The AsCAP or Asia Community Access Partnership is a six-year research programme funded by UK aid. The programme expands the knowledge gained in the previous SEACAP (South East Asia Community Access) which ran from 2004 to 2009 and it also incorporates previous experience, also applicable to Asian countries, acquired from 2008 to 2014 with the AFCAP1 (African Community Access Partnership 1). The aim is to investigate and research new design standards and maintenance of low-volume rural roads as well as the provision of transport services in rural areas in Asian countries.
The findings are used to stimulate effective policies and practices in this region of the world. The objective of the SEACAP programme was to improve sustainable accessibility for rural communities by suggesting effective transport interventions for poverty reduction. The research commissioned by UK aid was undertaken in Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia. Much of the research commissioned in these countries was focused on the analysis of the performance of existing rural roads and new trial sections. Both infrastructure solutions were tested with applied research methods in order to create guidelines on the most appropriate technical specifications for rural roads in these countries. The successful outcomes have then been expanded by the AsCAP programme. The key research outputs of SEACAP can be found on the ReCAP website in the Previous Programmes section.
The ReCAP website offers access to an open-source library, the Rural access library where you can find publications and case studies part of the AsCAP programme by selecting the countries you are interested in. In addition, in the Regional and Cross-Regional Projects section you can access a number of projects based on themes that have been identified as of common interest to both AfCAP (Africa Community Access Partnership) and AsCAP. In this section you can also find additional background information on cross-regional projects.