Nicolas Thon
University of Hamburg, Institute of Geography
e-mail: thon@geowiss.uni-hamburg.de

Uganda on two wheels
Bicycles, their perception by Non-Governmental Organisations, and strategies for joint action from the perspective of a bicycle sponsorship project.
July 2001

1. Introduction 1
2. Bicycles in Uganda 3
2.1 Advantages of bicycles 3
2.2 Disadvantages/constraints 4
2.3 Effects at household level 5
2.4 Bicycles and gender relations 7
3. NGOs in development co-operation 8
4. NGOs and the bicycle 10
5. Conclusion 12
6. References 13

1. Introduction

The role of the bicycle in Sub-Saharan Africa is completely different from Europe, where it is mainly used for leisure activities, only an urban minority regards it as a means of transport to go to work, and few people carry significant loads on it. In Africa it is used in rural areas rather than in towns, for heavy loads rather than for only one person, for income generating activities rather than leisure. It is known as widespread only in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Rwanda and Uganda (Riverson/Carapetis:8) . Here one might ask a very simple question: Why is the bicycle used in some countries but not in others? But let´s concentrate on one major cycling country - Uganda - and ask instead: How can ownership and bicycle use be enhanced? The bicycle could be the means of transport of the rural poor, were there not some constraints that inhibit its purchase and use.

Enhancing bicycle use and ownership, "advocacy, sensitisation and capacity building on issues of bicycle mobility through accessing information, knowledge and skills related to bicycles" is what First African Bicycle Information Office (FABIO), a Uganda-based non-govermental organisation (NGO) does. Among other activities, FABIO organises events to draw people´s attention to the bicycle as a sustainable means of transport, and provides information on the topic (http://www.connect-uganda.net/fabiobspw.htm).

This paper will give an overview of the role of the bicycle in the Ugandan transport system and society. It will then briefly sketch the importance of NGOs in development co-operation, and their critique. A final section looks at what NGOs have to say about bicycles, invoking a survey undertaken in 1998, and making suggestions about how FABIO and other NGOs could co-operate.

The first section reviews a World Bank Technical Paper about Intermediate Means of Transport in Sub-Saharan Africa (Riverson/Carapetis, no year), a report of the bicycle part of a wider rural research programme in Makete District/Tanzania (Sieber 1996), a World Bank Working Paper about women in Eastern Uganda (Malmberg Calvo 1994), and a thesis paper delivered at the Insitute of Geography, University of Hamburg, about socio-economic effects of the bicycle in Uganda (Heyen-Perschon 1997). The latter paper was produced in co-operation with FABIO. The NGO section is based upon recent material produced by critical German political scientists. While in network theory the concept of 'global governance' is highly celebrated, these critics doubt the positive image (e.g. Altvater 1997, Brand 2000) .

It is no exaggeration to hold that the bicycle has so far been neglected by most scholars as well as politicians. There is no theoretical background (something which makes this paper sound rather descriptive) and no governmental or development policy around non-motorised transport and road safety (not only) in Uganda. The debate on rural transport in the light of modernisation theory was much about roads and rarely about bicycles (Simon 1996:60f). The next section will show, I hope, that these issues deserve more attention.

2. Bicycles in Uganda

Riverson/Carapetis identify two major transport gaps in rural Sub-Saharan Africa: feeder roads (described as expensive, poorly maintained and inappropriate) and intermediate means of transport (IMT) . IMT are lacking, as is appropriate infrastructure to enhance their use. Riverson/Carapetis suggest that donors like the World Bank support IMT to improve the economic situation of rural areas in the long run: "They would [...] provide an intermediate transitional improvement to satisfy transport and travel needs until improved motor roads and vehicular transport systems become more widespread" (Riverson/Carapetis:13).

So even the World Bank can no longer ignore what Sieber (1996:25) discovered: 90% of all journeys and 80% of the distances are within the village. These figures may differ in the Ugandan case or that of other countries, but one thing seems to be certain: The bicycle seems to be the most adequate means for daily transport tasks in rural Sub Saharan Africa.

A traffic survey in south-western Uganda counted 75% pedestrians, 22% bicycles, 2% motorised vehicles (Ministry of Local Government 1990, cited in Riverson/Carapetis:16). These figures demonstrate both the importance and the lack of bicycles. So what are the reasons they are so popular in Uganda, and what are the constraints that still prevent the majority from using them?

2.1 Advantages of bicycles

Bicycles are considered
· relatively cheap in purchase and maintenance, as compared to motorised vehicles
· appropriate for narrow paths and trails
· suitable to carry small and medium loads
· faster than walking, so that combined with the loading capacity a bicycle allows to move more merchandise in shorter time (Sieber 1996:29).

The bicycle fairly meets many transport needs of rural households (ch. 2.3). It can contribute to income generation. Bicycle owners are independent to some extent from public transport (Riverson/Carapetis:3), which is seen as unreliable in some areas, and is unaffordable for the majority.

2.2 Disadvantages/constraints

Bicycles also have got some disadvantages:
· purchase cost: Relative to an average rural income, the purchase expenditure is high and increases faster than prices of agricultural crops. Once owned, the bicycle will have positive economic effects, but in spite of this many rural households do not wage the expenditure (see Sieber 1996:98).
· gender constraint: Due to existing gender relations, in some areas women have virtually no chance to own or use a bicycle themselves. They may benefit indirectly, in that some of their tasks are taken over by husband or sons using the new bike (Malmberg Calvo 1994, see ch. 2.4).
· landscape: In theory, the relief or landscape affects patterns of bicycle use very much: The more hilly and steep the region, the less appropriate it appears . The landscape factor can be reduced in its impact by using more sophisticated bicycles, i.e. with gear systems and/or light construction .
· overuse: Once bought in spite of scarce financial resources, bicycles are used intensively, often overloaded. What follows are a short lifespan and huge expenditures for maintenance and repair (Heyen-Perschon 1997:83) .

The major constraint of increased bicycle use is the question of finance, so that better-off rural households are more likely to dispose of their own bicycle (Malmberg Calvo 1994). Yet they are not necessarily those who benefit most from it, or those who most desperately need it to increase their income.

2.3 Effects at household level

The main transport tasks of rural households are collection of water and firewood and journeys to the fields and to grinding mills (Sieber 1996) . In addition, 'external' journeys (visits to places outside the village, like trading centres, health facilities and markets) are necessary . The internal/external question is decisive for the gender aspects of bicycle ownership (see ch. 2.4).

Transport tasks take the major part of the time used for household labour. Therefore the time left for other activities is limited (Riverson/Carapetis:5). A bicycle can as well contribute directly to those income generating activities. In the urban centres of Mbale and Tororo districts this means transport services ("Boda-Boda" bicycle taxi service , an exclusively male occupation) (Malmberg Calvo 1994). If not used for "Boda-Boda" services, there are to indirect ways to generate income: If peasants used to sell their produce to a middleman trader, a bicycle enables them to take their crops to a market and sell it at a higher price, by-passing the middleman. The time saved through internal bicycle use can lead to an increase in production (Heyen-Perschon 1997) . Sieber (1996) also states increased use of fertilisers once a bicycle can be used to carry it home.

Apart from these economic aspects, a bicycle can increase the standard of living in general, something not necessarily measurable in terms of money (Heyen-Perschon 1997:83): Increased mobility enhances
· (social) communication
· access to health facilities and education
· domestic hygiene due to easy access to clean water
· social change concerning gender relations .

2.4 Bicycles and gender relations

Riding a bicycle is not for women in vast areas in Sub-Saharan Africa (while at least acceptable in others), due to what is then called "cultural reasons". That means that, even if a bicycle is donated explicitly to a female member of the household, it might be her husband who uses it. If this is the case, the wife can only benefit if somebody takes over some of her tasks, e.g. a son starts to collect water from a distant well.

Malmberg Calvo (1994:51) tries to give some explanation:
· Women riding bicycles are socially unacceptable. The underlying male fear is that their power might diminish.
· The most common division of labour leaves internal tasks for women and external for men. The latter then take the bicycle for the longer distances they have to cope with, so that it is simply not at home when the wife needs it.
· Common bicycle design does not really correspond well with purposes like carrying water, firewood and crops on narrow, unpaved footpaths - the female part of the widespread household division of labour .
· A male head of the household claims all property of the family to be his
· Men also claim the responsibility for all financial affairs, rendering women unable to purchase their own things.

It should be stressed that the social status of wives and widows differs from one region to another. Malmberg Calvo proposes "cultural change" and suggests that, in order to enhance it, women's bicycles be introduced. It seems that social change is indeed underway in this regard, but until it has materialised it will remain more likely to see men riding, carrying out their specific tasks, which are mostly external. "Social change" is nothing to be easily imposed from outside. Malmberg Calvo demands that specific gender demands be addressed in transport planning and suggests meetings and seminars on the topic. Such exchange of ideas and experience might indeed lead to a significant change of the situation. FABIO is concerned about encouraging women to ride, their "capacity building seminars" have got an important gender component.

In brief, the bicycle could be the means of transport for the rural poor, but it plays this role only to some extent due to the economic, technical and cultural constraints mentioned. These constraints might be overcome by something commonly called development. This is where NGOs come into play.

3. NGOs in development co-operation

It is impossible here to review what has been written or said on NGOs in recent years in literature on global governance, civil society, networks theories and the like. I will only define briefly what NGOs are and why they are important. Unlike the transport/bicycle section, this is no analysis of the specific Ugandan situation, but only general remarks about NGOs' work in Third World countries.

NGOs are voluntary, non-profit associations of individuals (although often organised similar to commercial enterprises), they are independent of political parties, not oriented towards members' self-interests, non-exclusive (as far as categories like gender, religion etc. are concerned, WAHL 1997:313).They are formally independent from the state and relatively well organised and institutionalised (ALTVATER 1997:15). NGOs are indeed funded by firms, governments or supra-statal organisations, which exercise varying degrees of influence (see WAHL 1997:297ff).

While NGOs are broadly celebrated as a great hope of a global "civil society" living in peace and justice, from a critical perspective one has to be more careful. Structural adjustment programmes imposed by organisations like the IMF usually cause social instability and aggravate existing socio-economic polarisation. NGOs help maintain social order and social reproduction in such situations. Without NGOs, structural adjustment as we know it would be impossible. Besides, they help to channel initiatives of self-organisation into 'acceptable' ways, silencing or integrating dissident voices. NGOs have long accepted the laws of neoliberal capitalism. While they continue blaming the IMF, World Bank and industrialised countries for global inequality, they indeed operate according to their logic (because this is the only way to maintain the supplies of money).

The idea of 'partnership' looks like mere propaganda keeping in mind the fact that there is clearly one side that supplies the money and the (acceptable) knowledge (Masonis 1998). This is what makes local NGOs accept any idea however strange and inappropriate, just not to lose the cash that is promised. Even if asked for own initiatives, these might be oriented towards what is expected to please the donors' ears: "If you have your hand in another man's pocket, you'll have to move if he moves."

Being an NGO does not necessarily mean developing progressive ideas . On the other hand, wherever governmental action turned out to obstruct self-help, or where self-organisation is seen as rebellion by the government, NGOs are better equipped to support local initiatives than any local or foreign governmental involvement.

This brief and simple piece of critique considered, the whole NGO community might be rejected by radical critics as reformistic. Which is true, but on the other hand they might also contribute to improve living conditions (and even survival) under the prevalent conditions. While criticising the current system of development "co-operation", one has to acknowledge the precious work of individual NGOs. After all, FABIO is an NGO, too. At the same time it is a local initiative meeting a local demand (as proved by the vast number of bicycle applications). Still here the money is supplied by foreign donors both private and governmental, and the boundary between assistance and tutelage is necessarily fluent and blurred by daily routine. It is beyond the scope here to discuss the issue in depth.

It is impossible to by-pass NGOs when we talk about development today. What has to be asked is how other NGOs - both local and international - appreciate the idea of bicycle use, promotion and sponsorship. The focus of the next chapter will be on this question.

4. NGOs and the bicycle

Asked about what they know about "development co-operation", passers-by will probably start talking about dams, irrigation schemes, hospitals and the like, but not necessarily bicycles. Indeed development practice is not too much about cycling, and governmental institutions do not have its promotion on their agenda. At best, it is considered as a minor step towards mass motorisation - if not as totally backward. Amongst NGOs of Third World origin, co-operation around bicycles has been rare so far.

Therefore the survey - carried out between July 25 and September 10, 1998 - was to examine the attitudes of NGO staff towards bicycle use and promotion, so as to identify possibilities and constraints of co-operation, capacity building and joint initiatives. Officials of 25 Jinja- and Kampala-based organisations took part in standardised interviews whose results are summarised below .

Most participants acknowledged the striking importance of bicycles for rural transport in Uganda . However, NGO staff hardly use it themselves nor do NGOs run projects with bicycles as their focus . As for problems in reaching destinations, it's prominently about bad roads in rural areas and/or in rain season . Only five participants complained about lacking means of transport or funds for it.

But still it appears to be possible to link FABIO's work to that of other NGOs . Most people highly welcomed projects of bicycle promotion and sponsorship , and suggested technical improvements - which shows that they must have thought about it before. Poverty was identified as the major constraint to mass motorisation, while bicycles are perceived as a means to alleviate that poverty. However, it not so much poverty alleviation, but other features like environmental friendliness or possibilities of a bicycle industry that ranked on top of the list of advantages bicycle transport was said to have. Most prominently in what hinders bicycle promotion is policy , inadequacy of technology, lack of road safety and - again - poverty. Concerning bicycles as a symbol of poverty, a status symbol or a mere means of transport, answers differed a lot, suggesting that the rural-urban gap continues to be considerable in this regard.

To sum up, NGOs do acknowledge the prominent role of bicycles as a means of transport, not so much as a lever for social change. Road safety might be an issue of co-operation, government policy might be another. As for how to work together on bicycle promotion more generally, more information needs to be spread and shared.

5. Conclusion

There is one thing bicycles and NGOs have in common: They are not designed to really go beyond the causes of poverty and inequality. Yet both have the potential to improve individual and collective living conditions. So why shouldn´t they benefit from each other? The outcome of this joint effort is - and should remain - up to the beneficiaries.

According to the survey, one can - carefully - conclude that most NGOs are not ready for effective co-operation around the issue of bicycles, but that they have an open ear and might easily be persuaded to communicate about certain aspects. The PABIC conference , if successfully conducted, might be a push towards this.

In the literature reviewed there are several suggestions as to how enhance IMT:
· "South-South transfer" be considered to "understand the pattern of adoption and development of IMTs and to understand the helping factors and the barriers" (Riverson/Carapetis:13) .
· The role of local governments be discussed (Riverson/Carapetis:13).

· Bicycles be improved technologically along with microcredit schemes
· Local cycable paths especially off the existing, paved roads be constructed (Riverson/Carapetis:13, Malmberg Calvo 1994).
· Transport be avoided locally
As we have seen, one big dilemma is the fact that for those who might benefit most from bicycle ownership, i.e. poor households, it is merely unaffordable. The most important lever to increase bicycle use will be, accordingly, a reduction of these economic constraints: credit schemes and bicycle sponsorship (both operated by FABIO) refer to the demand end, while the supply side might be affected by the building-up of a local bicycle industry to avoid importation in foreign currencies, as well as a reduction of taxes and tariffs imposed on imported bicycles .

International NGOs operating at different scales are invited to help to implement these tasks. Through their presence in different parts of the world, they can contribute to a ‚South-South' transfer of knowledge. They can influence national/local governments. They can include the idea of bicycle use and sponsorship on project level. And finally, they can co-operate with FABIO on all this.

6. References

· Altvater, Elmar (1997): Markt und Demokratie in Zeiten von Globalisierung und ökologischer Krise. in: ders. e.a. (eds.): Vernetzt und verstrickt: Nicht-Regierungs-Organisationen als gesellschaftliche Produktivkraft. first edition, Münster; Westfälisches Dampfboot
· Brand, Ulrich (2000): Nichtregierungsorganisationen, Staat und ökologische Krise. Konturen kritischer NRO-Forschung. Das Beispiel der biologischen Vielfalt; Münster, Westfälisches Dampfboot
· Heyen-Perschon, Jürgen (1997): Sozialgeographische Untersuchungen zum Einsatz des Fahrrades als Verkehrsmittel in ländlichen Räumen von Uganda; unpublished thesis paper, Institute of Geography, University of Hamburg
· Howe, John (1994): Enhancing non-motorised transport use in Africa - changing the policy climate. International Symposium on non-motorised Transportation, Bejing, May 23-25 1994, working paper II, IHE, Delft (Netherlands)
· Howe, John/Dennis, Ron (1993): The bicycle in Africa: Luxury or necessity? IHE, Delft (Netherlands)
· Malmberg Calvo, Christina (1994): Case Study on IMT: Bicycles and Rural Women in Uganda; Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Programme, Worldbank and Econommic Commission for Africa, SSTAPP Working Paper No. 12
· Masonis, Krista (1998): Die zweite Tür nach der Apotheke hinter der Moschee. Wie internationale Organisationen ihre "Partner" wählen. in: Blätter des iz3w, Sonderheft "Nachhaltig Zukunftsfähig? Entwicklungspolitik in den 90er Jahren", January 1998, pp. 25-7
· Parßdorfer, Christine (1998): Libertäre Schimäre. Die neue zivilgesellschaftliche Internationale. in: Blätter des iz3w, Sonderheft "Nachhaltig Zukunftsfähig? Entwicklungspolitik in den 90er Jahren", January 1998,pp. 31-4
· Riverson, John D.N. und Carapetis, Steve (no year): Intermediate Means of Transport in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ist Potential for Improving Rural Travel and Transport; World Bank Technical Paper Number 161, Africa Technical Department Series
· Sieber, Niklas (1996): Rural Transport and Regional Development: The Case of Makete District, Tansania; Nomos-Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden
· Simon, David (1996): Transport and development in the Third World; London/New York, Routledge
· Wahl, Peter (1997): Mythos und Realität internationaler Zivilgesellschaft. in: Altvater, Elmar e.a. (eds.): Vernetzt und verstrickt: Nicht-Regierungs-Organisationen als gesellschaftliche Produktivkraft. first edition, Münster; Westfälisches Dampfboot

Internet resources:
· PABIC concept paper, http://www.jugendhilfe-ostafrika.de/e_pabic4.htm
· FABIO homepage, http://www.connect-uganda.net/fabiobspw.htm