Rural Transport

Rural Transport Theme

I am delighted to have been asked to take up the role of Rural Transport Theme Champion. I am convinced that despite substantial challenges to the sector and the ever present constraint of lack of resources, we have a unique opportunity through gTKP to bring together the vast but dispersed bank of knowledge on Rural Transport, and compile it into an easily accessible and ‘digestible’ format. This will enable the sector stakeholders and practitioners to review, adapt and apply it to achieve the desperately needed improvements in the sector performance and make that vital contribution to poverty reduction.

I see the Theme Champion’s role as a facilitator to encourage individuals and organisations with those gems of knowledge, good practice, case studies, innovations and even common sense, to come forward with their contributions, their knowledge of available documents, and share them with the other gTKP users. The contributors will also gain benefit from the recognition, from the knowledge of others and the realisation that their contributions, however large or small, will advance the sector performance.

gTKP does not aim to replace the good work that many of you are doing, but strives to enable more people to know about it and assist to bring specific worthy initiatives to the attention of the gTKP community.

We will establish a gallery of Rural Transport images, and directories of Technical Information Notes, Surface Option Notes and Case Studies.

We will be improving the ‘navigation’ of the website, posting and sign posting key documentation on a range of topics, and provide commentary and guidance where appropriate. We will seek your views on what is being provided and desirable improvements. We also need your suggestions on important knowledge gaps, so that future initiatives can be properly planned and resourced.

Your contributions and views are welcome on info@gtkp.com

In the coming months we will be focusing on a number of ‘hot topics’ and the substantial body of new research and knowledge that is becoming available through various sector initiatives. These include appropriate use of gravel and other road surfaces and what some regard as ‘the final frontier’ of road maintenance. There are numerous guidelines and manuals on ‘how to do it’, but precious few examples of working, affordable, sustainable maintenance systems in developing countries and economies in transition. If you know of any such systems the gTKP users would be very pleased to hear about them through info@gtkp.com

Other possible topics of interest to be addressed or reviewed in the coming months will include: Intermediate Means of Transport (IMTs), Community Participation, Basic Access, Engineered Natural Surfaces (ENS), Environmentally Optimised Design and Spot Improvement Strategies, Low Cost Structures, Standards and Specifications, Local Resource Based Methods, Mainstreaming into Practice and Road Funding. We will also revisit the topics already accommodated on the gTKP website. If you have something to say on any of these topics or other topics, or know of documentation that may benefit other gTKP users, then please share this knowledge through info@gtkp.com.

Lastly, humour has an important role in lightening the burden of sector salvation. If you have a humorous story or cartoon that could generate smiles, then please share it with the community.

I look forward to networking with and supporting you all.

Regards

Rob Petts

Rural Transport Theme Champion

Bridging the language divide: sharing the experiences of French-speaking Africa

In an effort to ensure that transport practitioners in French-speaking Africa can also share experiences IFRTD –with the support of gTKP- has set up a French electronic discussion group called IFRTD Transport Rural. Set up on dgroups, the list serv is accessible via http://www.dgroups.org/groups/IFRTDtransportrural and is open for all (French-speaking) people interested in rural transport issues.

During three weeks in July a virtual discussion was held focussing on issues relating to rural transport services. The discussion centred around three issues.

1. What type of technology is best suited for what means of transport?
2. Improvements and the reliability of rural transport services 
3. Rural transport safety

Each week centred around one of these issues and every topic was introduced with background information, photos and sub-questions to allow the participants to share experiences, ask questions and trigger discussions. Moderated by Vero Razafintsalama from Lalana, an NGO based in Madagascar and specialised in transport issues, twenty-seven participants from eleven different countries followed and/or participated in the rich and lively virtual debates.

The first week focussed on issues around preferences, adopted technology related to transport needs. In Madagascar for example there have been successful bicycle interventions that were initially meant for transporting people and instead were increasingly used for transporting heavy goods over long distances. This was done without any adaptation and resulted in visible improvements in income for certain users.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) it was noted that the existing hypothesis about increased motorised traffic after rehabilitation of rural roads proved false. Instead they observed that bicycle usage increased and were the main IMTs from villages and/or fields to the main road where big trucks were waiting to be loaded. In addition some traders preferred to travel by truck themselves while their cargo was transported on bicycles. ‘Bicycles are faster and can leave at once, while trucks have to wait until full’ was the logical explanation. As a local adaptation bicycles were lengthened to carry up to 200 kilos heavy load or a small sun umbrella to protect the cyclist from the harsh sun. It was common that the trader would walk alongside the bicycle often for long distances.

In North Cameroon the complementarity of various transport services was especially noteworthy. Buses operated by the municipality served very precise routes while taxis served outlying areas of the locality. The motorbikes served to extend the bus and taxi routes by serving more isolated zones. This complementarity also applied to costs and transport of cargo

The participants also discussed the various modes to transport the sick to health clinics. The pro’s and con’s of motorbike ambulances versus bicycle ambulances were discussed and various experiences of Ranger and Riders for Health shared.

Overall the discussions illustrated the big knowledge gap that exists between Francophone and Anglophone Africa and that not enough resources are available for translation and knowledge sharing through workshops. A positive development is the SDC/Skat workshop that will be organised in Chad in September 2007 to enable French-speaking transport experts to network and share experiences. This workshop combined with the new list serv will hopefully help reduce the gap a little but it is obvious that a lot more resources need to be invested in order to close the gap completely!

To join the discussions:

http://www.dgroups.org/groups/IFRTDtransportrural