Publication:
Gender and Transport in the Middle East and North Africa Region : Case Studies from the West Bank and Yemen

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.95 MB)
403 downloads
English Text (286.04 KB)
117 downloads
Published
2011-12
ISSN
Date
2014-04-07
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Mobility is a major factor of access to economic resources, education, health, and other key elements influencing women's empowerment. In the Middle East and North Africa's countries, like in many other developing economies, women's mobility is constrained not only by the limited, sometimes unaffordable transport supply but also by social and cultural factors that frame women's access to the outside world and exacerbate the supply problem. The objectives of this study are: 1) understanding better how transport infrastructure and services are meeting women's transport needs, and more specifically, how they are facilitating or constraining women's access to resources, markets, training, information, and employment; and 2) identifying priority areas for governments' actions to improve women's mobility and thereby enhance their access to economic opportunities and contribute to their economic empowerment. Three studies of the interaction between gender and transport have been conducted with these in mind: one in rural Yemen, one in urban Yemen, and one in the West Bank. Analyses of the findings of the studies have led to the following recommendations being put forth: i) encourage the use of intermediary means of transport; ii) create awareness about women's mobility needs; and iii) identify and mitigate constraints delaying development projects in rural Yemen.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2011. Gender and Transport in the Middle East and North Africa Region : Case Studies from the West Bank and Yemen. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17651 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    A Methodology for Rapid Assessment of Rural Transport Services
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-10) Starkey, Paul; Awadh, Abdul; Murray, Paul; Musonda, Henry; Njenga, Peter; Newport, Stephen; Sirpé, Gnanderman; Tapper, Liz; Kemptsop, Guy
    Rural transport services are often inadequate. Passenger and goods transport needs improving to stimulate rural economies and reduce poverty. Understanding existing rural transport systems and constraining factors is a precondition for appropriate policy action. The Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP) commissioned a study to develop and test a methodology for the rapid assessment of rural transport systems. The guidelines specified passenger and freight transport for distances of 5-200 km, encompassing much rural transport, but excluding within-village transport, long-distance national transport and international corridors. Rural transport systems operate on hub and spoke systems at several levels. Key rural hubs are provincial/regional towns, market/district towns and villages. The various spokes and hubs have characteristic combinations of transport, including trucks, buses, minibuses, pickups and intermediate means of transport (IMTs). The smallest spokes are footpaths while national spokes form transport corridors. The methodology surveys transport types, operators, users and regulators at sampled hubs and spokes, stratified by hub hierarchy and remoteness. This provides a rapid overview of rural transport systems, highlighting key constraints, stakeholder views and proposals for improvements. This document contains practical advice relating to local observations, interview techniques, survey opportunities and traffic counts. Illustrative data forms and check lists of possible topics are provided, for modification according to local needs.
  • Publication
    Making Transport Work for Women and Men : Challenges and Opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa, Lessons from Case Studies
    (Washington, DC, 2012-06) World Bank
    Transport is not 'gender neutral'. Men and women hold different socio-economic roles and responsibilities that are associated with different patterns of transport access, needs, and use. Yet, there is often not much recorded evidence on the differences in gender travel needs between men and women, in urban areas in particular. Transport planning has not routinely addressed these differences and sex-disaggregated data on transport needs and patterns is very limited. The present regional report summarizes the findings and recommendations of four separate case studies on gender and transport conducted in Casablanca, Morocco, Sana'a and rural Yemen, and Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarem in the northern part of the West Bank, during between September 2008 and September 2009. The main objective with summarizing the case studies into a regional report is to provide a regional overview relevant for a better understanding of how transport infrastructure and services are facilitating or constraining mobility by gender in the MENA region. In particular, the gender differences in access to resources, markets training, information and employment. The report also aims to review other country experience and good practice to help identify priority areas for public intervention to improve women's mobility and enhance their access to economic empowerment relevant for MENA and other regions.
  • Publication
    Toward Sustainable and Energy Efficient Urban Transport
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-09) Energy Sector Management Assistance Program
    Many cities of developing countries are experiencing rapid growth of motorized transportation. This is leading to severe congestion, which, in turn, is reducing productivity. Road accidents have been increasing. Transport emissions have become a major contributor to severe air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The main cause of these problems has been the increasing preference for personal motor vehicles for commuting to work and getting around the city. In many countries, urban development practices have worked in favor of such preference, leading to urban sprawl. Thus, remedial measures have to focus on reversing the preference for such modes of travel, shifting to public transport, cycling, or walking, and building and retrofitting cities to minimize the need for private automobiles. The objective of this guidance note is to present a systematic, practical, and comprehensive approach to dealing with the problems of urban transport. It outlines a framework of possible interventions and demonstrates how such interventions relate to the overall objectives of improving mobility and energy efficiency as well as reducing air pollution and road accidents. Thereafter, it highlights a range of cross-cutting issues that need to be addressed and also suggests steps to create an enabling environment to move towards a sustainable urban transport system. Its target audience is the city-level leadership and key decision makers responsible for sustainable urban mobility.
  • Publication
    A Framework for Urban Transport Benchmarking
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011) Henning, Theuns; Essakali, Mohammed Dalil; Oh, Jung Eun
    This report summarizes the findings of a study aimed at exploring key elements of a benchmarking framework for urban transport. Unlike many industries where benchmarking has proven to be successful and straightforward, the multitude of the actors and interactions involved in urban transport systems may make benchmarking a complex endeavor. It was therefore important to analyze what has been done so far, propose basic benchmarking elements and test them, and identify lessons for a simple and sustainable urban transport benchmarking framework. A major component of this study was to investigate (a) the availability of data for benchmarking and (b) the value of benchmarking on the basis of limited data. The study therefore proposes a benchmarking framework for urban transport, focusing on the performance of public transport. Because the design of a benchmarking framework depends on the objectives sought from it, the study focused on the performance of public transport systems from the policymaker s perspective. The study included pilot application of the proposed framework in five cities from three continents Beijing, Bucharest, Cape Town, Colombo, and Singapore. The pilot application and comparative analysis helped gauge applicability and practicality of the proposed framework.
  • Publication
    Understanding the Emerging Role of Motorcycles in African Cities : A Political Economy Perspective
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-04) Kumar, Ajay
    A decline in organized public transport systems has led to rapid growth in non-conventional means of public transport, initially provided by minibuses and shared taxi/vans, and more recently by commercial motorcycles. Unlike cities in South and East Asia, ownership and use of motorized two-wheelers as a personalized vehicle is very small in sub-Saharan cities. However, over the past decade there has been a significant growth in the use of motorcycles as a commercial public transport mode. While offering certain transport advantages in the form of easy maneuverability, ability to travel on poor roads, and demand responsiveness, commercial motorcycle service growth has also led to an increase in road accidents, traffic management problems, pervasive noise and increases in local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Government efforts to regulate the market have had the contrary impact of compounding the problem by distorting market structures. The growth in the use of commercial motorcycles has also dispelled one of the commonly held illusions: fare controls in the public bus market are often justified to support affordability for a vast majority of low income population; however, commercial motorcycles are more expensive than the lowest bus fares, but are increasingly being patronized by the poor due to the inadequacy of bus services. This paper attempts to evaluate the commercial motorcycle mode used in the three cities of Douala, Lagos, and Kampala, based on their political economy context in order to draw general conclusions of value throughout Africa and the rest of the developing world. The evaluation underscores the linkages between governance failure and weak sector performance and highlights the need to adapt policy instruments to local political and economic context. Central to discussion is the necessity to develop a participation framework driven by open communications across a wide spectrum of stakeholders.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022
    (Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank
    The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.
  • Publication
    The Journey Ahead
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31) Bossavie, Laurent; Garrote Sánchez, Daniel; Makovec, Mattia
    The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.
  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.