Written by Tasbeeh Herwees | From Takepart

When Michael Linke first traveled to Namibia 10 years ago, he intended to supply local health care outreach workers with a shipment of recycled bicycles they could use to travel longer distances. When he got there, however, he realized his plan was a dud.

“In Namibia, we found one [bicycle] mechanic in the whole country, so that model just didn’t work,” says Linke. “At the same time we were doing all this work with health care organizations, and they were all telling us there were problems with resources to maintain bicycles.”

Soon after, Linke founded the Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN Namibia), which facilitates the distribution of bicycles in the southern African country. BEN Namibia organizes with overseas organizations that collect secondhand bicycles and send them to Namibia in large shipping containers. Working with local community partners, it trains workers in bicycle repair and basic business skills. It also helps turn the shipping containers into bicycle and bicycle maintenance shops.

“The idea is that these community organizations empower their volunteers to run an enterprise,” says Linke.

Many of the 72 community partners BEN Namibia works with are HIV/AIDS health care workers who need to travel long distances to do outreach work. Since 2004, BEN Namibia has opened up 32 bike shops in the nation’s cities and towns. The shops employ 112 Namibians, half of whom are women. “The idea of the model was to create employment opportunities and an income stream for these partner organizations,” says Linke.

Read more at Takepart