Transport Sector Performance Indicators

Consultative Workshop - Tarapoto, Peru, 12 -16 March 2007

This Consultative Workshop on Transport Sector Performance Indicators is the 4th in a series of annual regional workshops organised by the Secretariat of the International Forum for Rural Transport and Development (IFRTD) on behalf of the World Bank. Following in the footsteps of workshops in Kenya (2004), Sri Lanka (2005) and South Africa (2006) this Latin American workshop was hosted by the Peruvian National Forum on Rural Transport and Development with support from Provías Descentralizado.

The workshop brought together 29 participants from different governmental institutions, academia and civil society of nine Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Mexico and Peru), colleagues from the IFRTD secretariat (Coordinators from Latin America, East and Southern Africa and London) and from the Urban and Transport Division of the World Bank in Washington. During the field trips local authorities also participated and helped the participants to contextualise some of the (practical) challenges of measuring impact.

Just like similar workshops held in South Africa, Kenya and Sri Lanka, the discussions were held in the spirit of consultation, sharing and learning.  As such, no formal country or institutional policy positions were debated or adopted at the workshop.   The presentations made at the workshop do not necessarily represent a comprehensive view of a country or institution's position, rather, they are intended to give an indicative overview of the status quo.

Recommendations arising from the Workshop included:

• The importance of standardising the language used to define indicators, how they are constructed, what they are useful for, and to differentiate when data become an indicator and when it carries on just being data.

• Recognition of the dynamics of different social groups - it is important to gather statistical as well as qualitative data, both disaggregated by gender and age, within the transport sector and other sectors.
• Indicators need to be relevant to the sector and its interaction with other sectors in order to measure reality in terms of sustainable transport and the thresholds or reference values that are applied in any situation.  Indicators are relevant tools that support management and decision taking processes.
• Indicators should help to leverage practical solutions. The main goal is to improve people's living conditions through access and not just economic development.
• It should be a practice for Bank-funded transport programmes to ensure community participation from the planning stages.  This would help in determining the nature of local capacities and where the gaps are in order to ensure that all stakeholders are latterley in a position to be involved in the monitoring process. 
• A special component should be included withing the budget of transport investments to ensure both monitoring within the programme and monitoring by civil society.
• A pilot programme of focus case studies could be carried out that combine existing statistical information with qualitative information.   The challenge is to make the gathering of information a more dynamic, continuous and socially responsive process.
• This workshop has demonstrated the value of Networking and the need to further develop and position IFRTD Latin America (IFRTDAL). It is recommended that IFRTDAL host a virtual discussion on this issue to continue the debate and strengthen capacity within the region. This could also leverage joint initiatives and will continue the ethos of peer support established at the workshop.

Click here for the full workshop report:
- Acrobat pdf (526kb)
- Word doc (609kb)




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