Ghana Bamboo bikes initiative wins International Award
The Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative has been awarded the prestigious Dubai International Award for Best Practice to Improve the Living Environment.
Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative was selected as one of eleven project winners for the Dubai International Award for Best Practice 2014 chosen by an independent jury of international experts from a pool of more than 400 applications from almost 100 countries.
The initiative was presented with the award in the best practices transfer category by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance.
A Barjeel (traditional wind tower) and certificate of merit, was also received by the organization in addition to a generous cash prize, which will enable further innovative work to be carried out to improve the bamboo bike production and scaling up of its bamboo charcoal and briquettes production.
The award was granted for the work that Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative has carried out through the leadership and support of the initiative’s Co founder’s Bernice Dapaah, Winifred Selby and Kwame Kyei, this includes the use of bamboo as a community based sustainable alternative transportation, promotion of inclusiveness and gender equality through the training and recruitment of women and creating innovative world class products.
As a result of the unrelenting efforts of the entire team at Ghana Bamboo Bikes, the initiative has quickly become a key international player in promoting the bamboo bikes worldwide and transferring of the technology of bamboo bike making to youth organizations worldwide.
Bamboo bikes and frames produced by the initiative are exported to the international markets and use the waste generated from the bamboo to manufacture charcoal briquettes as an alternative to wood-fuel that does not only address the energy needs of households in the rural areas but reduces indoor air pollution and helps in the restoration of already destroyed forests.
The UN urbanization program, UN-HABITAT, awards a prize every two years along with Dubai City to ten city projects which improve the living conditions of their citizens.
Criteria such as innovation, social integration and sustainability play a large role in the awarding of the prize.
All submissions will be added to the UN-Habitat Best Practices database to help in the sharing of knowledge and transfer of best practices to other communities around the world.
Source: GNA