Developing indicators to assess rural transport services

The IFRTD in conjunction with Paul Starkey has been awarded a research contract by the African Community Access Programme (AFCAP) to develop and test indicators that can be used to assess how good rural transport services are at providing access for rural people. The envisaged outcome of the research will be appropriate rural transport services indicators that are tested and disseminated to the transport sector in various African countries. The research aims to identify, develop, test and share rural transport services indicators relevant to the key stakeholders, including rural people, transport operators, regulators, planners, roads authorities and development agencies. This will be achieved using participative methodologies involving local stakeholders and sector experts. Initial studies will be carried out in Kenya and Tanzania between April and September 2012. If the initial findings are encouraging, work will be extended to further African countries.