Project “Urban cycling in Belarus”

Brief description:

The background of preparation of the project is rapid cycling development in Belarus since 2010, and especially since 2012, when Minsk, Grodno and several other cities faced a growing number of urban cyclists. This situation provides a good background for active public participation in the process of cycling policy development as an important part of mobility development in Belarus.
The main idea of the project is providing complex public support to the process of cycling development in Belarus, through participation in policy formulation, awareness raising, and creation of a strong network of cycling organizations in different regions of Belarus.

The project has the following specific objectives:

1. To improve national cycling policy and regulations, which creates favorable conditions for promoting urban cycling in Belarus
2. To get local public and communities actively involved into cycling promotion and converting municipalities of Belarus into cycling-friendly municipalities
3. To build strong capacity of non-governmental organizations to advocate for urban cycling and working on cycling development
4. Key stakeholders include non-governmental organizations: Center of Environmental Solutions, Minsk Cycling Community, local cycling groups and activists in different regions and governmental organizations: Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Road Police of Belarus, Ministry of Environment, Minsk/ Brest/Grodno City Executive committees.

The implementation of the project will be structured into the following thematic modules:

Module 1: Policy monitoring and development
Key activities within the module are the following:

1. Creation of a roadmap for improvement of national policy on cycling development in Belarus.
2. Arranging public monitoring of implementation of existing cycling policy documents in Belarus
3. Development of proposals for national standards for urban and tourism cycling infrastructure, based on appropriate EU (Dutch, Polish, German) and standards.
4. Development and promoting measures for improvement of conditions of participation of cyclists in transport movement
5. Providing necessary expert support to local municipalities in development of local cycling programs

Module 2: Capacity building
Key activities within the module are the following:

1. Creation and support of an informal network of public cycling organizations and initiatives in Belarus
2. Ensuring constant cooperation between Belarussian, European, Ukrainian, and Russian cycling organizations
3. Running a mini-grant support program for local cycling development projects and initiatives
4. Arranging annual conference Veloforum as a central place for meeting of all cycling stakeholders

Module 3: Public participation
Key activities within the module are the following:

1. Development and dissemination of awareness-raising and informational materials on cycling development among public
2. Development of informational public web resource on cycling development on Belarus
3. Development of a network of public cycling tourist routes in Belarus.

Logical sequence of activities:

1. Assessment of the situation
2. Bringing together various local and national stakeholders and creation a roadmap
3. Arranging of public monitoring of implementation of policies, regulation and available local cycling programs and budgets, as well as developing and providing public policy input to relevant stakeholders
4. Promotion of urban cycling concepts among local authorities and municipalities
5. Development drafts of technical standards for cycling infrastructure as well as assisting local authorities on preparation of local urban cycling programs in municipalities
6. Capacity building of cycling CSOs in Belarus, including organizing of informal network of cycling CSOs, arranging annual VeloForum conference and bike-camps for activists.
7. Establishing links between Belarusian, and EU/Ukranian/Russian cycling CSOs.
8. Education of transport specialists, national and local authorities representatives, and interested public about best examples of integration of urban cycling into transport strategies, development of urban cycling programs, and other issues.
9. Running of Small grants program, which will enable local cycling organizations to implement, including infrastructure improvement and local urban cycling program development projects in co-operation with local authorities
10. PR campaign and intensive media work will promote urban cycling among public and local authorities.
11. Creating interest and conditions for local authorities and communities to develop cycling tourism.

Implementation of the proposed Action will lead to the following 5 main specific results:

1. Belarus on national and regional levels has improved cycling policy, regulations, and quality standards for urban cycling infrastructure;
2. Cycling CSOs in Belarus have improved organizational capacity and knowledge on cycling promotion, methods of public monitoring over urban transport policies and play an active role in cycling advocacy in municipalities;
3. Cycling CSOs in Belarus are well-integrated into European and international cycling movement;
4. Public support and demand for cycling promotion/policies in Belarus municipalities exist;
5. Local authorities and local communities demonstrate sustainable demand for development of cycling tourism.

It is planned that the project will be implemented within 30 months, starting from March 2017.
The indicative budget of the action is 630,173.65 Euro with 560854.55 Euro provided by the EU.

Lead Beneficiary: Center for Environmental Solutions, Minsk, Belarus (www.ecoidea.by).
Partner Beneficiary: Minsk Cycling Community, Minsk, Belarus (www.bike.org.by).