder volgt een verslag van onze lokale partnerorganisatie in Oeganda:

 “19th May was a very exciting day for Usuk sub county as a whole, as a result of the bicycle give away and rally in the first place. The chairperson local Council III who officiated the function termed it as a stress-relief activity for people who are mainly living in camps at the sub county and that for once, they can afford to have two hrs of smile at last!

The function started with a comprehensive training of the beneficiaries at Katakwi URAFIK peace centre and was attended by over 70 people including the women beneficiaries, the local leaders, some husbands development practitioners and journalists.
 Beneficiaries were taken through a current situation economic analysis where each of them elaborated on the 3 questions:   
– How do you make money? 
– How do you keep money? 
– How do you ensure having money sustainability?

This was aimed at trying to ascertain the different income-generating options, indigenous savings methodologies and the existing different opportunities that could be exploited with the existence of the bicycle at their hand.
  
A process of ensuring sustainable, effective use of the bicycle for income was elaborated using local examples. And a tailor-made bicycle usage and income tracking system was developed and adopted. As we were training, a team of mobilisers was busy organising for the give-away function, as well as the bicycle rally for women, which later went very successfully. Although with a lot of complaints from men asking why they did not participate although they were involved in morale boosting, preparing the ladies and also organising for the technicalities of the rally plus the bicycles. The rally was characterised by receiving prizes, dancing & singing, jubilations, speeches etc. It ended at about 6:30pm.”