Over the course of 7 months I am attempting to cycle solo from London to Cape Town down the West Coast of Africa, while raising money for GiveDirectly. 17,000km, 21 Countries, 2 (enormous) Deserts, 1 Bike. This is without a doubt the biggest challenge I've ever personally taken on, and likely to be the be the toughest I'll ever do.

GiveDirectly isn't a charity with flashy large scale programmes. In fact its appeal and its effectiveness lies in its simplicity. GiveDirectly is a nonprofit that sends donations directly to the world’s poorest households as cash. Their philosophy centres around the belief that people living in poverty deserve the dignity to choose for themselves how best to improve their lives — cash enables that choice. They currently have operations in Bangladesh, DRC, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Turkey, Uganda, USA, and Yemen - many of which I will be cycling through on my journey.

I strongly believe that direct, unconditional cash transfers are one of the most powerful ways that we can positively impact the lives of the world's poorest, without the majority of our well-intentioned donations being wasted in a long chain of bureaucracy and ineffective programmes. This approach gives power to the individuals themselves to invest our donations in the ways which will help them the most, in the context their particular needs, skills and opportunities.

A large body of research rejects the idea that “you can’t just give money to poor people," and finds that unconditional cash transfers have substantial direct and indirect positive effects on communities. GiveDirectly's own programmes have had 20 published academic studies that support this, and if you are interested in finding out more do check out their website at https://www.givedirectly.org/research-on-cash-transfers/.

If you’d like to follow my journey through Africa, I’m posting regularly on Instagram @robbo_on_the_road