Solar Trikes Empower Zimbabwe Women
Solar Tricycle Donations from the European Union
A Small Gift to Help Build Women Businesses
When I look at these pictures of a rural Zimbabwean woman on her new solar-electric trike on her way to market, I see empowerment, pride, entrepreneurship and the will to succeed, if just given the chance. How about you?
It may seem like a small gesture of kindness but the solar electric tricycles that the European Union is providing to a number of women in rural Zimbabwe are literally changing their lives for the better and helping them grow their tiny farm businesses. The bikes have given them new solar-electric mobility. Until they received their off-road, 3 wheeled trikes, most of them had to walk their eggs and vegetables in baskets on their heads, for long miles to sell or barter them in the center of town. In the Domboshava area where the program has launched, transportation is woefully inadequate. The women can now drive to town on their trikes with attached trailers, enabling much more efficient business and transit for them. The EU funding program is specifically aimed at helping rural women to develop their small farming businesses.
Plans to Expand
The European Union has partnered with a Zimbabwean social organization, Mobility for Africa, to assemble and distribute the trikes that the EU buys for this humanitarian effort. The trike fleet is now at 88 and there are plans to triple the number by the end of 2022. Most of the trikes are provided as gifts to the women. Other bikes are rented for $5 per day. The program includes three charging stations in the Domboshava area where the women can swap a drained battery for a fresh, fully charged one for free. The EU and Mobility for Africa expect to expand this program of providing solar-electric mobility to enable better prosperity, particularly for rural women, to other parts of rural Zimbabwe and elsewhere. It is a brilliant idea to help rural women become much more independent through fundamental new transportation technology. These Zimbabwean women are entrepreneurial! Some are using their solar trikes & trailers also as taxis to ferry people to town for medical care, shopping and more.
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