MayaPedal - Bicimáquinas (translates as "bicycle machines")

About Us

We are a non-governmental organization located in San Andrés Itzapa, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. We started in 1997, working with a group of Canadians from the organization PEDAL. Following a vision for sustainable development in Guatemala, we became constituted under local control as Asociación Maya Pedal in 2001. We recycle used bicycles to build pedal-powered machines, bicimáquinas, which support and help facilitate the work of small-scale, self-sustainable projects. Through this work we hope to contribute to the conservation of the environment, the health or the Guatemalan people, and the productivity of the local economy.

Mission and Vision

To support the basic family economy, through the design and distribution of bicycle machines, providing an efficient alternative for the rural development of Guatemala.

To be a non-governmental organization that promotes the use of bicycle machines through programs, projects, partnerships, activities, and actions, also promoting the use of alternative transportion using bicycles and tricycles

Objectives

To recycle and reuse bicycles.
To design and produce pedal-powered machines that meet the necessities of communities.
To raise consciousness, to educate, and to inform communities about the use of pedal-powered technology as an element of ecological sustainability.
To produce, promote, and commercialize bicycle machines and the products made with them, with the ultimate purpose of being a self-sustainable organization, and to help associated groups also achieve this goal.
To establish alliances with national and international groups that have similar goals and that have the capacity to transfer pedal-powered technology to other areas of the world.
To distribute pedal-powered machines for use in peasant agriculture, domestic work, and small business.
To contribute to the local economy, to improve productivity, health, and the surrounding environments of rural families.
To share the experiences of the organization through community-based environmental education, and print articles about the benefits of pedal-powered technology.
To develop technology that does not rely on energy sources such as electricity, fossil fuels, or on agro-industrial techniques.
And to conserve our environment.

The website...