Jacqueline Power

WHO-WHAT-WHY

During my one year sabbatical, I decided to make some of my time a little more meaningful and to volunteer for a month or two during the trip. I wound up at CECAM after some pretty extensive research into the kind of enterprise I wanted to be involved with. CECAM Bolivia is an organisation that focusses on environmentally progressive and sustainable projects to empower city folk as well as people in regional areas of Bolivia (aka in El Campos) to pursue alternative and more ecologically sound means of carrying out their daily activities. 
Freddy and his partner Rosio have created and executed many projects involving solar cookers, low emission/high efficiency ovens, ecological toilets, and now bicycles, via the Cochabamba Pedal Project. 

Check out the video above for some more information about Freddy and the work CECAM does in Bolivia. 

The aim of Cochabamba Pedal Project is to promote and evoke the ecological conscience of Cochabambinos and to change their vision of bicycles. With much work in recovery, recycling and transforming used bicycles into new ones, Cochabamba Pedal Project takes part in local environmental action and proposes new opportunities for the Cochabambinos.



WHAT AM I DOING HERE ? 

My job is primarily to design and manufacture (with Freddy’s magnificent jack-of-all-trades skills) a CargoBici for women in rural areas where the bike has dual applications : For transportation of cargo and kids, and also for A-B transport on a daily basis. It needs to be rugged as the roads here are almost always unpaved and incredibly unstable.

I am also working with Freddy at the moment on a lightweight tricycle and separate wagon design along the lines of - as Fredy says - 'designed by women for women’. We are doing a lot of research into successful DIY trike models, prototyping different models and developing modifications we can make to existing bikes without too many changes to the body, plus of course minimising the time and cost involved.

We are moving forward with the idea of a quick and easy 'bolt-on' model that can be used for both transporting cargo and kids, as well as being an A-to-B mean of transportation without the weight and hassle of the cargo trailer attached.

Where can you find more information ?

The money you give will be used for exactly what you are giving it for. These prices come directly from a BOM I have created and include labour and transportation to get these products to the end user plus some minor inclusions for overheads like keeping on the lights and making sure we have internet to keep updating our Instagram!

Freddy has a small and miraculously industrious workshop but always needs new drill bits, paint, small tools, compressors and generators serviced etc, and a small portion of the money raised will go towards ongoing costs for the workshop.

The thing that has impressed me the most in CECAM, asides from Freddy and Rosio's achievements, is the total transparency regarding all funding and exactly where it goes. Plus CECAM is wholly Bolivian!
They operate on a bare-bones basis here in Tiquipaya, involving their whole family and international volunteers to complete most, if not all work in-house.

Cochabamba does not have a recycling culture, therefore it can be awfully hard to source parts from old bicycles and sometimes even finding new components can be extremely difficult. 

The main challenges I see in this project is sourcing materials for feasible prices as well as designing and manufacturing all components with maximum end user life due to the rugged environment.