Bicycle Repair Workshops in Ghana and Sierra Leone

 

VBP Programs Promote Bicycles as Useful, Affordable and Sustainable Transportation

Mor than 12,000 people have attended our one-day bicycle repair workshop in Ghana and gotten a bike for about one third the price in the capitol city Accra.  The workshop has been given more than 500 times.  In Sierra Leone, since 2010, more than 500 people have participated in a similar program, enjoying a similar discount.  

Many Africans walk 2-6 hours a day. Owning a bike saves precious time and energy. Our goal is to give people the tools they need to create a better life.

We provide bicycle repair workshops in remote rural villages by working with the local community organizers and with resident Peace Corps Volunteers. Link here for a map of our program locations. Our programs:

  • Bring discounted bikes to regions where bikes have been infrequently used
  • Offer bicycle riding and repair workshops to communities and people in need
  • Provide specialized bike tools and parts to keep bikes rolling
  • Address the special needs of African women and girls

Our bike prices have remained steady for several years, while the real prices have gone up.   A sound half-price mountain bike is about $19, skinny tire bike are $17, kids' bikes $9. In the far distant reaches of the country people pay the same amount that they would near the port despite our transport costs which reach up to $1700 per truck load.

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VBP Trainer George Aidoo instructs how to repair a flat tire in a rural village in Ghana

VBP One Day Repair Workshops
Village Bicycle Project has three program areas to improve access to bikes in Africa, working specifically in Ghana*:

1- Sending donated bikes
2- Teaching bike maintenance
3- Providing improved tools for bike repairers

These three components work together to nurture sustainability of the bicycle as serious transport in the region.

The centerpiece is our one-day maintenance and repair workshops.
 

George Aidoo lectures and demonstrates at Liati Agbonyra. Photo by Sunniva Rodgers
 

The twenty students all get practical experience making adjustments and repairs. Photo by Lizandra Vidal.
 

A school teacher at Elmina learns about oiling the chain.
Photo by Lizandra Vidal.
 

 

At the end of the class, everyone is eligible to buy a bicycle for about on third the normal price.

VBP repair workshop participants have gained improved mobility and the skills to maintain their bikes. Improved mobility means reduced poverty, as people have better access to their farms, jobs, markets, schools, and health care. Above, class of Liati Wote.

Peace Corps volunteers have been a wonderful connection and collaberator. They often host our programs, in 60 different communities throughout Ghana, from Piina in the northwest corner, to Garu in the northeast, to Ankasa in the southwest, to Xavi in the southeast.

Obvioulsy we cannot go into the villages, teach about using tools, and not leave a set of tools in the village. Tools are so scarce that David Peckham once met a boy bicycling to a neighboring village with his bike seat on his head. Needless to say, he stood the entire distance of several miles. He was traveling to borrow pliers to reinstall the seat, because there were no pliers in his village.

So, we give a set of tools to be kept in the care of someone who will make them available to all who participated in the workshop.