Fika (formerly Bridges to Prosperity)

ULALO is here. A community that needed no direction. A story that was always worth telling. Watch now: vimeo.com/1175553598 #UlaloFilm 🎥: Directed by Isaac Oboth of African Storytellers 📷: Robb Hohmann

In rural areas, a single heavy rain can turn a river crossing into a barrier, isolating schools, clinics, markets, and water sources. This #AfricaDay, under Agenda 2063’s vision of a resilient and integrated Africa, resilience is more than adaptation policies. It’s whether communities remain connected when conditions shift. At Fika, we see safe crossings as part of that solution: enabling continuity of access, even in climate shocks.

Last week, Fika Ethiopia and @Helvetas met with the Agricultural Transformation Institute to discuss what rural connectivity actually enables: reaching markets, schools, health services, and agricultural support. The conversation centered on how trail bridges, feeder trails, and rural access mapping intersect with Ethiopia's Rural Transformation Pathways. We're glad to be building it alongside partners who see that too.

Twatashye ikiraro cyo mu kirere cyagenewe abanyamaguru cya Kamonyo, gihuza Imirenge ya Rugabano na Gashali. Ni icya karindwi cyuzuye, mu biraro 10 turimo kubaka muri uyu mwaka byagenewe ingengo y’Akarere ya Frw asaga miliyoni 490, hiyongeraho kandi ay’umufatanyabikorwa @fikaorg

For millions of children, the only way to school is long and dangerous. Rural bridges create safer routes and shorter distances that avoid busy roads with no pedestrian protection. #waystoschool

We spent a week at #ITF2026 with the global transport community, and there’s one message we kept coming back to: corridors don't connect communities if the first mile isn't funded. Three sessions, one booth, and conversations we’re looking forward to continuing. #ITFSummit #FundingResilientTransport #RuralAccess

⭐Muri uyu mwaka wa 2025/2026, twiyemeje kubaka ibiraro 10 byo mu kirere by’abanyamaguru 🔷6 byararangiye 🔶4 birimo kugana ku musozo 🔷Ingengo y’imari y’Akarere ni Frw miliyoni 493, hakiyongeraho ay'umufatanyabikorwa @fikaorg ✅Koroshya ubuhahirane & kubungabunga ubuzima.

Kwita ku buzima bw’umuturage mbere y’ibindi byose no guharanira iterambere rye, ni kimwe mu byatumye Akarere ka Karongi kubaka ikiraro cyo mu kirere gihuza utugari twa Shyembe na Mubuga mu Murenge wa Murambi cyatashwe none, gitwaye Frw asaga miliyoni 80.

Every culture, every language, every corner of the world: Mothers are the reason communities hold together. They’re the first teachers, the quiet planners, and the ones who make sure everyone arrives at the table, at school, at the end of a hard day, safely. Happy Mother's Day to every mother, everywhere. Thank you for keeping your community whole.

School enrollment numbers don’t always tell the whole story. For millions of mothers, sending a child to school is a risk calculation, and behind every absent child is often the unfortunate reality that, today, the path was too dangerous. This Mother’s Day, we’re thinking about every mother who has ever had to make that calculation, and every community still waiting for a safer option.

We are launching a cost-effectiveness pilot study (Cash with Bridges) to examine a critical question: Can direct cash transfers, following bridge construction, accelerate and amplify gains from market participation? Huge shoutout to Team Buyi for the hard work! We can’t wait to see the results of this pilot and what it means for the future of rural development.

Exciting progress is happening in Sironko District! Decking works have officially begun at the Buyi bridge site, one of 10 private-sector sites along the Namagumba-Budadiri Road Corridor financed by the @AfDB_Group. While the bridge is being built by the team at Bole Engineering Limited under our supervision, this site is also home to a unique collaboration with @GiveDirectly and @GiveWell .

Over the last 25 years, we've learned that access creates connections. We asked eight members of our team across programs, job functions, and tenures to write a love letter. Not to the organization, but to every person who has ever crossed one of our bridges. Read them: simplebooklet.com/fika2026_alove… If you’ve ever crossed a Fika-built or supported bridge, we want to hear from you. Share your experience!

These injustices shape how we build. At Fika, environmental stewardship is embedded in how we design and deliver infrastructure. As we enter our 25th year with an expanded portfolio of practical, low-cost, climate-smart rural infrastructure, our commitment is simple: build only what’s needed, exactly where it’s needed, and make sure it lasts

Today is #EarthDay. We want to say something that doesn’t get said enough in our sector: The rural communities we partner with contributed almost nothing to the climate crisis, and yet, they’re absorbing some of its worst consequences. Unpredictable floods, washed-out paths, harvests lost overnight.

25 years ago, we committed to a belief so simple it shouldn't need stating: everyone has the right to get where they need to go, safely. Since then, we've partnered with governments and communities to build 800+ bridges worldwide and have watched over 5 million people move freely. To school. To the market. To the hospital. To their homes. We didn't count the crossings. We counted the lives on the other side. We will not stop until every person, everywhere, can safely get where they need to go. Join us for the next 25 years. Fika.org | 25 Years of Arrivals

We honor the lives lost and the families forever changed, humbled by the resilience and unity we witness working alongside Rwandan communities every day. Kwibuka calls us to reflect, uphold humanity, and remain committed to a future where connection and inclusion strengthen the bonds of every community. Remembrance carries responsibility. #Rwanda

The fashion show at the center of ULALO was brought to life by four Zambian designers who saw the assignment for what it was: proof that this community has always been worth celebrating. #UlaloFilm Watch now: vimeo.com/1175553598?fl=… 🎥: Directed by Isaac Oboth of African Storytellers 📷: Robb Hohmann

A bridge in Kasenga became a runway, and it turns out nothing is more striking than a structure built to carry people forward, dressed in designs made to honor them. #UlaloFilm Haven't watched ULALO yet? vimeo.com/1175553598?fl=… 🎥: Directed by Isaac Oboth of African Storytellers 📷: Robb Hohmann

In Kasenga, "The Bridge" means the power to get what you want, when you want it. The storytellers of Kasenga are showing the world what "safe arrival" actually looks like. Watch ULALO: vimeo.com/1175553598?fl=… 🎥: Directed by Isaac Oboth of African Storytellers 📷: Robb Hohmann #UlaloFilm

The bridge in Kasenga does something simple. It makes arrival safe. But what happens after people arrive safely is where the real story begins. Watch ULALO: vimeo.com/1175553598?fl=… 🎥: Directed by Isaac Oboth of African Storytellers 📷: Robb Hohmann #UlaloFilm