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Frequently Asked Questions

At Riders for Health, we deal with hundreds of queries every week. We hope that this frequently asked questions (FAQs) section will help you find information you need as quickly and easily as possible.

• Question: What does Riders do?
  
  

  Answer:

  Riders for Health’s goal is to ensure that 21st century health care reaches the millions of people who so desperately need it. According to the World Health Organization, over 11 million people die each year from a handful of preventable and treatable infectious diseases such as measles, malaria and diarrhoeal diseases. Professional public health workers have the necessary expertise to radically improve the health of people living in rural communities, but one health worker can be responsible for up to 20,000 people scattered across miles of hostile terrain. Delivering health care on foot or even by bicycle is nearly impossible.

  Riders for Health is tackling this problem by carefully managing reliable, motorised transport. We put in place maintenance and training systems to ensure that African health workers have reliable vehicles that never break down, and which are run for the longest possible time at the lowest possible cost. Working within our system of managed transportation, they are now able to do the job that they were trained to do and can repeatedly reach all the people they need to reach. The result is that today over 10.8 million women, men and children across Africa are able to access the kind of basic health care taken for granted in the developed world, sometimes for the first time in their lives.

  The second key element of Riders work is training. By training health workers in how to ride or drive vehicles safely, and by educating them in how to carry out the basic checks and maintenance that all vehicles need, Riders is able to help establish a culture of maintenance in the communities in which it works. In 2002 Riders established the International Academy of Vehicle Management in Harare, Zimbabwe, and so far the IAVM has trained over 1,200 delegates.

  Riders has developed what is increasingly being called a ‘social entrepreneurial’ approach to solving problems. Riders programmes are funded by its clients using Riders revolutionary cost per kilometre calculator. This calculates the true costs in running a fleet of vehicles, from maintenance to staff costs, from fuel to shipping. This helps governments and agencies budget accurately for transportation, and means that the programmes can be self funding. However, Riders is not a profit making organisation, so could not operate without the generous support of its fundraisers and supporters.

• Question: Why is the motorcycle community involved?
  
  

  Answer:

  In the mid 1980s Andrea and Barry Coleman, Randy Mamola and a group of volunteers were raising money in the Grand Prix paddock for Save the Children Fund (UK). In 1991 Andrea Coleman held the first ever Day of Champions at Brands Hatch, the event has now become an annual festival and the cornerstone of Riders fundraising year, attracting over 5000 people.

  The motorcycle community has continued to support Riders over the past 15 years as Riders has been an independent organisation. Riders fundraising within the motorcycle community is based on the principle that we should always add value to people experiences, whether this be at Day of Champions, or the chance to win a new motorcycle in the raffle, or through our helmet buses at British Superbike events across the UK.

  We are now the official charity of MotoGP and its promoters, Dorna, and we run events at MotoGP events all over the world. Riders now receives support from the motorcycle communities from countries across the globe. The world of motorcycle racing is unique in the world of sport in that it has given birth to an international charity such as Riders. We are also the official charity of the FIM.

  Riders also receives support at motorcycle events across the country from its network of volunteers.

• Question: What difference does your work make?
  
  

  Answer:

  Our work is having a huge impact. The international business consultancy OC&C carried out a pro-bono ‘due diligence’ report on Riders activities in Africa in 2005 and found that Riders “provides sustainable development benefits by creating self-sustaining, indigenised organisations” and that Riders provides:

  -Economic benefits

  Riders has dramatically reduced the fleet maintenance costs associated with health worker outreach in Zimbabwe and Gambia. There was a 62% reduction in annual motorcycle fleet maintenance cost per thousand people reached by health workers in Zimbabwe.

  -Increased health worker outreach

  Riders dramatically increases the number of health workers that can be kept mobile on a given budget. In a Riders supported area in Zimbabwe there are c.90% more health workers using vehicles.

  -Health benefits

  The mobility afforded by Riders enables health workers to diagnose and treat more patients: In 2002, after Riders began operating in the Gambia, there was a 261%, 75%, and 55% increase in diagnoses of diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection and malaria respectively, compared to 2001.

  Riders has helped increase the proportion of fully immunised infants in the Gambia (62% pre Riders, 73% post Riders), and decrease malaria deaths in Zimbabwe (21% decline in region served by motorcycles and supported by Riders, compared with a 44% increase in neighbouring region).

• Question: What percentage of donations is spent on projects vs. administration/marketing?
  
  

  Answer:

  Our most recent calculations show that 86.4% of our income is dedicated to our work in the field. The remaining 13.6% is invested in our advocacy work, which aims to demonstrate the importance of transport for development, as well as covering the costs of fundraising and administration.

• Question: Can I ride on the two-seat bike at Laguna Seca?
  
  

  Answer:

  The only place where Riders sells rides on the two seat Ducati is over the Day of Champions weekend at the British Grand Prix at Donington Park.

  In 2007, thanks to Ducati, we gave people the chance to bid for 2 seat rides at World Ducati Week in Misano, Italy. These were auctioned through our website, and if opportunities like this come up again you will find all the details on our website.

• Question: How can we get involved?
  
  

  Answer:

  Riders always needs volunteers to help at events. Riders attends bike shows and motorbike races, and Riders often needs help working on the ‘helmet bus’, or with selling raffle tickets and providing information at our stand.

  You can also help raise money for Riders by taking part in your own event, such as a sponsored ride. There are also rides organised by outside organisations that donate some of the proceedings to Riders for Health.

• Question: Can I work in your programmes in Africa?
  
  

  Answer:

  Riders does not use volunteers in any of its field programmes. All of the staff that Riders employs in its field programmes are nationals of the countries in which we work. Our policy of creating a sustainable solution to transport problems in Africa means that we are unable to accept these generous offers.

  All of the health workers that use our motorcycles in Africa are employed by the national ministries of health, or other local agencies, not by Riders. The staff that Riders does employ in Africa provide the regular preventative maintenance to make sure that the bikes keep running. We also have staff that train health workers in safe vehicle handling, and in the basic vehicle maintenance that keeps vehicles on the road between services. To manage the fleets of vehicles and the maintenance programmes and schedules effectively also requires a programme team in each country.

  Because our innovative work is managed by wholly-African teams, and not by volunteers or western expatriates it means that Riders is able to build a lasting base of knowledge and a culture of maintenance in the communities in which it works.