Southern Africa : Transaid - transport for life

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Telephone:
+44 (0)207 387 8136
Fax:
+44 (0)207 387 2669

Transaid
137 Euston Road
London NW1 2AA UK

UK reg charity No. 1072105

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Transaid has undertaken extensive work throughout Southern Africa. The first major project carried out by Transaid in the region was the Ministry of Health Transport Management Project in South Africa, from 1998 to 2005. In addition, Transaid has worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Namibia.

Transaid’s experience in Southern Africa has allowed the organisation to build a more comprehensive knowledge of the transport problems in the region. There is, for instance, a shortage of quality trained Heavy Goods Vehicles drivers, which is a real issue in a region with a high number of road crashes and where many countries are landlocked and therefore depend of road transports to deliver all sorts of goods. Another problem, common to other areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, is the difficulty in accessing healthcare in rural areas, which is a particularly serious issue considering the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the region: health facilities are scarce and rural communities lack access to appropriate means of transport.

An important part of Transaid’s current work takes place in Zambia. Two major projects are being implemented in that country: the Professional Driver Training Project and the Bicycle Ambulance Project.

The Professional Driver Training Project in Zambia started in August 2008. Transaid is working in partnership with the Industrial Training Centre Trust, the only Zambian training centre that offers commercial vehicle driver training in Zambia. With the support of a consortium of UK transport and logistics companies, the project aims to improve driver training and safety standards in Zambia, by building the Training Centre’s teaching capacity. So far the project has been very successful and Transaid aims to expand training resources to include bus operators in Zambia. A similar project is also being implemented in Tanzania, where Transaid is working to build the training capacity of the National Institute of Transport since June 2010.

The Bicycle Ambulance Project was the result of Transaid’s collaboration work with a number of Zambian and international non-governmental organisations. It was a pilot project that had as its main objective, to find a solution for the lack of appropriate means of emergency health transport in rural communities of Zambia. During the project, 40 bicycle ambulance trailers were built and distributed to communities in three eastern Zambian provinces. The bicycle ambulance trailers proved to be a lifesaving form of transport in rural areas, by reducing significantly the average journey time of health emergencies in rural areas. Transaid hopes that this project can be expanded to other rural areas in Zambia and in other African countries, given its promising early results.

Key Achievements

The Ministry of Health Transport Management Project in South Africa was the most comprehensive piece of work undertaken by Transaid to date. As part of a major health reform, Transaid implemented a Transport Management System in eight of the nine Provincial Departments of Health in South Africa. In addition, a new national qualification in Public Sector Road Transport Management was created, contributing to the training of skilled assessors, trainers, moderators and transport officers. The success in the implementation of the project has reduced transport-related costs and has improved service delivery, as well as transport availability. In South Africa transport is no longer a barrier to the efficient delivery of health services; it is now an important and well-functioning component of the National Health System of the country.

All regional projects for Southern Africa

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