Bridging the divide between development goals, research and policy in developing countries

Abstract

Some of the indications uncovered by critical and analytical observation and research into what is not happening. The need for research is ongoing; however, as there are many details yet to be uncovered in order to better inform transport and development policy. Further research will deepen our understandings of transport, development and gender needs of women in the various countries of the world. Such research needs to influence how policies are drawn up and implemented with specific, localised women’s needs in mind, so that people do not assume that what works in Kampala works in Porto-Novo, or what works in Lusaka works in Lusikisiki. The solutions need to be complex and responsive to the specific activity and movement patterns of women in the addressed geographies. All transport policy should at the very least be audited for the specific ways in which its gendering works. An effective transport system needs to work for women, men and children, enabling ease of movement and access to the kinds of lives desired educationally, economically, in better alignment with the millennium development goals, and in pursuance of transformation and greater freedom.