Repairing bicycles for Africa, Pratteln

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 to the south, train more bike mechanics, and get students cycling.

Your task will be:
Together with participants in the AIP plus program, our bicycle processing partner Stiftung Jugendsozialwerk, you will produce spare parts from defective bicycles and prepare bicycles for export in the most space-saving way possible. Participants with prior technical knowledge can check whether the donated bikes are ready for export to Africa. Is the bike in working order? Do minor repairs need to be made? You
will learn all this during your assignment and get hands-on experience.

Velafrica has been collecting discarded bikes 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 distribution. 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.