Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program

Update on Program Staff

July 2001, Torben T. Larsen joined the RMI team. A Danish national with a Masters Degree in Mathematics & Economics, he has worked with various aspects of sector development for 16 years, including 9 years with Danida, the Danish International Development Assistance. Torben has worked as a short-term consultant through consulting engineering companies, as a long-term sector planning adviser placed in national ministries and as a project coordinator in the Steering Unit for the support of the Nordic Countries to the Beira Corridor Transport System in Mozambique. Since 1996, he has been based in Copenhagen as an integral member of Danida's transport infrastructure team with responsibility for appraisal of Danida supported transport sector programs, as well as for joint Annual Sector Reviews in 8-10 developing countries. Torben has been actively involved in the development of Danida's Transport Sector Strategy. He has been seconded to SSATP by Danida for a two-year period and will be focusing initially on country visits and support to updating of RMI country programs in line with the conclusions of the Annual Coordinating Committee Meeting (see below), as well as on updating a baseline study of implementation of RMI-principles in member countries and the baseline performance and impact indicators of the road sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. You are invited to contact him at tlarsen1@worldbank.org and 1-202-473-4172 for further information or suggestions and comments you may have.

The RMI program team is in the process of being further strengthened through the addition of one more full time road sector specialist to be funded by a donor partner in the program. The next update will bring news of this assignment together with other changes in the management of the SSATP designed to improve effectiveness and responsiveness of the program to user demands and emerging regional and country opportunities.

Coordinating Committee Meeting

The 15th Annual Coordinating Committee Meeting (CCM), May 16-19, 2001 was held in Saly, Senegal. Country Coordinators from the RMI-member countries as well as delegates from a number of observer and potential new member countries, donor representatives as well as SSATP staff participated. The CCM consisted to a large extent of working sessions, which gave the country coordinators opportunity to take stock of road sector reforms to date; to plot the way forward on further reform and improved implementation; and to define the future role for country level and region wide coordination of RMI and RTTP. The elements of an action plan to guide program priorities through the coming year was drawn up. In the closing address, the Country Coordinators acknowledged the importance of making the transport sector instrumental in alleviation of poverty. The Coordinators also stressed the need for reform of the transport sector in the individual countries and the need for strengthening the capacity of the RMI component to be effective in policy formulation and implementation. In relation to strengthening the RMI, the Country Coordinators identified the need for themselves to take a leadership role and to tap into incremental internal and external resources to fund their programs.

The Proceedings of the meeting are to be published in September as SSATP Working Paper No.60.

The RMI Coordinators from Zambia and Guinea were elected by their colleagues to be their representatives on the Task Force to follow up on the conclusions of the Saly meeting and prepare the next CCM. In this context, a first meeting of the Task Force was held in Washington D.C, June 29 to July 5, 2001 (see communiques in English and in French). During their visit, the representatives met with the SSATP Board at their July 2-3 meeting for a briefing on the outcome of Saly and on issues of representation of the coordinators within the new governance framework. The coordinator representatives are to consult with their colleagues about the holding of an interim CCM later in the year to enhance their input into the preparation of the 2002-2003 work program and priorities for RMI.

After the connection with the 15th Annual Coordinating Meeting in Saly, Senegal, the Minister of Transport has formally applied for membership of the RMI. In accordance with the new governance framework for SSATP, Senegal has been accepted as an associate member pending ratification of full membership by the Annual General Meeting, which will be held in early November, on the recommendation of the SSATP Board. In the interim, the Government of Senegal has been requested to appoint an RMI Country Coordinator as well as a Steering Committee.

The Government of Chad has in July made its application for membership of the RMI. This request has been handled in the same way as for Senegal.

The RMI Team welcomes the interest expressed by these two countries in joining the partnership and in sharing with other member countries their own, already burgeoning experiences in the formulation and implementation of road sector policy reform.

SSATP Strategic Review

The Netherlands Economic Institute (NEI) is reviewing the SSATP and suggesting a strategy for the Program through the year 2006. It is intended that a wide range of internal and external stakeholders in SSATP, which includes the RMI coordinators, will be consulted prior to a workshop to review the findings and recommendations to be held in early September 2001. For more information see the latest SSATP Newsletter of June 2001.

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) supports the establishment of Technology Transfer (T2) Centers in SADC-countries with the objective of: 'Improving access to transportation technology, including institutional and program building activities that will lead to creating conditions for sustainable development, facilitating foreign direct investment and enhancing the flow of international trade with sub-Sahara Africa'.

A delegation led by Mr. Alfred D. Logie and Ms. Leslie J. Wright from FHWA Office of International Programs visited the RMI on July 25. The delegation had representatives from T2 Centers in Tanzania, Malawi, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa (KwaZulu Natal). The delegation was received by Mr. Stephen Brushett, the RMI Team Leader, and Mr. Torben T. Larsen. See Photo.

During the visit the good cooperation between the FWHA/T2 Centers and the RMI in relation to the First African Conference on Technology Transfer in June in Arusha was commended by both parties. Different options for similar joint initiatives were discussed, and it was agreed to exchange information and welcome ideas for future cooperation to be agreed on in connection with and after the update of the SSATP-strategy. The RMI Team encouraged the SADC country T2 representatives to forge close links with the RMI coordinators in their respective countries in the interests of dissemination of information and adoption of best practices in road maintenance management.

The Comprehensive Development Framework and the Sector Support Program philosophy of donors call for justification of future support for the roads sector from a poverty alleviation point of view. Among others, the World Bank has worked intensively on an assessment of prevailing views on the role of transport projects in poverty alleviation and tried to take stock of the treatment of poverty issues. RMI member countries are encouraged to look seriously at their own country programs and coordinators should become actively involved in the search for better integration of transport sector and poverty reduction goals.

The initial analysis finds that the role of transport sector operations as contributor to poverty reduction has not been thoroughly analyzed and identified. Transport projects are mainly assessed in terms of reducing transport costs, improving efficiency, and promoting economic growth. The contribution of transport to poverty alleviation is seen as indirect and stemming from economic development. However, most directly poverty-targeted interventions (schools, health clinics, nutrition programs, and social services) depend on transport for their effective delivery. Accordingly, recent transport projects have been reviewed in order to identify existing practices and innovative approaches. The objective is to establish a framework for shaping the full potential role of transport operations in reducing poverty. A key finding of the paper is that there is a need to strengthen the direct role of transport interventions in poverty alleviation. This will require building far better knowledge of the transport needs of the poor, and how these needs are best met. In this regard, a set of structured case studies should be designed and undertaken as a follow-up to the work of the World Bank with the objective of establishing best practice guidelines to assist in the identification, design, and assessment of transport project components intended to assist the poor. Please go to the following page to consult the Discussion Paper TWU-30: http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/transport/pol_econ/pov_over.htm#toc

The World Bank has prepared a Poverty and Transport Toolkit as part of the general toolkit for preparation of national Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). Click here to display or download the full text of the chapters on Poverty and Transport in the PRSP tool kit.

The Proceedings of the 15th Annual Coordinating Committee Meeting are to be published in September as SSATP Working Paper No.60.

The next update will contain information on other forthcoming publications for this year.

	SSATP > RMI Update - No. 2