A global network for rural transport

Conventional approaches to MDG 8 - a global partnership for development - tend to focus on trade, aid and private sector issues. The International Forum for Rural Transport and Development (IFRTD) is developing another type of partnership, a global network of individuals and organisations to improve access and mobility for poor people in rural areas.

IFRTD provides a network for collaboration, information sharing, debate and advocacy that overcomes traditional geographic, hierarchic, and sectoral boundaries. In 30 countries autonomous national networks are affiliated to IFRTD which is facilitated by a small decentralised secretariat in Kenya, Peru, Sri Lanka and the UK.

The network is involved in a range of programmes that directly impact the health and poverty eradication MDGs. Below are two examples.

Mobility and Health

The IFRTD, in collaboration with international and Swiss transport and health organisations, is carrying out a two-year research programme on the links between mobility and health. The objectives are to:

• increase understanding of the impacts of mobility constraints on the health and well-being of poor people in different developing countries
• develop tools to enable transport professionals to include holistic health impact assessments and mitigation measures in planning, designing and implementing transport interventions
• develop an advocacy programme to sensitise the health sector about the relationship between mobility and health.

Poverty Watch

Poverty Watch is helping civil society organisations across Latin America, Asia and Africa to monitor and influence the design of national transport policies and investments. Through building analytical and monitoring skills and increasing awareness of the links between transport and poverty, Poverty Watch has built up a network of rural communities, NGOs, academia and local and central government. They debate the issues and identify key priorities for a transport and poverty agenda in their countries.

IFRTD members use research findings on transport and its contribution to poverty reduction to lobby national policy processes and contribute to poverty reduction debates.

Community Parliaments

In Kenya Poverty Watch works with Community Parliaments - multi-stakeholder civil society forums - to influence local transport decisions. Workshops or 'Poverty Watch Days' are an opportunity for communities to develop an understanding of critical transport issues, in turn leading to the adoption of appropriate interventions and the establishment of new partnerships, particularly with the private sector.

Poverty Watch has drafted a Transport and Poverty Monitoring Framework which will form the basis for future debate. This shows that in order to deliver on poverty reduction objectives, a transport sector needs to:

• integrate transport policy with the wider aims of poverty reduction and national development, for example with health, agriculture, education and trade initiatives
• ensure that there are mechanisms to translate transport policy into sound implementation strategies, using participatory processes in planning and infrastructure and service delivery.

Peter Njenga
IFRTD, PO Box 314, 00502, Karen, Nairobi, Kenya
T +254 20 883323
Peter.njenga@ifrtd.org

Kate Czuczman
IFRTD Secretariat, 113 Spitfire Studios, 63-71 Collier Street, London N1 9BE, UK
kate.czuczman@ifrtd.org
T +44 (0)20 7713 6699
F +44 (0)207 713 8290
www.ifrtd.org

See also

Poverty Watch Case Studies
www.ifrtd.org/new/proj/pov_watch.php

Community Parliaments
www.kendat.org

Mobility and Health
www.mobilityandhealth.org

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