Bridges create connection.
Almost 1 billion people around the world don't have safe access to critical resources like health care, education, or employment due to an impassable river. With a single innovation, we are able to impact households across multiple dimensions.

Rural isolation is a root cause of poverty.
Connection is the critical foundation for economic opportunity, healthcare, and education.
We believe that safe access is a human right. When a community has year-round access to key resources like health care, education, markets and employment, residents have greater freedom - freedom to choose how they better their lives.

Connection creates economic opportunity & increases income.
Safe access unlocks economic opportunity for a community. Farmers are able to sell their crops at outside markets or access agricultural inputs like fertilizer or seed. Bridges ensure consistent access to non-agricultural jobs. Women save time on household activities, spurring an increase in women entering the work force.

Last mile connectivity goes beyond transforming local economies. When a rural community is networked to the world around them, they participate in the national and global economy, bringing transformation to the greater population as well as to their local community.

Reliable access to health care & schools improves wellness & education levels.
Easier access to healthcare leads to increased care-seeking behavior; when a community has safe access to a clinic, there is an 18% increase in visits. In an emergency, easier access means a more likely positive outcome. A healthier individual is better able to work or attend school.

Investing in education results in an increased likelihood for economic success. Due to safe access, we see increased attendance in schools by both teachers and students alike.

Connection is the linchpin for other solutions.
Rural communities, governments, and partner organizations are working hard on a multitude of programs and solutions around health care, education, and economic opportunity. But solutions only work if people can access them.

A community health worker cannot be effective if she cannot reach the community. A new school cannot be effective if children can't cross the river to get there. Agricultural programs cannot be effective if farmers can't sell their crops at a market.

Connection leverages the potential of these solutions to create opportunity.

1.3 Million
People that we have identified through our monitoring and evaluation program who do not have safe access to resources they need most.
Our Evaluation Method

Connection means children and teachers can attend school year-round. When a community has safe access, 12% more children enroll in school.
Increase in labor market income when a community that didn't previously have reliable access, is able to access the market year-round.

Our Approach
We design, build, and maintain durable and environmentally sustainable bridges to connect the rural last mile to the rest of the world.

Cross-cultural collaboration
We collaborate across the globe to achieve great results.

Partnership in communities
B2P collaborates with local partners and communities because local buy-in and ownership is critical to the success of any work we do. We work with all levels of government to understand the need and how we might be part of the solution. Through collaborating regionally, we build capacity.

Industry backing
Our Industry Partners provide expertise and resources. Our partnership program provides employees opportunities for team building and leadership development through a life changing experience. The challenges of working in remote communities are unlike anything our industry partners face in their day-to-day jobs. The expertise and drive they bring to finish a bridge is unparalleled.

Built to last
Our bridges are built to sustain time, weather, and heavy use.
Durability & Sustainability
As leading bridge builders in the international development space, we design, build and maintain durable and environmentally sustainable bridges that provide safe access for generations. We spent years perfecting our bridge designs and sustainable construction model, so we can work in any country efficiently and effectively. All of our bridges are designed to be resilient to extreme weather events, with locally sourced and donated materials.

Technical inspection & maintenance
Professionals from around the world volunteer their time and resources to return to project communities, inspecting footbridges and providing support for upkeep. Local residents also commit to maintain and inspect the bridge, and are trained to do so.

Data-driven mindset
Understanding data drives efficiency
We use data and work with partner communities to determine where and how we work. By doing this, we improve the efficiencies of our programs and reduce the reliance on external, subjective factors.​

Our data improves our work
Through lean data monitoring, we gather feedback from community members about the experience of building and using the bridge. This fast feedback loop informs future program decisions.​

Our data proves our work
Using impact data, we are able further prove our work. We find huge value in pairing the human experience with data in order to help our donors and prospective donors fully understand the impact of our efforts to create large-scale change.

Who We Are
We are a dynamic organization, seeking to create transformational change in the communities where we work. We constantly strive to enhance our efficiency and extend our impact.

Our mission, vision, and belief
Our mission
We build bridges to better lives in rural communities.

Our vision
We envision a world where poverty caused by rural isolation no longer exists.

Our belief
Rural isolation is a root cause of poverty. Connection is the foundation for opportunity.

Our story
In March 2001, Bridges to Prosperity (B2P) founder Ken Frantz saw a photo in National Geographic Magazine that moved him to action.
The image showed men dangling precariously, using ropes to pull each other across a wide, high and broken bridge span over a portion of the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. Ken soon discovered that his brother, Forrest Frantz, had seen the photo and had the same thought: “I want to repair that bridge.”

Within three months, Ken, who owned a construction company, donated time, money and materials and enlisted eager family members, friends and his Rotary club to support the inaugural B2P project. This first project, Sebara Dildi, repaired the bridge crossing along the Blue Nile in Ethiopia and represents a vision that continues to inspire our team today.

In 2002, B2P founding members Zoe Keone Pacciani and Chris Rollins worked in partnership with the Swiss organization Helvetas (now HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation) to define and hone the cable-suspended bridge design and community training program. Helvetas is widely considered an originator of the concept that community bridge-building programs are an effective means to reduce poverty, and their perspective was an important influence in the development of B2P’s program model.

In 2006, while Bridges to Prosperity was still in its infancy, immediate past President and CEO, Avery Bang, was a college student at University of Iowa and studying abroad in Fiji. There, she encountered a community that had recently opened a trailbridge development project and was able to see, firsthand, how a simple bridge was transforming the lives of the residents there. Upon her return, she discovered and joined Bridges to Prosperity, initially as a university program volunteer, before quickly becoming the organization’s leader.

Early in 2021, Avery announced her intention to transition from a member of the staff to the Board of Directors, in alignment with the goals outlined in the organization’s 2025 Strategic Plan. In partnership with Avery, the Board of Directors established a Transition Committee composed of Board members, senior staff, and senior external advisors who led a thorough and rigorous recruitment process to find our next leader.

Nivi Sharma was named CEO of Bridges to Prosperity effective February 1, 2022.

Isolation affects nearly every aspect of life for rural communities, who depend on access to broader transportation networks for their health, education, and livelihoods.
Access to reliable transportation infrastructure can have dramatic effects on the ability of residents to meet their own needs, care for their families, earn stable incomes, and build resilience to unpredictable weather.

Studies have shown that not only do school attendance rates increase and the availability of health care services improve following the construction of a bridge, but that a reliable connection to essential services can also have profound effects on the economic status of rural residents.

Bridge construction is often followed by increased investment in family farms, improved agricultural yields, and a greater proportion of harvest sold at market, which results in improved farm profits, increased household income, and decreased household debt. In addition, more women enter the labor market, and labor market income increases. Trailbridges​ have the power to create reliable connections that mitigate risk and eliminate fear, transforming the way communities live and work.

Learn more
Effective evaluation
Our monitoring and evaluation program is aimed at both gathering meaningful data to inform our strategic direction and program decisions, and demonstrating the impact of our work to key stakeholders.
Our evaluation strategy focuses on three key initiatives:

Make programmatic and operational decisions driven by data
Give a voice to end-users through a catchment survey program that helps us understand bridge use and outcomes and create feedback loops
Engage leading experts in deep-dive field studies that help us understand our impact and guide our long-term strategic vision

Corporate Partnership
Our Corporate Partners are key players in connecting communities through trailbridges.
Creating Connection
Bridges to Prosperity partners with corporations worldwide to build trailbridges that connect isolated communities to critical resources such as education, healthcare, markets, and jobs.

For every connection our Corporate Partners make possible, the lives of those living in rural isolation are made better. In fact, a single trailbridge has the power to transform and entire community, resulting in meaningfully higher wages, increased farm profits, and more opportunities for women to participate in labor markets.*

Business with a Purpose
Our Corporate Partners showcase their values and company culture through their partnership.
Through sponsoring safe, lasting trailbridges Corporate Partners are able to contribute to fulfilling their Corporate Social Responsibility goals while fostering a workplace culture of global citizenry that spans geographical and cultural boundaries. Networking, employee engagement, recruitment and retention, and leadership development are all part of every Bridges to Prosperity partnership, ensuring a strong return on investment.

Bridges to Prosperity envisions a world where poverty caused by rural isolation no longer exists. Rural isolation is a root cause of poverty, and we believe that connection is the foundation to opportunity. We build bridges to better lives in rural communities. With a sophisticated data collection and evaluation program, we’re able to prove that the value and impact of our work is sustained long after the opening celebration.