Transaid visits the World Bank
Chris Saunders, CEO of Transaid, was recently invited to Washington D.C. to meet with top officials from the World Bank to discuss the importance of transport when tackling problems of health care access, particularly in relation to maternal and child health. In terms of targets set to be achieved by 2015 under the UN Millennium Development Goals, it is maternal and infant mortality which seems least likely to met - hence the World Bank's concern. Find out more here!
Transport for Life
Transaid is an international development charity working to alleviate
poverty by reducing the operating costs and increasing the safety and
efficiency of transport.
Through Transaid, members of Chartered Institute of Logistics and
Transport (CILT) and staff of blue chip transport and logistics companies
contribute to important development work in some of Africa’s
poorest countries.
The reality of Africa today
• Communities go hungry because they cannot buy or produce enough food to nourish themselves
• Sick people have poor access to basic medical treatments
• Families find it difficult to take simple preventative measures against disease
and illness
• A staggeringly high proportion of women die in child birth or have still born babies
• Children and adults are being poorly educated
• There is little to stimulate household and local economies
• Road traffic accidents are one of the main causes of death and injury in Africa
• Core transport services in the public and private sectors, are not managed safely, efficiently or cost-effectively
“I am Dorcas Donkoh, a 24 year old dressmaker and an itinerant Ghanaian trader. I buy my goods from Tudu and Makola Markets in Accra for distribution on hire purchases to my customers. What I can say for transport is that it’s a good master but can be a bad servant as well giving the rates of accidents on our roads. For me it’s only when transport is safe that one can take advantage of all it benefits” - Dorcas, Ghana
Statistics
• 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger related causes
• One person dies every 3.5 seconds of hunger or hunger-related diseases
• 7 million cases of HIV and Aids could be prevented in the next decade if every child received an education
• Nearly 90% of malaria cases occur in Africa
• Over a million people die from malaria each year and many millions are seriously affected by it, impacting the overall wealth of communities and families
• 1400 women die in pregnancy or child birth every day, with no access to professional care
(United Nations)
Transport - at the core of development
Transport is essential to our lives. Without access to affordable transport, the poorest of communities are denied the opportunity and ability to escape poverty and illness. Health, education and the ability to earn a living are basic rights. But after decades of under-funding and ill-conceived reforms, these rights remain a distant dream for millions of people across the world today.
Transport - the right kind of aid
Domestic resources in low-income countries are woefully inadequate to achieve the kind of drastic investment needed to transform a country into one which is socially and economically thriving. The Millennium Development Goals calls upon rich and poor countries alike to work together to comprehensively tackle the key issues which prevent development. These include improving education, reducing child mortality rates, improving maternal healthcare, combating HIV/ Aids, malaria and other diseases and promoting gender equality and empowering women.
Transport plays a vital part in promoting the development of each of these sectors. Addressing how people actually access better healthcare, education, and markets is fundamental to building lives for today’s and tomorrow’s generation.
Transaid - optimising value
Misguided investment into transport infrastructure and the donation of vehicles into unmanaged government systems are counter-productive, often leading to an expensive burden. Since 1984, Transaid’s interventions have resulted in massive savings in operating budgets by improving transport management skills and capacity in both public and private sectors in over 19 countries. Transaid brings a unique skill set that leads to appropriate, quantifiable, sustainable, efficient and most importantly, cost-effective management.
“My name is Theresa Dede. I am a Community Health Nurse (CHN) and I am 41 years old. My work as a CHN takes me to many communities a day, visiting homes to see mothers and children to assist them to take preventive health services seriously. I often take taxis for my rounds and without taxis my work will be reduced to drudgery and I cannot see how I can meet my target for aparticular month…” - Theresa, Ghana
Transaid - and Industry Best Practice
Transaid was founded by the CILT and derives its core funding and technical support from the British and European transport and logistics industry. This industry has been responsible in raising world standards of efficiency and safety procedures in transport operations. Through Transaid, this significant wealth of resource is willingly shared to benefit the many transport related issues across the developing world.
Transaid - improving the value of donor investment
It is vital that development puts in place the foundation for well managed transport and road safety. Millions of the world’s poorest people continue to have little or no access to the most basic of resources, despite significant investment in infrastructure and core services. Building local transport skills and capacity in both private and public sectors is critical to long term economic and social improvement.
Transaid understands development, and has the capacity and experience to work with governments and organizations to bring about sustainable change for those living on the poverty line.
“I am called Araba Agyeibah. I am 24 years and an onion seller in Ghana. I have a child but separated with the father of my child. I usually buy my onions from big markets in Accra and Kumasi. In my trips I take buses and without that my business will not be progressing. I think means of movement is a crucial ingredient in all activities these days” - Araba, Ghana
Statistics
• Every year, 170,000 health workers are exposed to HIV infection following the unsafe disposal of needles and other
biomedical waste
• Africa has only 4% of the world’s medical institutions, 5% of public health training institutions and 13% of
public health training institutions
• Road deaths in poorer countries are set to rise by 80% by 2020
• Only HIV/ Aids kill more young men worldwide
• Road crashes kill on the scale of malaria and tuberculosis
(Commission for Global Road Safety www.makeroadssafe.org)
Transport - Conditions fundamental to development
Transaid recognises the British Government’s view that poverty cannot be reduced in the world’s poorest countries without economic growth. African countries will continue to be uncompetitive as long as transport costs remain 200% to 300% more than those in UK and Europe due to inadequate operating skills and weak transport infrastructure. Not only do these problems hold back the development of a country, but they also make African roads excessively dangerous places. The two are not unconnected.
It is our view that policy needs to encompass:
- Investment in the building of local skills
- British Government investment in transport infrastructure in Africa must run parallel to the investment on the safety and efficiency of transport management systems. This should concentrate on building capacity to train skills, regulate and enforce appropriate operating standards and systems in the commercial and public sectors.
- Investment in the management of transport and its systems
- British Government development aid support to line ministries through the donation of vehicles should only take place if there is assurance that the vehicles will be well managed. If not, investment in the management and maintenance systems must precede the donation. This will ensure the vehicles will be well used, routinely maintained and managed efficiently and cost effectively to serve the maximum number of people safely and over more kilometres.
With so little of the government’s pound going towards actually paying people (10% or less) on the ground to implement change, isn’t it worth putting more emphasis onto cost-effective, transparent and efficient transport systems which has been proven to work in over 200 projects across the developing world?
Statistics
• 80 million children currently cannot attend school through poverty related reasons, most of these are girls (United Nations)
• A child born to a literate woman is 50% more likely to survive beyond the age of 5
• Only 600,000 health workers across sub-Saharan Africa; one million more needed (Oxfam)
• Skilled workers favour working in urban areas or transfer globally, costing Africa in health worker migration US$500m each year as each worker will have been trained at the country’s expense
• A single year’s education increases a woman’s wages by 10 to 20% (Oxfam)
Our members and key supporters are:
Alliance and Leicester
ATS Euromaster
Bandvulc Group
Bibby Distribution
Cardinal Maritime
CEVA Logistics
Christian Salvesen
CILT
DAF Trucks
Freightliner
Hoyer UK
Iveco
J Sainsbury
Jaguar and Land Rover
JMP Consulting
MAN ERF
Michelin
Royal Mail
Schmitz Cargobull
Stagecoach Group
TDG
The Potter Group
Wallenius Wilhelmsen
Wincanton
