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| WOMEN ON THE MOVE - ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BY BICYCLE IN UGANDA Kisamadu Richard, Project Coordinator First African Bicycle Information Office INTRODUCTION This paper attempts to advocate for poverty eradication through accessing women to basic factors of production, one of which is the bicycle. The emphasis is on poverty eradication in a developing country like Uganda. It is so because we are all aware of the un-quantifiable effects of it's spread on socio-economic life. It's also poverty eradication because lack of means to sustain meaningful life amounts to negation of the individual. The issue is to access the least advantaged because Africa's perverted economic culture has bred rich Governments that purchase expensive Aircraft Fighters as opposed to impoverished masses that cannot afford even 500 grams of sugar or posho daily. The politically affluent have had the opportunity to use their position to influence the flow of wealth their way, while little or nothing meaningful is left to the burdened and gagged tax payer. Women stand out for defence here, because facts on the ground show that lack of economic independence has left them worse paupers than men. Culture, albeit silently, dictates that they be relegated to second class citizens and yet their potential to achieve, if obstacles are removed, compares well and in some cases is better than men. It should be noted that the issue is not to create a women tyrant but rather to come to terms with the fact that in our emerging 21st Century, a group of human beings called women could live on as if they are natural slaves to prosperity, if the situation is not checked. A wide range of initiatives have been implemented by Government and NGO's to combat poverty amongst women. Within it's established mandate, expertise and comparative advantage in the political economic area, the Ugandan Government has established a Ministry of Gender, put in force Parliamentary Women Representatives and legislated for one-third womens representation on all Local Councils. Following this initiative, UBSPW (Uganda Bicycle Sponsorship Project & Workshop) intends to increase the number of women bicycle beneficiaries. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS: Research carried out by Jürgen Heyen-Perschon in 1997 shows that the bicycle improves an individual's productive capacity by 20%. It also brings out the fact that time spent and work load is reduced 3 to 4 times over. This is critical in an economic environment where Agriculture is the highest contributor to GNP and yet mechanised practices are absent. A true Ugandan village picture will show that more women than men till the land and have to carry harvests on their heads from gardens to the market, or have to carry their daily drinking-water from wells to homesteads. Arising from the above it follows that:
WOMEN ON THE MOVE Self actualisation, a physiological and psychological need, is difficult to attain. It takes different forms, but also as a concept, varies between individuals. Natural law obliges society to uphold eternal principles like common good though propounding feasible survival techniques. One precipitating factor for global peace and development is enabling women attain economic independence. Through the production process, self actualisation is possible. But in Africa, degraded spectators and selfish players constitute the majority. The new millennium should be faced with information zeal on how best to enable women actualise their productive capacities. Provision of appropriate technology, like the bicycle, to rural women is one way of attaining this. THE UGANDAN SITUATION The greater number of Ugandan women are aware of the advantages a bicycle would give a typical rural homestead. A few need knowledge about them. For these women, enabling factors need to be in place. Thus the immediate intervention should consist in providing logistics like bicycles and give information about their use. For the category which understands bicycle use and are ready to use them, there is need to promote skills, and support too. Intervention should consist of the provision of information about correct use by emphasising the benefits. The provision of bicycles and constant refresher courses will enable sustained use. WHY BICYCLES FOR UGANDAN WOMEN THEN? Three reasons explains this: 1. EMANCIPATION: Through bicycle use, women stop being spectators in the production arena. They too become bread winners and partners in the production process. As a consequence their realised incomes lead to increased self esteem and better domestic welfare. 2. EMPOWERMENT: Economic inter-dependence between women and men as a result of income accruing from bicycle economic use means that women begin to take part in decisions that affect them. 3. MICRO FINANCING : Now, the United Nations approach to poverty alleviation focuses on micro-financing. It is a well thought out action which seeks to increase both national and domestic income. The parameters for use here are quite open, depending on any particular economic environment. In Uganda's case, investing in the poorest of the poor through giving them bicycles for economic use is one way. In Uganda, women can barely afford a cheap shoe to protect them from the road. How far removed from them then is a bicycle, without financial help? A bicycle, if properly used by a woman would present in sum total the appropriate technology solution for a less developed country's survival. Kisamadu Richard Project Coordinator First African Bicycle Information Office PO Box 1537 Jinja Uganda email: africa.bike@ilo.de back to the index | |