Achieving the Millennium Development Goal in Africa. The role of Transport

Zaza Ramandimbiarison

SSATP, World Bank

“Transport Strategy Responsive to poverty reduction and economic Growth."

1. The Case for Transport Investment

Transport is an essential service that must contribute to national development objectives in health, education, agriculture and other sectors in leading countries in Sub Saharan Africa out of poverty.

Developing and implementing policies directed to providing safe, reliable and affordable transport infrastructure and services can and will make a substantial and sustainable contribution to:

Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger

Increasing the proportion of the rural population living within reasonable distance of an all-season road not only reduces travel times, but also increases productivity in agriculture and other sectors by providing opportunities for employment and income generation. Maintaining and upgrading local roads and foot paths will increase mobility from urban slums to places of employment and to health, education and other social services.

Achieving Universal Primary Education

Improving rural access and urban mobility will help in raising school attendance. Better transport can contribute significantly to reducing time spent by women and children in collecting water, fuel and food, and so eliminate one of the principle reasons for non-enrolment in school. Affordable, dependable and safe transport would not only increase school attendance but also encourage recruitment of better quality teachers in remote rural areas.

Improving Health Care

Better rural access and urban mobility will contribute to more reliable supply of health care essentials such as medicines, vaccines and bed nets. Affordable transport is essential for attendance at health centres and clinics, and for providing cost-effective outreach health activities. Safe affordable transport is vital in medical emergencies requiring hospitalization, such as obstetric problems or cerebral malaria.

Reducing HIV/AIDS

The transport sector can contribute to reducing the spread HIV/AIDS in Africa, by bringing an end to the sector’s inadvertent role in spreading the disease. Awareness and education campaigns are required for the extensive transport workforce, and for communities at transit and transfer points, main transport corridors and major infrastructure construction sites.

Unlocking Continental Africa

The transport sector has a major role to play in overcoming the difficulties Africa’s landlocked countries face in participating in the world economy. Effective policy measures are needed to deal with issues ranging from missing links in trans-Africa highway networks and transit

corridors to non-physical barriers that increase journey times, hamper customs clearance and cause border delays. Furthermore, technical standards need to be harmonized across the region such as axle limits, as well as vehicle and road design standards.

2. “Transport Strategy Responsive to poverty reduction and economic Growth."

SSATP lessons for transport review activities:

“ Adequacy of attention to transport issues in poverty reduction strategies. Although transport is identified as a priority in poverty reduction strategies, it is not adequately addressed. Standard global responses tend to be proposed, focusing on rural transport infrastructure (principally roads). Little attention is given to other sub-sectors (river and lake, rail), and important geographical and ecological differences are ignored. There is little recognition that transport is not only a service to other sectors and groups (i.e. a transverse aspect) but is also a factor in integration and in addressing horizontal issues such as environmental protection.

A strategy for transport services is missing, and the needs of the urban poor are weakly addressed, along with a number of important issues such as road safety. The transport needs of priority economic and social sectors are poorly articulated, and not specifically addressed. There is no strategy for the provision of transport services adapted to important activities such as agricultural production and distribution, or social services (health, education). In addition, the access and mobility needs of women, disabled people and other disadvantaged groups are very weakly addressed, and sometimes not at all.

Poverty reduction strategies are not clear about the respective roles of the public and private sectors, for example in providing services. This is a major weakness, given the expectations that the private sector should step in to replace services previously provided by the public sector. Furthermore, the biases in strategy are reflected in (skewed) budget allocations. ”

Such a response would dovetail with the increasing demands for the formulation of comprehensive sector strategies that are coherent with national development strategies (notably PRSs). There is a need to build a strategies which provide a sound foundation for interactions with development partners within the framework of the Paris Agenda on aid effectiveness and the OECD DAC Guidelines on Infrastructure for Poverty Reduction.

Throughout Sub Saharan Africa, initiatives are being taken to make transport infrastructure and services better meet the needs of the poor. Initiatives range from programs to rehabilitate and maintain rural roads, to improve non-motorized and intermediate transport, and to optimize local employment in infrastructure provision and maintenance.

While important initiatives have been developed to ensure that transport infrastructure and services better meet the needs of the poor there are more strategic questions:

• How well do national transport policies and strategies – both on paper and in reality – respond to the objectives and priorities of poverty reduction strategies?

• For example, to what extent do they contribute to reducing the often-marked regional disparities within SSA countries, or to the objectives of priority social and economic sectors, such as improved maternal health or increased productivity of smallholder agriculture?

• Are the different needs of key target groups -not only the poor, but also important actors in pro-poor growth – addressed adequately and equitably?

• Moreover, how well do policy-makers and decision-takers – public, private and civil society – understand the issues concerning transport and poverty reduction?

• Is there sufficient awareness amongst those who coordinate and implement poverty reduction and sector strategies of the potentials of transport’s contribution to achieving their objectives?

• Do transport sector actors fully understand the importance of developing and implementing transport strategies that are fully embedded in poverty reduction?

• Just as importantly, are the right people involved in the formulation of transport strategies, so that the transport sector genuinely serves the needs of the poor and of priority economic and social sectors?

These questions form the basis for the necessity of developing a good and integrated transport Strategy, and ensuring the links between transport and poverty reduction strategies and economic growth. To summarize the main question is

“How to anchor firmly Transport strategies firmly in national strategies of poverty reduction and pro-poor growth?”

The review of the transport strategy is the first action to be done and require comprehensive pro-poor intervention measures. Sector development programs, which often come in different forms, are characterized by a few key principles: They suppose to be country owned; They have a common goal of improving efficiency and effectiveness with which internal and external resources are utilized; and, They are a process embodying on-going improvements over time.

In common with the second principle above, sector programs seek to:

• Broaden ownership by countries over decision making with respect to policy, strategy and sectoral spending;
• Increase coherence between sectoral policy, spending and results through greater transparency, wider dialogue and ensuring a comprehensive view of the sector;
• Minimize transaction costs through use of country procedures or harmonization of procedures by donors.

A systematic approach to the development of comprehensive transport sector programs is important. Sound transport sector programs provide clear guidance on what is to be done, both policy related and physical interventions activities in the form of projects. The approach to their development would generally have three main components, namely:

• Establishing a mechanism to coordinate the development process. Such a mechanism could be in the form of a Steering Group that would also allow dialogue between the key stakeholders and development partners;
• Clarifying the goal of the program in a clear policy, making a distinction between the roles of the players in regulatory and service delivery aspects;
• Developing the program including an expenditure framework and performance monitoring system to measure progress towards achieving the policy objectives.