2. “The Leadership Programme united cyclists and made the
Federation happen. It gave us boost and the possibility to hire
our first employee who has been able to improve the finances
of the Federation. All of this wouldn't have happened without
the Leadership Programme or it would have taken years.
Now we have a strong organization with a very promising
future.”
Finnish Cyclists’ Federation (FCF)
Situation before Leadership Programme participation:
The cycling advocacy movement in Finland was active with a large number
of volunteers working to promote cycling at a local level. However, people
working on local level had limited resources and a platform for national
collaboration was missing.
Desired change and current outcome:
The local cycling associations wanted to improve national level cycling
advocacy by uniting the local organizations under one roof. The funding
from the Leadership Programme helped to establish the Finnish Cyclists'
Federation, built an effective strategy and communications plan for it and to
create the base for its funding. Today the new federation has two employ-
ees and represents over 2,000 cyclists across the country.
The FCF has great plans for the future.
The federation has recently received funding from Finnish Road Administra-
tion to expand its organization to all major cities and to promote winter
cycling. FCF is also planning to establish its own industry club. A lot has
also been done in terms of lobbying. FCF is currently running a “Pedal
Election Café” - campaign related to the 2015 parliament elections. The
idea is to make candidates discuss issues related to transport policy and to
advocate FCF’s goals to the political parties.
3. “The biggest help form the Leadership Programme was its
concept – the cycling industry supporting cycling NGOs.
We made it clear to the Bulgarian cycling industry that all
our activities will result in increasing the cycling market and
therefore they should support us as well. We do our best to
be visible especially to the decision makers and the profes-
sional audience. “
Bulgarian Cycling Association (BCA)
Situation before Leadership Programme participation:
Before entering the LP, BCA was a small organization ran by volunteers
and it lacked financial support. BCA had already worked to identify the
main obstacles to developing cycling in Bulgaria but the lack of capacity
prevented the organization from finding solutions to these issues.
Desired change and current outcome:
BCA wanted to grow as an organization by attracting new members from
two main target groups: the everyday cyclists and the professional audi-
ence. To attract the first target group BCA now organizes weekly meetings
with supporters and members. To reach the second target group that
consist of cycling industry, employers, politicians and decision makers BCA
started an initiative called Velolobby which aims to create a platform for
dialogue between these stakeholders. The aim is to assure multilevel
support for cycling.
4. “With the Leadership Programme we are more and more
involved in cycling. National campaigns such as
Bike2Work have expanded to 25 cities already, our Traffic
Calming and Safe Routes to Schools initiative attracts more
cities and schools and the 2-3 large cycle events are gain-
ing momentum. However, creating a nationwide organiza-
tion goes far beyond these successes and is asking for col-
laborative efforts of several organizations.”
Czech Environmental Partnership Foundation (Nadace
Partnerství)
Situation before Leadership Programme participation:
Before joining the LP, Nadace Partnerství focused on cycle tourism and
greenways. Now the organization is more involved in cycling advocacy
than before.
Desired change and current outcome:
Nadace Partnerství wants to bring Czech cycling organization together
under one umbrella federation. This is made challenging by the fact that
most of these organizations are not traditional membership organizations
and some of them are not even legal entities. With the support and best
practices gained from the Leadership Programme Nadace Partnerství
works to establish a national coalition.
Nadace Partnerství has also improved its cycling advocacy work and runs
several successful campaigns at local and national level such as the
Bike2Work campaign in Brno and a City Bike Point project related to first
aid services for cyclists in larger cities across the Czech Republic.
5. “Any communication campaign needs appropriate
resources. Without financial help we can hardly find
resource for this kind of work. Communication is a key ele-
ment for membership growth. “
FIAB - Federazione Italiana Amici della Bicicletta
(Federation of Friends of the Bicycle in Italy)
Situation before Leadership Programme participation:
Before joining the Leadership Programme, FIAB had fewer members and
less media exposure.
Desired change and current outcome:
FIAB wanted a new imagine that would respond to younger people’s
demands on sustainable mobility. With the help of LP funding FIAB hired a
communicator who builds creative campaigns to improve the perception of
FIAB among Italian cyclists and to spread awareness among Italian politi-
cians about the urgency of their commitment for a change in the mobility
patterns. FIAB has also succesfully increased its pesence in the media and
social networks.
6. “The ECF Leadership Programme enabled Cyclist.ie to
employ a part-time National Cycling Coordinator (NCC)
through a strategic partnership with An Taisce, The National
Trust for Ireland. In essence, having a NCC has improved
coordination and cohesion within the network. Through being
based within An Taisce, a statutory consultee, and having
access to all of the planning applications they receive, the
NCC is able to alert local groups all around Ireland of the
statutory processes underway and support them in making
timely, well informed, strong submissions on various transport
schemes and issues. This is making a difference on the
ground. Furthermore, the knowledge of all of these processes
feeds into more effective national level lobbying. In short, we
are more clued-in when meeting these figures through the
work of the NCC.”
Cyclist.ie – Ireland’s National Cycling Lobby Group
Situation before Leadership Programme participation:
Cyclist.ie was a loose alliance of several cycle campaigning organizations in
Ireland. The member groups varied enormously in size and in their level of
organization. All work was conducted on a voluntary basis with no profes-
sional coordinating dimension. In regard to decision-making, there was no
'Executive' which met on a regular basis. Furthermore, Cyclist.ie had no formal
funding to facilitate it in its transition into being a 'much more grown-up'
organization.
Desired change and current outcome:
Cyclist.ie wished to improve its effectiveness as an advocacy body with better
coordination of local level lobbying activities and stronger national level
lobbying. Organizationally, Cyclist.ie wanted a better structure and a portfolio
of funders.
Cyclisti.ie now has far better coordination of activities at a local level, and its
member groups have succeeded in getting appointed to the most important
local decision-making transport committees. Cyclist.ie’s national level lobbying
has stepped up a gear as the organization engages with politicians and
senior officials in health, transport and tourism. In short, Cyclist.ie is now shap-
ing policy and practice at local and national levels.
Internally, Cyclits.ie is better organized as regards to decision-making and
communications. It is now a limited company, building on the solid organiza-
tional and legal foundations of its largest member group, Dublin Cycling
Campaign. Cyclist.ie now also has a fundraising plan and has already
succeeded in bringing the main players of the Irish Bicycle Importers behind it.
7. “We are still at the beginning of the Leadership Pro-
gramme, but we think not only the financial support has
been important in ensuring that our organisation has pro-
fessional staff but also the advice and know-how from the
ECF staff members has been important”.
ConBici – Coordinatora En Defensa De La Bici
Situation before Leadership Programme participation:
The political arena in Spain is transforming from a 2 party scenario to a
system of 4 middle sized parties. This change offers opportunity and chal-
lenges: more political parties to reach but also more diversity and more
pluralized debate. Cycling stands up as an opportunity to improve two
social aspects: the lack of jobs and the quality of life in cities.
Desired change and current outcome:
ConBici wanted to improve its lobbying and advocacy work. With the
financial support of the LP they are successfully raising awareness about the
benefits of cycling among the Spanish politicians.
Aim of ConBici’s short term, high impact advocacy is to include proposals
from their National Cycling Plan in the parties’ manifestos for the regional
and especially national elections. To gain additional support ConBici also
involves the Cyclists Group of the Parliament in the electoral debate.
8. “We believe participating in the ECF Leadership Pro-
gramme helps to promote biking in Sweden and reach
younger persons, which leads to a lot of new members and
a bigger impact on the politics.”
Cykelfrämjandet, The Cycling Promotion in Sweden
Situation before Leadership Programme participation:
In the past Cykelfrämjande was mainly involved in facilitating cycle tourism
but now the association works to promote cycling on a wider spectrum
ranging from political advocacy to industry cooperation.
Desired change and current outcome:
Cykelfrämjandet wanted to improve its advocacy work by placing an
office in Stockholm and by starting a section for public relations and mar-
keting. This would make it easier for them to meet with politicians and other
advocacy organisations seated in the capital. Furthermore, Cykelfrämjan-
det wanted to establish an umbrella organisation for national cycling asso-
ciations to improve cooperation with other stakeholders.
Cykelfrämjandet has since had ongoing contact with the members of the
Swedish parliament and have been consulted in relation to national cycling
strategies.
Cykelfrämjandet has also deepened its engagement with other cycling
relevant stakeholders. It recently established an umbrella organisation with
participants from bike racing, bicycle industry, tourism and environmental
sectors. Last year Cykelfrämjandet also launched an app for smart phones,
together with Sweden’s biggest insurance company and the bicycle indus-
try and they are planning on launching an update for the app.
9. “The Leadership Programme grant and capacity building
assistance has helped AVK reach its organizational devel-
opment goal of tripling its numbers to 300. Helping AVK
build our advocacy capacity has more than paid off with
our now strong voice harbouring trust from the local popula-
tion and in general boosting the greater societal interest in
cycling.”
AVK – Kyiv Cyclists’ Association, Ukraine
Situation before Leadership Programme participation:
AVK was a group of motivated cycling advocates who received a grant
from ECF’s Leadership Programme in 2011 to professionalize their organi-
zation.
Desired change and current outcome:
AVK wanted to grow in members and extend its work on national level. This
they wanted to do by concentrating on capacity building of local NGOs
and gaining influence as an advisor to city councils on cycling develop-
ment plans.
Considering the specific context of Ukraine AVK’s achievements are
remarkable. AVK has played a key role in advising 5 cities across Ukraine
in the design of cycling development programmes. Leading on from this,
they have also been instrumental in recommendations to the Ministry of
Regional Development on the planning of cycling infrastructure.
AVK has also managed to secure 500.000 Euro funding on cycling infra-
structure from the city of Kiev. This amount is expected to be enough for the
first stage of the Kyiv cycling plan implementation among which there are
long cycling routes across the city.
To ensure knowledge dissemination on the regional level, AVK has also
successfully organised Veloforum in 2014, the largest regional cycling
conference with over 150 participants from 7 countries.
10. “Leadership Programme has allowed for more
bicycle advocacy, more members and more public
relations work.“
Radlobby Österreich (Austrian Bicycle Lobby)
Situation before Leadership Programme participation:
After the founding of Radlobby Österreich, the he federation of all Austrian
bicycle advocacy association, in 2013 the organisation had a small but
active team that required more resources to scale up the its activities.
Desired change and current outcome:
After successfully developing and implementing a modern membership
campaign concept, Radlobby Österreich wanted to hire additional staff to
be better able to focus on bicycle advocacy. It also wished to strengthen
cooperation with the federation’s regional groups and the larger number of
volunteers it has across the country
The increase of qualified staff has allowed Radlobby Österreich to improve
the education, coaching and coordination of its members and volunteers.
To empower its members, Radlobby Österreich has organised several
workshops to form a common strategy. This in turn has up-scaled its advo-
cacy work.
Through its political online platform "Radpublik", Radlobby Österreich
successfully promotes the status of cycling in national transport politics and
it currently uses the platform for its campaign to improve transport possibili-
ties of bicycles on trains. Radlobby Österreich also recently presented its
"Bicycle Strategy for Austria" to the political parties. This strategy was
based on the public voting via the "Radpublik" –platform.
