The Japan Bicycle Foundation, in partnership with Kenya’ s Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Green Africa Foundation, Tuesday announced plans to donate bicycles to registered institutions across the country.
Under the arrangement, experts from the Japanese Foundation are to train the sta ff of Green Africa and representatives of the institutions earmarked to benefit o n how to assemble and repair the bicycles.
The countrywide programme will premier in Kitui district, Eastern Kenya, which i s set to receive some 480,000 bicycles Wednesday, marking the rolling out of the
ambitious five-year programme, officials announced here Tuesday.
Speaking during the launch of the programme, Green Africa Foundation Country Dir ector Mr.Yoichiro Shimizu said the initiative aims at improving quality of life in the rural community and also , by increasing mobility of residents, to make it possible for them to access services as well as ease daily activities like ca rrying water and firewood.
It will also enhance education among the school-going children and especially th ose who live far from school, in addition to promoting environmental conservation in those institutions.
“Every institution that receives a bicycle will plant trees in the school compou nd and raise awareness on environmental conservation in schools,” Shimizu said.
He regretted that many children walk long distances to and from school, hence th eir class concentration is hampered as their energy is consumed through walking, noting that the bicycle would help solve the problem.
Green Africa Foundation is a local organization founded in 2000 to support ecolo gical and environmental conservation, with particular focus on arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya.
