‘Bike to School’ in Morocco: huge success for the Foundation-sponsored project
The project is being deployed in the Azilal province, where middle-high schools and high-schools are all located in the main city. For the children living in the villages, it quickly becomes an issue to get to school, as no bus service is available. Children must walk an average distance of 5-6 kilometers, very often under extreme weather conditions (temperatures spanning from -8°C in the winter at night, to 48°C in the summer during daytime). Through Bike to School, Faurecia volunteers want to tackle this mobility challenge and the unequal access to education.
On March 28th, the Faurecia Morocco team officially distributed the bikes and equipment to the beneficiaries: 100 children from 7 remote villages. The bikes handover ceremony gathered the children (each one being accompanied by a family member), a dozen Faurecia Morocco volunteers and representatives from local authorities. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was held in strict compliance with Faurecia’s ‘Safer Together’ protocol.
The children (50 boys and 50 girls, aged from 11 to 17) were selected through three main criteria: social background (level of financial resources), distance from the school and accessibility by bike (steep terrain of the Atlas region).
They all received a mountain bike to ease their day-to-day mobility, together with the necessary equipment to drive safely: helmet, waterproof anorak, maintenance kit. Last but least, all of them were provided with a 3-year free access to a maintenance and repair service carried out by a local association: Association Ouaourint pour le Développement et la Coopération.
I would like to thank all the people who made the dream come true! The Morocco team, the Faurecia Foundation, and our local partners in Azilal. Through ‘Bike to School’, our goal is to improve children’s daily mobility. Our project has a significant social impact, it answers the three topics covered by the Foundation – education, mobility, and the environment – and could easily be reproduced in other countries where Faurecia operates. Maybe this is just the beginning of the adventure!
I am proud to see ‘Bike to School’ becoming a reality, and I would like to thank the Morocco team for the solidarity and engagement they demonstrated. Supporting this kind of project is all the more meaningful for an automotive leader such as Faurecia, because we believe that improved mobility can lead to more freedom, easier access to education and to a brighter future for the children, here and elsewhere.