ConBici have been working hard to promote cycling in Spain, and are seeing real progress towards the development of a National Cycling Strategy.  After playing a leading role in establishing the National Cycling Council in 2014, and bringing cycling advocates into contact with political groups, the Council has begun to push for the creation of a National Cycling Strategy, and achieved success with the publication of a draft copy last year.

Further to this, ConBici has been attending meetings with the National Traffic Authority, to discuss the technical aspects of the NCS. This included meeting Maria Segui, the Director General of the NTA, and successfully lobbying for the inclusion of ConBici in the strategy meetings in October and November, as originally only one seat was given for cycling advocacy, to the National Cycling Council, but Manuel Martin was subsequently included in the meetings.

Coupled with this, in September, for the first time ConBici had their own stand at the national cycling exhibition ‘Unibike’. It was here that the online campaign to collect signatures asking political parties to include a national cycling plan in their election manifestos began. 

After the political parties published their manifestos, ConBici undertook an important piece of research, following up from the online campaign. They analysed the manifestos, to chart the level of commitment to cycling each party made. This is a useful tool not just for targeting advocacy, but also to be able to hold parties to account for the pledges they have made. The results are shown below. 

The success of these actions has relied a lot on lobbying and public relations activities, and increasing the time that the technical director, Manuel Martin spends on these activities has been beneficial.

2016 will also see the  launch of a new website that will also help publicise the group and consolidate the central role of ConBici, and will help with fundraising from various sources.

Financial support from the Leadership programme has been vital, and the workshops have helped develop better funding strategies, and improved the quality of lobbying techniques. The contacts and exchanges with similar organisations in Europe have also been helpful.

For 2016, the goals are to continue developing and expanding contacts within the Spanish government – however, given the current political situation in Spain, this is quite difficult! The work regarding the National Cycling Plan is ongoing, with the technical meetings continuing to take place, and ConBici has been in attendance to present their voice. The overall objective for 2016 is to win the new government for the National Cycling Plan, and promote the creation of a Parliamentary Cycling Group, endeavours for which we wish them the best of luck!