For the past 10 years, World Bicycle Relief has partnered with the Ministry of General Education in Zambia to implement a study-to-own bicycle program for students, particularly girls, to improve school attendance, retention, and performance through a cost-effective locally managed program.

The Wheels of Change study followed 2,471 girls from 100 primary schools in three districts in Zambia. Researchers measured the effect the bicycles had on the time it took to reach school, absenteeism, punctuality, mobility, dropout rates, and grade transitions, as well as empowerment measures such as learners’ locus of control, fertility choices, and aspirations.

After one year of observation from 2017 to 2018 and a Phase 2 follow-up study from 2019 to 2020, the study found that, equipped with bicycles:

Watch the webinar release of Wheels of Change. Speakers include Women for Women International founder Zainab Salbi, World Bicycle Relief’s Alisha Myers, and Wheels of Change report co-author Nishith Prakash.

Followup questions and answers can be found here

For more information please contact:

Alisha Myers, Director of Strategic Information and Innovation

amyers@worldbicyclerelief.org