Promotion of Sustainable Rural Access in the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda (Phase I)

In February 2015, the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) launched the work stream on Rural Transport, in partnership with, and support of the UK Aid-funded Research for Community Access Partnership (ReCAP) (formerly the African and Asian Community Access Partnership, or AFCAP – ASCAP). The project, “Promotion of Sustainable Rural Access in the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda (Phase I)” aimed to systematically pursue opportunities to ensure a better integration of rural transport in the post-2015 framework. The ReCAP-SLoCaT Phase I project contributed toward the overarching goal of realizing sustainable basic access to rural transport at affordable cost, and was being implemented by advocating in official fora, integrating views of rural access stakeholders in effective dialogue, developing technically-sound indicators for rural access, and identifying key financing needs.

AFCAP-ASCAP & SLoCaT Press Release

On March 4^th 2015, SLoCaT Partnership together with AFCAP-ASCAP published a joint press release on the cooperation between AFCAP and SLoCaT on the promotion of integration of rural transport in the sustainable development agenda. The press release was featured by the Australian Publication, Tribune International with the title “Rural Transport Should be a Key Focus of UN Post-2015 Development Framework

Program Activities on Rural Transport

The SLoCaT Partnership played an active role in advocating the integration of rural transport in the final post-2015 development agenda and the implementation of the SDGs under the following four components:

1. Advocacy

A number of outreach materials have been developed to explain the importance of rural transport interventions, how they can be integrated with other sectors, and the role of rural access in strengthening the current SDG process:

For a full list of advocacy documents on rural transport under the project, please go to here.

2. Strengthening of the Global Rural Transport Community

The SLoCaT Partnership worked to strengthen of the global Rural Transport Community through effective dialogue by liaising with and promote dialogue through UN agencies, developing a dedicated process of progressive dialogue tied to official events in the UN process and obtaining buy-in from partners to continue dialogue process in Africa and Asia.

3. Detailing indicators on Rural Transport

Another important component of the Rural Transport Project was to detail indicators on rural transport in the Post-2015 Development Framework. In working on the indicators, the SLoCaT Partnership will:

Coordinated with other groups linked to ReCAP on indicator development,
Documented past and on-going efforts on relevant indicators by relevant stakeholders,
Developed revised indicators for possible rural transport-related targets based on the SLoCaT Results Framework and linking up with leading indicator efforts (of the UN Statistical Commission and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network).

A survey was conducted on the role of rural transport indicators in support of the SDGs. The full report is available here.

We were pleased to see that there is now a specific indicator for rural access under Target 9.1 in the list of proposed indicators by the International Advisory Expert Group on the Sustainable Development Goals.

4. Contributing to SLoCaT’s Financing Framework on Sustainable Transport

The Phase I Project contributed to the SLoCaT’s Financing Framework on Sustainable Transport by identifying the main challenges and priorities for funding and financing of sustainable rural transport and contributing to the development of a comprehensive financing framework for sustainable, low carbon transport.

A Discussion Note on Financing Rural Transport Services in Developing Countries: Challenges and Opportunities has been released to analyze the role of finance in the provision of rural transport services and, in particular the case for rural transport subsidies. The paperreviews the need to improve rural transport services and their current organisational structures, considers the financial challenges and how rural transport services are organised and supported in both developed as well as in middle income and developing countries. It also considers the experience of Road Funds and Rural Investment Programs and provides conclusions and finance related recommendations in support of the developing and maintaining a greater availability of rural transport services.

The full text of the discussion paper is available in here.