Obtaining spare parts for Africa from old bicycles, Zurich

About the event

Recycled bicycles from Switzerland combine social and professional integration in Switzerland with sustainable development cooperation in Africa.

Thanks to your help, we can export additional bikes and spare parts to the south, train more bike mechanics, and get students cycling.

Your task will be:
Together with Werkraum4 employees, you will dismantle bicycle parts and prepare them for export
to Africa. Are brakes, handlebars, gears, etc. still usable? How do I know if
a bicycle chain is still functional? How do you properly dismantle bicycle parts such as brakes, gears,
tires, and inner tubes so that they can be reused in Africa? You will learn all this during
the assignment and get hands-on experience.

Velafrica has been collecting discarded bicycles since 1993, repairing them, and shipping them to Africa. Every year, over 20,000 bikes make their way to the southern hemisphere, where they make life easier for people there. In addition to promoting mobility, Velafrica supports the establishment of bicycle workshops and the training of mechanics. This creates jobs and income opportunities in bicycle assembly, repair, and sales. In Switzerland, Velafrica works with social institutions that employ unemployed people and people with disabilities, as well as institutions involved in the enforcement of measures. In this way, integration work is successfully combined with development cooperation.