Pedal Power Africa: Empower 500 Bicycle Innovators

Our campaign to empower 500 bicycle innovators began in Nadosoito, Tanzania, the perfect village to launch our program because the village faces so many challenges due to its rural setting. We brought together our first 20 soon-to-be empowered innovators and formed four teams for the seminar. The seminar consisted of six sessions where participants learned how to use tools and make their own pedal powered corn shellers, learned how to evaluate different technologies using local examples, explored different pedal-powered innovations  and many other design skills.  We also trained four new teachers who will be helping with expanding the educational programming, and the graduates of the program are also eager to share what they have learned with others in the village.

Along with the pedal power innovations other new ideas came out of the program.  A design for a chicken house using locally available materials which keeps chickens safe from the elements.  Using sisal (one of the few crops that can still grow in the heavily deforested area) to produce charcoal for cooking fuel.  Developing structures in the gullies to reverse erosion and water crops more effectively.  And even coming up with improved methods for breaking rocks into gravel to increase the capacity for the community's main income generating activity.

Emmanuel was one of our participants, a farmer from the village of Nadosoito. He has lived in the area his whole life and is well-liked by the community.  He is hard-working, but keeps a sense of humor about everything and likes to tackle challenges.  During our first trip for this program, we had doubts, as the attendees seemed reserved and skeptical.  But there in the second row, his beaming smile provided us with reassurance.  He asked us questions about how we planned to teach everything that we were talking about and why we were interested in this community, not as a challenge to us, but rather to help us convince those hesitant members in the room that they should be as excited about this work as he was.

At the start of each session, Emmanuel would bring chairs along the 20 minute walk from his house because there were never enough seats.  And he was always asking questions to make sure that everyone in the room understood what was going on.  When we would call for volunteers, sometimes he would volunteer, but more often, he would encourage other people to try for themselves.  In his quiet way, he made sure that everyone was engaged and when people didn't understand something, he was good at asking questions to clarify the concepts.

After the pedal powered innovation workshop Emmanuel already has a few ideas for what he wants to build next.  And most importantly, with his community spirit, everyone can see what he is building and can work on scaling these designs. We thank all donors for empowering innovators like Emmanuel who will spread benefits from the workshop around Nadosoito!