Livelihoods
Transaid is committed to developing a safe, effective, efficient African transport and logistics sector to improve livelihoods opportunities and reduce poverty.
In sub-Saharan Africa, it can cost up to 250% more than in Europe to move goods over the same distance. This is one of the factors that make Africa’s exports uncompetitive. It also makes it difficult for farmers to move their goods and to keep the costs of food and household goods low enough for local people.
Outside of South Africa there is no African government that regulates and applies internationally recognized commercial vehicle driving standards. Often commercial driving is seen as a job of last resort, not a professional career. Low-skilled drivers contribute to the inefficiencies of the sector and high rates of road related deaths & injuries. Through partnering with local organisations and small scale operators and traders Transaid is building the skills of commercial drivers. The Professional Driver Training Project in Zambia is helping to build economic capacity but also provides trainees with a qualification that will enable them to gain suitable employment.
In Ghana, Transaid partnered with a Female Market Trader’s association to enable them to run and manage their own transport system and we are exploring ways of extending this work to a Market Trader’s Association in Zambia. Making transport safer, more affordable and more efficient means more profits can filter all the way back to the household level where they can be spent on essentials such as healthcare or a child’s education, and better route scheduling means more time saved for family life.
Current and past livelihoods projects:
Ghana
• Ghana, Accra, Transport and Trade for Market Women, 2006 - present
Uganda
• Uganda, Transaid helps facilitate transport workshop for Ugandan Cooperatives
Zambia
• Zambia, Research Conducted with Marketeer's Association on Transport Needs, Nov. 2009
• Zambia, Professional Driver Training Project, 2008 to present
* Movement of Goods to Market - Empowerment of Women Market Traders in Accra 2005, ITP/Transaid
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