Publications

ASIST Bulletin no. 10, January 2000

Rural Access Problems

What are they and how can these problems be addressed?

By Fatemeh Ali-Nejadfard, ASIST, Harare and Geoff Edmonds, IT Transport, United Kingdom

Several studies carried out in Africa and Asia show that people move around in rural areas for a variety of reasons that range from subsistence to socio-economic needs. The largest transport burden on households often takes place within the village, and is mostly required for the transport of water and firewood. These are often head and hand carried by women. Footpaths and footbridges are the transport infrastructure often used by rural households, mostly on foot, with the occassional use of animal drawn carts and bicycles for the economically more fortunate ones. Availability of transport and transport services conditions the movement of goods into and out of communities. When facilities for basic services are difficult to reach, a lot of time and effort are spent to get them, which reduces the time available for other productive and social activities. Consequently, the household experiences a loss of productivity at critical times in the agricultural calendar and in other economic sectors. Lack of access therefore not only results in isolation, but becomes a real constraint to productive activities and contributes to factors that cause poverty.

How ‘Access' is defined

The heart of the problem is ‘accessibility'. This term encompasses both ‘mobility' of people and ‘locations' of different services/facilities. Accessibility is thus, defined in terms of provision of access and the ease (expressed in spent time, effort and cost) with which a need can be satisfied.

What are the linkages between poor access and rural poverty?

Almost a third of people in developing countries live in poverty; and their poverty is reflected in some basic indicators of lack of access to basic services. World Bank studies have shown a clear association between poor access to basic services and per capita income. Poor access is one of the characteristics of poverty and it has its effects at the most basic level of living. Lack of access to basic and social services, employment, technology, land, information, credit, etc. contributes to factors such as poor health, low skill, poor education, low investment and limited opportunities; leading to low productivity and income, which in turn perpetuates the vicious circle of poverty and hinders economic development.

Rural Accessibility Planning

An appropriate tool to address access problems

To improve rural access effectively, an appropriate (simple and relatively cheap) planning tool has been evolved, with ILO technical assistance, through pilot projects in Asia and Africa. It involves communities and local organisations to identify their access problems and propose solutions for improvement of their access to services and facilities. The local capacity in target countries has been strengthened to use this planning tool in order to address rural access problems more effectively and efficiently.

Rural Accessibility Planning (AP) focuses on the household, and measures its access needs in terms of the time spent to get access. Because of poor access a lot of time is spent by rural households to transport themselves and their goods in order to meet their needs.

The underlying principal of accessibility planning is to reduce the time spent on achieving access, and, hence have more time available for other social and economic activities.

Steps 1 and 2: Data collection and processing

The first step of Accessibility Planning is to carry out a situation analysis that identifies the access problems in target areas; both regarding the mobility of the population and the location of services and facilities. The local communities, organisations (government and NGOs) and individuals are involved in this process in terms of providing the needed information. Local enumerators are trained to carry out the needed survey and to process the data. Data comprises secondary data (population, agriculture outputs, etc.) and primary data. At the household level, primary data is collected on time taken and the manner in which households obtain access to services and facilities. The collected data is processed and analysed, which results in a demand-oriented access or transport needs in target areas.

Step 3: Preparation of accessibility profiles, indicators and maps

Access profiles of target areas cover a set of basic information on both locations of services and facilities and the difficulties that people have in gaining access to them. For each sector, accessibility indicators (AI) are prepared. The indicators are calculated by considering the number of households (N) in a target area, the average time spent to reach each facility/service (T), the frequency of travel to each facility in a given period (F) and an acceptable/target travel time (Tm) to get access in a sector. The AI=Nx(T-Tm)xF formula is used to calculate the Accessibility Indicator. In addition, based on the gathered information, accessibility maps are prepared in order to have a better visual presentation of access profiles in target areas and to see alternative sloutions to access problems.

Step 4: Prioritisation

The larger the value of AI, the worse is the access problem. The target areas are then ranked/prioritised accordingly. The target area with the worst access indicator in a particular sector gets the highest priority for access interventions in that sector.

Step 5 and 6: Data validation and defining targets and objectives

The access profiles will be presented and the gathered data validated in a training workshop which is participated in by representatives of local authorities, organisations and communities. During the workshop the sectoral objectives for access improvements will be defined. Where national targets exist, these will be used to define overall objectives, e.g. all households in an area should have direct access to potable water, not exceeding a distance of 500 meters, all year around. The targets should be realistic and attainable, based on the available resources.

Step 7: Project identification

The results of the above mentioned workshop contribute to identification of a set of interventions/projects which would most efficiently reduce the time and effort involved in obtaining access to supplies, services and facilities. These interventions are related to transport (rural transport infrastructure, low cost means of transport or transport services), and non-transport services (e.g. better distribution or the most appropriate locations of services).

Step 8: Implementation, monitoring and evaluation

The identified projects are then considered and integrated into the overall local development planning system for implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The target communities and organisations are involved not only in planning but they also contribute to implementation and maintenance of what has been planned.

How the rural transport burden is distributed between men and women

Studies carried out by the ILO and the World Bank over the last decade in Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) have provided detailed insights into both access problems and the corresponding magnitude and distribution of the transport workload among rural households. In general, the transport responsibilities of women and men are quite separate, being influenced by culture, custom and overall household responsibilities. Transport consumes a major part of the household's time and involves a major physical burden.

In Africa in particular, women's traditional role as the bearers of loads often means that they have to carry the weight of the transport burden. This is particularly evident in female-headed households, which tend to be the poorest. It is also suggested as one of the reasons for young girls dropping out of school in higher numbers than boys. Studies carried out in the above mentioned countries show that the female contribution to household transport in rural areas ranges from 75 to 85% of the total transport burden.

Features of Rural Accessibility Planning Tool

• Accessibility Planning (AP) covers several sectors. In particular, it provides detailed data on the access that rural households have to services and facilities. These include water, energy, health, education, markets, agricultural inputs, agricultural outputs, crop marketing and post-harvest facilities.
• Accessibility Planning is gender sensitive and involves both men and women in the local level planning process, and takes account of the clear distinction between the sexes in terms of transport needs and patterns. In doing so, the women's perspective and needs will be incorporated into the planned interventions, and the burden of transport may be reduced for both sexes.
• Accessibility Planning has been designed to assist local-level planners to make appropriate investments of the limited funds available to them. The focus on the local level also provides a basis for developing the capacity of local-level planners.
• Two points are necessary to raise here. The Accessibility Planning procedure is not a planning system. It provides a basis for establishing priorities for access improvement in the sectors that it deals with. It is a tool for physical planning that captures access problems and identifies a set of prioritised interventions that address these problems in rural communities. It can be integrated into the local level planning structure process for implementation.
• Accessibility Planning is important not just because it provides an effective local planning tool. Its real importance lies in its potential to bring together the two aspects of accessibility – mobility and proximity – in a sensible manner. It suggests that access, rather than transport, should be looked at as the facilitator of development.

Note: The above paper provides a glimpse of what the rural accessibility planning tool is, and how it can be used. For additional information contact Dr. Fatemeh Ali-Nejadfard, Senior Technical Adviser, Access and Rural Employment, ILO/ASIST, Harare.