There is much in these outputs for uptake and upscaling. But what happened on the ground and to what extent can we claim that the support we offered resulted in more facilities for cycling and more cyclists on the road? I agree that this is what counts in the end and we notice tangible progress in some cities, e.g. Rio de Janeiro, Nanded and Cape Town. However the aim of the program was not to provide technical assistance to local projects, but capacity building to help bring about policy development. It takes some decades of strong commitment to make a city really cycling friendly, from door-to-door, wherever you start, wherever you are.  Even in the Netherlands, with less than 17 million inhabitants on a scale like big metro pole cities, where almost 30% of all trips are done by bike and you find the highest level of integration of cycling requirements in planning and design, the governments keep on investing in cycling facilities with almost 500 million euro per annum. The Netherlands distinguishes from other countries in cycling because civil society has always been a supporter of cycling policies, many actors contributed to knowledge building and governments remain committed.

Therefore I think, as important as the outputs of the BPP are contributions to local, national and international policy processes. In this respect there are many factors of influence and the impact of the BPP ranges from slight to rather significant. Having said that, we notice that many professionals in the partner cities claim they have gained a lot of trust in planning and designing for cycling, that a cycling academic network has grown with partners on four continents, that regional networks of civil society organizations on cycling and active transport exchange experiences and join forces in Latin America, Africa and India, that the Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport emphasizes that cycling should receive more priority on the climate agenda for transport, that many (capital) cities claim they want to promote cycling and that Dutch organizations in the public and private sector and in civil society want to help bring more synergy in international cooperation on cycling inclusive urban sustainable transport.  

Some observations that may come from some as a surprise were, that committed local cyclists organizations are indispensable to properly target a municipality, that many local governments struggle with translation of increased awareness about the relevance of cycling into concrete interventions, and that research and tool development is needed for a transition to climate intelligent sustainable transport, in particular at national and global policy level.

We are thankful to all our partners, to all experts who provided inputs, to the Dutch Minister who provided core funding, to all others who supported in whatever way, that we could implement the Bicycle Partnership Program  and leave behind experiences, expertise and products for application.

The last 8 years I-CE was able to support policy processes in the southern part of the world through a subsidy from the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation. Due to drastic reforms in Dutch policy that come with major shifts in budget allocation on top of cuts, we have to do without a new subsidy.

However, the results of our capacity building activities and contributions to institutional structures for cycling inclusive policy development, are sustainable. To further upscale our contribution, we will base our strategy on the cooperation we developed with a great number and variety of partners.

But I-CE has to change directions for fund raising and started to approach a much broader range of options. The demand for our unique expertise on cycling inclusive policies is only increasing. There is a clear need for tools that can bring the many benefits of cycling on board of mobility plans and transport strategies. Cycling is a catalyst and indispensable contributor to help make the transition to sustainable low carbon transport. Our development programs brought a lot of new experience in partnerships with governments, civil society, international bodies, universities and agencies. The context for cycling has changed and we can bring capacity building, technical assistance and studies in support of different actors. I-CE works both with subsidies and on assignment.

The first signs of a reshuffling happened in the Netherlands, where the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment is our main partner in the central government now. With the Dutch Cyclist Union, the Cycling Council and the Ministry, I-CE will explore the feasibility of a public private partnership on international cooperation on sustainable transport that takes the full benefits of cycling on board. This public private partnership wants to become thé channel for international cooperation between Dutch parties and parties from abroad. It will be an embassy that contributes to a more sustainable world and more climate intelligent approach of transport, thereby facilitating social inclusion, economic growth and health promotion.