 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Balancing the Load
The Balancing the Load programme was initiated in 1996 with the aim of filling in the gaps in our knowledge about how gender relations affect women and men's access to goods and services and influence the provision of transport infrastructure and services. The immense volume of analytical work emanating from the gender and development programmes of universities and development agencies world-wide seems to have hardly permeated the consciousness of transport providers, planners and policy makers including those working on rural transport issues. At the same time although gender analysis was rapidly becoming integrated into rural development work, planners and practitioners still rarely addressed the issues of access and mobility. The Balancing the Load programme aimed to bring these two groups together.
IFRTD chose to implement the programme using a networked research methodology to maximise the participation of men and women working with rural communities, establish dialogue between those working on gender issues and those working on rural transport, and create opportunities for networking among them. Balancing the Load aimed to raise the profile of the issues rather than explore them exhaustively. The programme carried out 40 case studies in Asia and Africa and shared the findings with a wider audience through regional and international seminars and through the publication of the full case studies in a book; Balancing the Load; Women, gender and Transport (2002)
