Motorcycles in Development / Aid / Relief & Volunteer Efforts
Motorcycles in Development / Aid / Relief & Volunteer Efforts
Riders for Health
A nonprofit organization using motorcycles and the training of local motorbike riders to improve delivery systems for healthcare in Africa. You can check out a short film on the site narrated by Ewan McGregor giving an insight into the work of Riders for Health.
Motorcycle Outreach
A noprofit that works to introduce effective healthcare delivery in remote areas of developing countries. Motorcycle Outreach works closely with the UK Charity Riders for Health (RfH), which supports primary health delivery in Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) in eastern Indonesia. These two organizations provide motorcycles for health workers, specifically midwives and nurses working in public health centres that are responsible for large areas but which have no means of transport to cover these areas. The use of motorcycles is monitored by Health for All and others such as community leaders, the Ministry for Health in sub-district levels, NGOs and the public. They also help to manage and control the roadworthiness of the motorcycle fleet, to ensure that a Zero Breakdown principle is maintained. The health workers responsible for the motorcycles fill in a logbook and the riders themselves are regularly evaluated. Read more about their activities.
Ted Simon Foundation
A new foundation named for Ted Simon, a famous international motorcycle traveler. It will "encourage and assist travellers in making an extra effort to develop their observations and insights into something of value for the rest of the world to share, whatever their medium of expression might be... We believe that individuals of good will, moving among foreign cultures and making themselves vulnerable to the beliefs and customs of strangers, have great importance in promoting world understanding, and even more so when they can distill the essence of their experiences into a form that can be absorbed by many."
The Gender Desk - Rwanda
The Gender Desk was launched in May 2005 at the Rwandan National Police Headquarters under the framework of the joint UNIFEM-UNDP Project, "Enhancing Protection from Gender-based Violence." The Gender Desk includes an interview room to enable women to speak in confidence with a trained officer; a nationwide toll-free hotline service for reporting gender-based violence; and a UNIFEM-UNDP-funded adviser. UNIFEM facilitated quick reporting and response to cases of violence and increased awareness among the police and community of gender-based violence as a human rights issue. Investigating officers have been trained in victim empowerment, psychosocial support and victim/survivor protection. Motorcycles, provided by UNIFEM-UNDP, enable them to respond rapidly.
Members of the Global Aids Interfaith Alliance, or GAIA, visited Blantyre, Malawi in June 2003. "We spent time with the women who are part of the GAIA program to strengthen women, thanks to a grant from the Gates Foundation. Originally referred to as women's empowerment, the program is now referred to in terms of strengthening the family, as gender issues are a strong force in this culture. Transportation is an enormous issue for our local trainees. Their areas are large, and flooding in the rainy season makes many villages inaccessible and many roads impassable. One of our decisions was to make small motorcycles available to them. We also provided them with cell phones. Both have been an enormous help as they go about their work." Read the entire story
Motorcycles and horses provide key ways to help rural people in Lesotho, a tiny country landlocked within South Africa about the size of Maryland. 25% of its adults are HIV-positive. Pony riders to transport blood tests, drugs, and supplies between remote mountain health clinics and better-equipped hospitals at sea level. When roads are navigable by two wheels, motorcycle riders join the journey to further speed the process of rushing blood to the lab or medication to those sick with HIV. USAID and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation support this effort.
eRanger: Mobile Multimedia Classroom
The Digital Education Enhancement Project (DEEP) is a research and development programme investigating the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for teaching and learning. It works in schools serving disadvantaged communities in different parts of the world. Partners: Open University, UK, Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE) & University of Fort Hare, Eastern Cape. In April 2007, the DEEP team began testing a prototype motorbike-based unit to transport ICT equipment, support and training to a rural school in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Funders: Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE), The Open University Alumni & Ranger Production Company. The aims of the prototype are:
Two models of equipment are being tested, including a 'solo' unit for efficient on and off-road transport of equipment for group work sessions, and a sidecar-based education unit for larger school-based events. The provision within the units comprise:
During the prototyping phase, the eRider is an Education Development Officerš from the ECDoE, who is undertaking this work as part of their role in developing eLearning in the East London district of the Eastern Cape. The role of the 'eRider' is:
If you have related information or examples, please contact me.
Are you an individual, or part of a group, that wants to travel and do good (transire benefaciendo)? You have several options for helping either domestically (in your own country), or abroad (in another country), but note that it will take planning before your trip, as well as a lot of coordination in the weeks and days leading up to your on-the-road activities. This web page, transire benefaciendo, will help you coordinate such an efort. See in particular the section on Volunteering On Your Own Abroad. Also see this page on Finding Community Service and Volunteering for Groups, as well as the links at the bottom of that page.
Of course, everyone knows Expat Aid Workers love motorcycles.
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