Work-to-earn Programmes
Adults earn Qhubeka bicycles by volunteering as part of a Community Policing Forum (CPF). A bicycle allows a CPF member to improve their safety patrols and visibility.
Giyani, in South Africa’s Limpopo province, is the site of one of Qhubeka’s largest scholar mobility programme. August through September 2019 marked a total of four distributions in the region in which Qhubeka distributed 1 400 bicycles. 1 212 of which went into schools we are working with, and the remainder were distributed to Mechanics, Community Policing Forums and Tribal Authorities in the area.
“This programme is what we call a Qhubeka SHIFT, which aims to help shift an entire community forward using bicycles,” explained Qhubeka Executive Director, Tsatsi Phaweni. “When we commit to a Qhubeka SHIFT programme, our intention is to distribute 5 000 bicycles into a single geographic region over a period of a few years. This builds a new bicycle culture and transforms entire communities. We’re seeing that in Giyani, in the way that people are embracing cycling as a means of transport, but also as something to do for fun. With bicycles, people’s access to schools, clinics and jobs is improved, and they can travel faster and further, and carry more.”
As part of its SHIFT programmes, Qhubeka also trains up bicycle mechanics in the community to ensure the longevity of the bicycles distributed. This also creates economic opportunities for the mechanics, who are trained not only on maintaining and repairing bicycles, but also receive basic business training. Working hand in hand with the community policing forum and tribal authorities ensure that our beneficiaries stay safe on the bicycles.
Qhubeka partners with private, public and civil sector organisations to deliver greater impact. The bicycles distributed during August and September were funded by grassroots fundraising (individuals who have fundraised or donated), sales of Qhubeka beaded bracelets along with funds raised by Team Dimension Data and their Bicycles Change Lives campaign.