Livelihood
Welcome to FABIO’s Livelihood Program where we supply bicycles to vulnerable communities, expanding access to education, health, water, and markets. We believe that mobility fuels economic activity allowing access to essential needs, sustainable savings, and self‑sufficiency.
Explore the projects that are transforming vulnerable communities with bicycles.
Economic Empowerment (Self-help groups)
The Economic Empowerment (Self‑Help Groups) project turns lockdown‑era hardship into lasting opportunity. By forming community savings groups and providing cargo bicycles, the program gives vulnerable families reliable market access, a safe way to transport goods, water and health‑care trips, and a collective fund for micro‑businesses. Complementary training in financial management, soft‑skills and fuel‑saving stove construction further reduces household expenses and builds resilience. Since its 2020 launch, savings have risen by approximately 10% and 16 groups now operate across six districts, with expanding demand from neighboring villages.
Cycle to School
The Cycle to School project tackles low attendance, tardiness and dropout—especially among adolescent girls—by giving vulnerable students a safe, reliable means of transport. FABIO selects pupils who live 8‑10 km from school and score low on attendance, punctuality, vulnerability, age or gender. Each beneficiary signs a contract that makes the bicycle their property, learns basic maintenance, and uses it primarily for school travel. Because the bike is multipurpose, families also benefit from reduced travel time for errands, income‑generating activities and household chores, which lifts per‑capita income and overall living standards.
African E-bikes (AfricroozE)
The African E‑Bike (AfricroozE) project brings clean, fast and low‑effort mobility to Uganda’s Busoga sub‑region. By pairing a standard bicycle with an electric motor, the AfricroozE delivers 30 km/h speed, 40 km range (fully loaded) and a 120 kg load capacity while emitting no exhaust. Solar‑powered charging stations in Jinja and Iganga keep the bikes running on renewable energy.
Since the public launch in 2022, over 300 AfricroozEs have been distributed to a diverse set of users—bicycle boda‑bodas, delivery riders, ambulance services, water carriers and cargo‑bike operators. Beneficiaries receive hands-on training in safe riding and basic maintenance, and the bikes are owned outright, ensuring long‑term utility.
Early pilots (in 2017) showed that 86 % of users experienced a significant income rise after covering 20‑30 km daily with less physical effort, freeing time for farming, family and education. Recent deployments to Self‑Help Groups (72 e‑bikes) have improved access to health centres, markets and gardens, reduced transport costs and enabled reliable water and commodity transport over distances of 8‑20 km.
Teenage Parent Skilling
The Teenage Parent Skilling program fills a critical gap identified during monitoring of its broader resilience projects. Thirty‑six teenage parents (34 girls, 2 boys) in Mabira Village, Butagaya sub‑county, were enrolled in a four‑month tailoring course followed by six months of practical work. Participants also received training in savings, group dynamics and basic bicycle maintenance. As a result, 8 of the 34 teenage mothers have been able to buy their own sewing machines and run their own businesses, while the teenage fathers have pooled savings to start brick‑making enterprises, generating income for their families. The program equips young parents with marketable skills, promotes economic independence, and reduces the risk of school dropout and poverty among adolescent mothers.
Read the success stories to see how these new skills are transforming lives and future livelihoods.
Bicycle Ambulance
The Bicycle Ambulance program equips Village Health Teams with e-bikes fitted with trailers. The e‑bikes provide rapid emergency response—especially for expectant mothers—routine outreach, and transport for patients without other options. Since deployment, childhood vaccination and deworming gaps have fallen from 60 % to 40 %, and deliveries by untrained birth attendants have dropped from 6 in 10 to 1 in 10, with more mothers reaching health facilities. All of this is achieved with zero operational transport costs.
Person with disabilities friendly bicycles
The Inclusion of Special Interest Groups initiative addresses the gap identified in the 2022 gender‑and‑inclusion mapping, which showed that Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) were not benefiting from existing projects. In 2023 FABIO designed and produced 12 PWD‑friendly bicycles—five for men, five for women engaged in business, and two for students (one boy, one girl). These adapted bikes enable beneficiaries to reach schools, health centres and markets, turning mobility barriers into income‑generating opportunities. Seventy percent of recipients report higher household earnings and an improved social standing; one beneficiary, Ndanda Sadat, described the bike as “a dream come true.”
Read the success stories to see how these bicycles are transforming lives and future livelihoods.
Support Our Work
Your contribution fuels the projects that turn challenges into lasting opportunities—whether it’s empowering self‑help groups, keeping children in school, delivering clean e‑mobility, skilling teenage parents, providing life‑saving bicycle ambulances, or ensuring inclusive transport for persons with disabilities.
