Specialized Training

Education changes the trajectory of life. Investing in girls' education promotes economic development, fosters peace, and reduces societal inequalities.

Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda the population was 70% female. Despite that disparity, today there are only 3% of girls continuing in higher education. Our partner Learn Work Develop, realizing the potential young women hold, focus the core of their work on creating opportunities for youth, especially young women, in school and after.

LWD's TVET Center helps prepare women for a career by offering training in practical skills such as bike mechanics, tailoring, beauty and salon, and handcraft production. Last year LWD enrolled 110 youth who had previously dropped out of school. Gaining access to a bicycle enabled participants to save valuable time which they could use to improve their skills. The students all graduated last month and have moved on to the job market. This year marks 7,000 graduates from TVET since its founding.

While a bicycle can offer affordable life changing transportation, for most of our partners they provide so much more. Through the sale of our donated bikes, our partners are able to produce capital that helps pay for repairs, creates salaries for mechanics and program specialists, and funds the projects in the program.

LWD programs center around empowering youth and women. Last year they reported reaching 2,972 youth with compounded vulnerabilities. That number includes teen mothers, youth with disabilities, youth who are HIV+, and student drop outs. LWD also held numerous workshops and training programs for their volunteer mentors and peer educators who help these youth.

Of the nearly 1,000 youth who dropped out of school, LWD supported a third of them to return to school in 2025. For some it was simply reducing transportation barriers through access to a bicycle. BfW donated 1,965 bikes into this program last year. By selling some of those bikes LWD is able to impact 3-4 times as many individuals through these specific programs.

Through this partnership, Bikes for the World played a critical role in restoring hope, improving mobility, and expanding educational, economic, and health-related opportunities for highly vulnerable youth in 2025. By selling the repaired bicycles to the community and using the proceeds to directly support girls in the program, LWD is able to increase the impact each container of bikes has on its population while also ensuring its efforts are sustainable.