International Partnerships

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About Our Work

Bikes Not Bombs partners with organizations using the bicycle to drive social change in their communities.

We work in solidarity with our international partners, supporting them to lead the change process in their communities to address their core social justice and environmental issues. Our partners provide life saving health services, turn bicycles into pedal-powered machines, organize communities rallying to stop climate change, run bike libraries lending bikes to high school students, and distribute thousands of refurbished bikes that provide affordable and sustainable mobility. Although our partnerships are diverse, they are united through the concrete use of bicycles to further social change.

Since 1984, Bikes Not Bombs has shipped over 80,000 bicycles to partners in 14 countries in the Global South. Bicycles are comprehensive development tools that further the self-determined development of people by providing access to the goods and services needed to pursue their own development and the development of their families and communities. Bicycles increase a community’s access to economic opportunity, education, health care, and civic engagement. Bicycles not only support sustainable livelihoods, they build local economies, reduce carbon emissions and support broader movements for social justice and environmental sustainability.

Each of our international partners are unique, and have developed out of a very specific need in their communities for bicycle-based development, yet all reflect and resonate the greater mission of Bikes Not Bombs through their community-based and locally-owned programming, forming an international network of organizations using bicycles for social change in their communities.

Our Model

We believe our model of partnership is unique in a number of ways. We partner with independent organizations run by members of the communities they benefit. Our partners have first hand knowledge about the needs of their communities and we help them to harness local power to provide solutions.

At Bikes Not Bombs we not only ship bikes, we collaborate with partners, share strategies, facilitate capacity building, build our network and connect partners with resources. By investing in the skills and capacity of our international partners, increasing their overall autonomy and independence, Bikes Not Bombs grows the impact made by each donated bicycle, while growing the movement of bicycle organizations changing the world.

Through our partnerships we are building an international network of social justice oriented bicycle organizations. We are able to leverage our connections in this network to help increase the capacity and impact of our partners, while sharing resources and strategies amongst a diverse group of constituents.

The bicycle is simply a vehicle for social change, it is our partners who decide where it will take them.

Current Partner Projects

Bicycle-powered machines, bicimáquinas, are an emissions-free technology that improves the productivity and efficiency of rural livelihoods.

Read more about BNB's work with Bici-Tec on this project page.

A desgranadora (bicycle degrainer)

A pedal-powered desgranadora (degrainer)

CESTA, the El Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology, is leading the struggle for environmental conservation, sustainable transportation and community-led resource management in El Salvador. CESTA combines an array of environmental and social programs with environmental and social justice activism, positioning CESTA at the forefront of social change in El Salvador.

Read more about BNB's work with CESTA on this project page.

A network of cyclists and bicycle shops in Nairobi, Kenya that is working to grow the bicycle industry of Kenya, to create employment for young people and to build the critical mass of cyclists to organize for policy and infrastructure change.

Read more about BNB's work with Cycloville on this project page.

MCEDO Youth, Cycloville

MCEDO Youth, Cycloville

Learn Work Develop (LWD) is a nonprofit established in 2013 by a of group of grassroots activists in Rwanda, the Volunteers for Effective Work and Sustainable Employment (VESE), who wanted to contribute to national programs around youth employment and productivity, by focusing mostly on education, life skills development and job creation for youth, in particular for young girls and women.

Read more about BNB's work with Learn, Work, Develop on this project page.

Bike repair at Learn, Work, Develop

Bike repair at Learn, Work, Develop

A grassroots youth bicycle program that provides mechanics training, leadership development and bicycles to young people throughout the island of Nevis in the Eastern Caribbean.

Read more about BNB's work with Nevis Earn-A-Bike on this project page.

Two youth from Nevis Earn-A-Bike