II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 437 

To establish within the Office of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment 

of the United States Agency for International Development a rural mobility program to promote mobility in rural communities through access 

to affordable, fit-for-purpose bicycles, provide support to sustainably increase access to rural areas, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2023 

Mr. DURBIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To establish within the Office of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment of the United States Agency for 

International Development a rural mobility program to 

promote mobility in rural communities through access 

to affordable, fit-for-purpose bicycles, provide support to 

sustainably increase access to rural areas, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bicycles for Rural Afri5 can Transport Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RURAL MOBILITY PROGRAM IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRI2 CA. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 

5 United States Agency for International Development 

6 (referred to in this Act as ‘‘USAID’’) shall establish, 

7 within the Office of Gender Equality and Women’s 

8 Empowerment, a rural mobility program (referred to 

9 in this section as the ‘‘Program’’) to carry out the 

10 purposes described in paragraph (2), including 

11 through grants made to eligible nongovernmental 

12 partner organizations, prioritizing those organiza13 tions with demonstrated success conducting rural 

14 mobility programs in the region to so carry out such 

15 purposes. 

16 (2) PURPOSE.—The Program shall focus on 

17 country-driven projects within sub-Saharan Africa— 

18 (A) to promote rural communities’ access 

19 to critical services and opportunities, including 

20 education, health care, and livelihood opportuni21 ties, through access to affordable, fit-for-pur22 pose bicycles; and 

23 (B) to provide support to sustainably in24 crease access to critical services, such as edu25 cation, health care, and livelihood opportunities 

26 in rural areas, including through support for 


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1 rural-based mechanics, access to spare parts, 

2 reduction of social and gender-based stigma, 

3 and community project management capacity. 

4 (3) PARTNERSHIPS.—To the greatest extent 

5 practicable, the Program shall partner with existing 

6 entities overseas that have successful models for pro7 viding access to affordable bicycles to achieve devel8 opment objectives. 

9 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

10 carry out this section, there is authorized to be ap11 propriated— 

12 (A) $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 

13 (B) $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 

14 (C) $6,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 

15 (D) $6,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; and 

16 (E) $12,000,000 for fiscal year 2028 and 

17 for each fiscal year thereafter. 

18 (b) REPORT.— 

19 (1) PRIOR PROJECTS.—Not later than 30 days 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad21 ministrator of USAID shall submit a report to the 

22 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the 

23 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, the 

24 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep25 resentatives, and the Committee on Appropriations 


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1 of the House of Representatives regarding projects 

2 carried out by USAID during each of the fiscal 

3 years 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 relating to the 

4 purposes described in subsection (a)(2). The report 

5 shall— 

6 (A) identify in which countries USAID em7 bedded rural bicycle mobility into strategies, 

8 programs, and projects of USAID; 

9 (B) describe the mechanisms by which 

10 rural bicycle mobility was so embedded; 

11 (C) specify the number of bicycles distrib12 uted each fiscal year; 

13 (D) assess the outcomes for and impacts 

14 on participants in such projects; and 

15 (E) assess USAID’s efforts to disseminate 

16 lessons learned from such projects. 

17 (2) CURRENT PROJECTS.—Not later than De18 cember 30, 2025, and not later than each December 

19 30 thereafter, the Administrator of USAID shall 

20 submit a report to the congressional committees list21 ed in paragraph (1) regarding projects carried out 

22 by USAID during the immediately preceding fiscal 

23 year. Each such report shall include information reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Mar 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S437.IS S437

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1 lating to the matters described in subparagraphs (A) 

2 through (E) of paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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