Bike4SDGs, ‘Mind Over Matter’ bike ride and more…
In 2017 UNDP in Belarus held bike ride supporting the Sustainable Development Goals – Bike4SDGs. The goal of the event include promoting healthy lifestyle, green transport, inclusive society, partnership, supporting tourism. The NGO Minsk Cycling Community participated in the ride and helped with the organization issues. The one-day 18 km Bike4SDGs bike ride took place on August 26 at the Augustow Canal and gathered around 400 participants, including diplomats, state officials, famous sportsmen and people with disabilities. Last year Bike4SDGs bike ride was held in Naliboksky Nature Reserve in Valožyn rayon of Belarus, also organized in cooperation with the team of the Minsk Cycling Community.
Photo: Alexey Basalay
Bike4SDGs 2017 was followed by 8-day bike ride #MindOverMatter: from 27 August to 3 September, group of people traveled over 400 km from Hrodna to Minsk to promote healthy lifestyles, popularize local tourism and draw public attention to mental disabilities. The group of participants included representatives of the UN in Belarus, UNDP Resident Representative Sanaka Samarasinha, diplomates, representatives of business, volunteers and board members of Minsk Cycling Community. During the bike ride cyclists were able to discover panoramic views of rural Belarus and visit UNDP project sites, interact with local communities, visit social and environmental objects. Photo album from last day of the bike ride is available via link.
Photo: Alexey Basalay
Sanaka Samarasinha personally thanked out team for the support of the bike rides, noticing our united and outstanding work.
In September Minsk Cycling Community started #minskbikestyle campaign. The aim of the campaign was to promote city cycling, cycling to work, as many people regard cycling only as sport and recreational activity. UNDP Resident Representative Sanaka Samarasinha took part in our campaign.
Photo: Alexey Basalay
In November 2017, a representative of UNDP in Belarus made a presentation on cycling conference PraRovar, which was organized by Minsk Cycling Community and Center for Ecological Solutions. Irina Usova, Project Manager of UNDP/GEF project “Belarus: Support of green urban planning in small and medium-sized cities of Belarus" informed participants of conference about ways of cycling development funding in presentation ‘UNDP projects and other opportunities for the development of cycling in Belarus’.
Photo: Alexey Basalay
The team of the Minsk Cycling Community thanks the UN representatives in Belarus for their attention to the green transport issues, for the support of common goals, projects and events and hopes for further fruitful cooperation.
