Marijke Overeen and Dian van Unen
The Bicycle in Zimbabwe
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Introduction and Conclusions
In this section:Introduction / Conclusions
Introduction
A combination of our experiences of difficulties involved in travelling in Zimbabwe our own background in bicycle trade in Holland and a booklet published by the Zimbabwe Foundation for Education with Production (ZIMFEP) set us thinking of what we could do to help further ZIMFEP's aims.
This process resulted in a proposal which we sent to ZIMFEP in February 1983.
ZIMFEP was interested in the idea and we decided to visit Zimbabwe in September 1983 to see for ourselves what opportunities there might be to set up a project in a school for Education with Production. We began by discussing our proposal with Sr. Janice McLaughlin, Secretary of ZIMFEP. She asked us to study the feasibility of setting up a bicycle workshop either at a ZIMFEP-school or as part of a cooperative unit started by ZIMFEP graduates.
We would begin by investigating the external and internal factors which would be of vital importance for the success of such a project. The external factors are: the supply situation of bicycles and spare parts, the marketing and maintenance structure and the uses to which bicycles are put. Internal factors include existing metalwork training programmes at ZIMFEP-schools, the presence and type of practical productive activities in the schools and the headmaster's and teacher's reactions to the idea of a bicycle workshop.
Our visit to Zimbabwe lasted two months, September, and October 1983, during which we travelled the country to try and get a good picture of the bicycle in Zimbabwe. In the light of Sr. McLaughlin's suggestion. We visited and talked to as many of the people involved in all aspects of the bicycle trade as possible. We made a point of talking to people, 4 in all, actively engaged in the promotion of bicycle transport as Appropriate Technology.
We visited four of the eight ZIMFEP-schools and the metalwork shops insofar as they existed. We examined teacher training programmes and interviewed people involved in giving technical training courses for people from cooperatives. The offices of two organisations of cooperatives and local communities in Harare and Bulawayo informed us about their plans to investigate skills needed in the rural areas.
We attempted to get some idea of government transport and industrial policies at 4 ministries.
Conclusions
| Chapter 2: | Who needs bicycles?
What are they used for? No systematic survey of the need for bicycles in Zimbabwe has been carried out. There is a need, however, for a cheap, simple and effective mode of transport. |
| Chapter 3: | Bicycle Manufacture in Zimbabwe. Potential mass use of bicycles is limited by the monopoly enjoyed by private enterprise, dependent on imports. However, local, small-scale production of bicycles is not an alternative at present, due to lack of capital and technology. Trailers are successfully manufactured in small workshops. |
| Chapter 4: | Sales and Maintenance. New bicycles are available. Prices are high; quality and supply of spare-parts often poor. Quite a few people in both urban and rural areas are involved in bicycle maintenance. |
| Chapter 5: | Education with Production. More and good training of bicycle mechanics could help people to make better use of their bicycle. Bicycle technique should be a specialisation of the metalwork programme, part of Education with Production. |
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