The Overland Expo Foundation is proud to announce the awarding of a $7,500 Change Your World Travel Grant to Engines for Change for their Community Motorcycle Program, a project that embodies the spirit of giving back while exploring the world.
The Change Your World Travel Grant was created to support travelers who use their journeys as a force for good. Whether through community support, environmental stewardship, or educational outreach, this grant celebrates overlanders who believe travel can leave a positive and lasting impact on the places and people they encounter.
ABOUT Engines for Change
Around the world, people use motorcycles as tools to address today’s most pressing issues, including environmental, social, and socioeconomic problems. Often, these individuals are unsung heroes who are doing the work without due credit.
Engines for Change supports these changemakers by building community, offering resources and educational tools, and developing programs that use motorcycles as tools for social and environmental justice.
The Impact
The Engines for Change (E4C) ‘Community Motorcycle Program’ is a motorcycle education pilot program that trains teachers, staff, and students—especially women—in basic motorcycle riding, safety, and introductory maintenance.
Across the Global South, many people in remote communities must travel long distances to reach critical resources such as hospitals, schools, markets, and even friends and family. In many of these places, cars are often unaffordable, public transportation is unreliable or nonexistent, and walking or biking is physically demanding and distance-limited. Motorcycles offer an elegant solution: they are relatively affordable, highly capable, frequently shared within families, and used for commuting, transporting goods and people, and accessing essential services.
However, even where motorcycles are prevalent, it is often only men who have been taught how to ride. This disproportionately disenfranchises women, as they have less opportunity to efficiently travel outside of the home. It also limits their ability to pursue technical careers, as they often have not had as much exposure or opportunity to maintain motorcycles and understand their mechanics. This disproportionately restricts women’s mobility and limits their access to technical skills and economic opportunity.
The E4C Community Motorcycle Program is working to change that, providing education around the use and maintenance of motorcycles to those living in under-resourced areas of the world. The program is currently being piloted in partnership with Long Way Home at the Hero School in Comalapa, Guatemala. Long Way Home is a nonprofit that uses trash such as old tires, glass bottles, and other landfill-bound materials to construct schools in rural communities, as well as installs composting latrines, clean cookstoves, water filters, and floors to homes in need in the surrounding communities.
Why the Change Your World Travel Grant Matters
Overlanding provides a unique opportunity to connect with diverse landscapes and cultures. With that opportunity comes the ability — and responsibility — to contribute positively. The Change Your World Travel Grant helps turn good intentions into real-world impact by funding projects that:
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Support communities encountered during travel
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Promote sustainability and stewardship
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Encourage cultural exchange and education
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Demonstrate ethical and responsible overlanding
The Overland Expo Foundation believes that small actions can create meaningful change. By supporting projects like Engines for Change, the Foundation continues to invest in a future where overlanding is synonymous with stewardship, service, and respect for our shared world.
Learn more about Engines for Change
For more information about Engines for Change and how you can change the world visit their website: enginesforchange.org.
Become a member of the Overland Expo Foundation to help fund similar on-the-ground projects. Visit our News & Projects page to learn more about past projects.
By investing in people and places, the Overland Expo Foundation is proud to support programs that use adventure as a pathway to lasting impact—on the trail, in communities, and in the lives of those who serve.