Network Research on Mobility and Health

• Forschungsstelle: DEZA
• Projektnummer: 7f-04445.02
• Projekttitel Englisch: Network Research on Mobility and Health

Schlüsselwörter (Englisch)

Network Research on Mobility and Health
increase of understanding of mobility
development of tools to enable transport
holistic health impact assessments
implementation of transport interventions
Development of an advocacy programme to sensitise the health sector to mobility issues

Kurzbeschreibung (Englisch)

Communities and individuals require access to goods, services, facilities and opportunities – basic needs are inter alia water, food, shelter, education, employment and health. Among those the health potentials of mobility interventions for people and particularly for the poor are probably least understood and explored. A recent SDC supported TransNet workshop concluded that mobility and transport could have both a positive and a negative impact on poor people’s health. Participants agreed that in order to optimise the health potentials of activities that improve mobility, the sector must thoroughly assess the knowledge gaps, make steps to share existing research and generate new knowledge to fill the gaps. In the context of increasing development efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals, a better understanding of the relationship between transport and health becomes a priority. The transport sector needs to be more proactive in sensitising the health sector to the importance of mobility as a crosscutting component of improved health interventions.

It is against that backdrop, SDC’s mobility desk has agreed to support an initial phase of the international networked research programme on mobility and health with the aim to increase the understanding of mobility interventions and related health impacts amongst sector actors and to develop tools and introduce an advocacy programme. The research programme will through this contribute both to optimising the health potentials of mobility interventions and to sensitising the health sector to mobility as a cross cutting component of improved health conditions.

The programme will be steered by a core group consisting of individuals of SDC, IFRTD (international Forum for Rural Transport Development), Skat (Swiss Resource Centre and Consultancies for Development) and SCIH (Swiss Centre for International Health) and implemented by a network of researchers and mobility and health sector specialists. The core group elaborates and monitors the annual planning and designs the analytical framework for the research programme. The outcomes of each activity is documented and effectively shared with all parties involved. During the implementation period, the researchers are networked through electronic means and regional workshops, as well as backstopped by core group team members, so that problems and issues encountered during the research are shared, and resolved consultatively.

The programme will be implemented following the networked research methodology that has been successfully pioneered and tested by IFRTD. The approach encourages research to be carried out in a way that enhances networking, generates awareness and stimulates immediate action. It is participatory in the design and implementation of research activities. It will enable the programme to generate a wide range of information to fill the knowledge gap and reach a large range of stakeholders and facilitate networking and learning across local, national and international contexts.

On the basis of a web-based literature review and a substantial number of relevant case studies (20-30) carried out globally and on all levels, the programme’s outputs will be an international symposium to present the issues raised by the case studies and a toolkit for transport professionals to include holistic health impact assessments in planning and implementation of interventions and an advocacy programme to sensitise the health sector to mobility issues. In addition a network of interested actors will continue the debate and exchange on mobility and health on a global level.

The activities of the entire networked research programme are expected to cost around USD 685,000 over a two years period. The SDC contribution towards this networked research programme – purpose of this credit proposal - amounts to CHF 125’000 and is to be considered as seed money and kick-off money for the start-up phase of the activities. The SDC budget will be administered by IFRTD and will cover initial core group costs and some costs of the researcher’s workshops and the international symposium. It will also allow the programme to do fundraising and leverage contributions from other donors (e.g. SIDA, DFID, World Bank, etc.).

Projektziele (Englisch)

The objectives of the international networked research programme on mobility interventions and related health impacts are to:

¦         Increase the understanding of mobility and issues of poor people in different developing country contexts;

¦         Develop tools that will enable transport professionals to include holistic health impact assessments in the planning and implementation of transport interventions;

¦         Develop an advocacy programme to sensitise the health sector to mobility issues.

The programme will through this contribute both to optimising the health potentials of mobility interventions and to sensitising the health sector to mobility as a cross cutting component of improved health conditions. Altogether, the networked research programme on mobility and health has the following expected outputs:

a)       A web-based literature review on issues of mobility and health in developing countries that will identify key gaps in knowledge and major issues relating to mobility and health;

b)       An analytical framework for analysing the issues relating to mobility and health at the micro, meso and macro levels;

c)       Regional initial researcher workshops, followed by 20-30 case studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America;

d)       An international symposium to present the issues raised by the case studies and to develop outlines for the ‘toolkit’ and the advocacy programme;

e)       A ‘toolkit’ for transport professionals to include holistic health impact assessments in the planning and implementation of transport interventions;

f)        A planned programme of awareness raising of mobility issues among health sector professionals;

g)       A network of people interested in continuing the debate and discussions on mobility and health.

The SDC financial support provides the seed money for starting-up the research programme and will substantially contribute to the outputs a), b) and d), while partially financing the outputs c) and e)- g).