Children,
Transport and Mobility
in Sub-Saharan Africa: Developing a Child-Centred Evidence Base to
Improve
Policy and Change Thinking Across Africa
Project outline:
The
project focuses on the mobility constraints faced by girl and boy
children in
accessing health, educational and other facilities in sub-Saharan
Africa, the
lack of direct information on how these constraints impact on
children's
current and future livelihood opportunities, and the lack of guidelines
on how
to tackle them. The aim is to provide an
evidence base strong enough to substantially improve policy in the
three focus
countries - Ghana,
Malawi
and South Africa
- and to change thinking across Africa.
The project has tested an innovative
two-strand child-centred methodology, involving both adult and child
researchers. In addition to a more conventional interview study
with children, parents, teachers and community leaders conducted by
adult academic researchers, there has been a complementary component of
truly child-centred research conducted by child researchers
(facilitated by adults). This takes forward an earlier small
pilot of the latter approach in Ghana and South Africa. The aim
has been to apply the successful child researcher pilot, while ensuring
achievement of a substantial and comparable quantitative and
qualitative dataset across the three countries from which policy
guidelines could be established. [A paper on working with child
researchers has been published in Children’s Geographies (vol. 7,4:
467-480) and another will appear shortly in the American Journal
of Community Psychology. A paper on one key method employed in our
study - mobile ethnographies – has also now been published
(Children’s Geographies 8,2: 91-105).
An
inception
workshop took place in Blantyre, Malawi in September/October 2006,
enabling key
country researchers to meet and review their research plans with each
other and
with the UK
team and Professor Michael Bourdillon (who is advising on the research
component with children). The inception workshop included
children who had
been involved as researchers in the previous project in South Africa and Ghana
plus Malawian children who
wished to participate in the new study. Teachers from Ghana, South
Africa and Malawi were present to act
as
chaperones and to provide translation where necessary. The workshop
comprised a
mix of joint meetings with all researchers and individual meetings of
the two
strands (i.e. when children and their teachers undertook activities
separately
from the adult researcher group).
The
inception
workshop was followed by the first Malawian children’s training
workshop, led
by Professor Bourdillon. Children’s training workshops have
subsequently taken
place
in South Africa
(Port St John, also led by
Professor Bourdillo, and Pretoria), Ghana
(Cape Coast and Sunyani, led by
Professor
Abane), and Lilongwe, Malawi (led by Dr. Munthali and Dr. Robson).
First children’s training workshop,
Blantyre, Malawi, October 2006
Pilot
studies for
the adult researcher strand (involving country-based and UK
researchers)
were completed in each of the three countries by early
2007. The
Malawi
pilot was conducted in the Shire highlands region south of Zomba, the
Ghana
pilot in the coastal savanna/rainforest transition zone north of Cape
Coast and
the South Africa pilots took place in two separate areas – Port St John
Local
Municipality Ward 10 and the Winterveld area of North West region -
since the South
African component will involve two separate research teams for
logistical and
linguistic reasons.
Subsequently, work moved to our focus areas for the main phase of the
adult research strand involving qualitative and quantitative data
collection and monitoring reviews were conducted in each country.
Project
information has been disseminated and advice gained through Country
Consultative Group meetings in each country (relevant ministries, NGOs,
academics with country researchers), through Project Steering Group
meetings in UK (Professor Nina Laurie and Dr Janet Townsend, University
of Newcastle, Ms Marinke van Riet, IFRTD with UK researchers), and at
an early stage through project presentations to the EU/World Bank SSATP
meeting in Maseru, Lesotho (October 2006), and to IFRTD’s Executive
Committee (November 2006).
The project has been further
publicised through other workshops and conferences (International
workshop on Understanding and addressing spatial poverty traps,
Stellenbosch, South Africa, March 2007; Institute for African
Development workshop, Achieving the MDGs for Africa: the role of
transport, at Cornell University, May 2007; CWAS Birmingham University
Fourth Cadbury workshop, May 2007; RGS/IBG annual conference,
London, August 2007 and Manchester, August 2009; 1st International
Conference on Children and Youth, University of Reading, September 2007
and 2nd International Conference, Barcelona, July 2009; 1st
International Conference of Participatory Geographies, Durham
University, January 2008; Conference on walking, Royal Holloway,
University of London, 31st March 2008; Global Transport Knowledge
Partnership/Transport and Society Meetings, Leeds, March 2008 and
Lancaster, September 2009; Association of American Geographers’ annual
conference, Boston, USA, April 2008 (session on urban youth); African
Studies Association of the UK (health issues in Ghana), Preston,
September 2008; Society for Applied Anthropology conference, Santa Fe
(March 2009); European African Studies Association, Leipzig (April
2009), Development Studies Association Annual Conference, September
2009; Durham, Gray College, conference for NGOs etc. (Jan
2010); Newcastle University International Development Conference:
What next for the MDGs? (February 2010); Edinburgh University,
International conference on ICTs in Africa (May 2010).
Our review workshop took place in Ghana in October 2008, including
child researcher participants from Ghana, Malawi and South
Africa. The workshop, which was featured on Ghana national
television and in national newspapers provided a valuable opportunity
to discuss findings and future plans. The child researchers,
facilitated by Marinke van Riet and University of Cape Coast staff,
prepared the first draft of the child researcher’s own booklet of
findings during this meeting. The Africa Community Access
Programme [AFCAP] has funded publication of the booklet and its
dissemination into schools in Ghana and Malawi. Please use
the web link ‘book’ above to access the young researchers’ booklet.
Writing up of academic and policy/practitioner papers is in progress;
we anticipate further widespread publication of findings in 2010 and
2011.
IFRTD’s Forum News May 2010 issue provides an overview of the project
and its findings.
Published papers:
Robson, E., G. Porter, K. Hampshire, M. Bourdillon: 2009 ‘Doing
it right?’: working with young researchers in Malawi to investigate
children, transport and mobility. Children’s
Geographies 7,4: 467-480.
Porter, G., K. Hampshire, A. Abane, A. Munthali, E. Robson, M. Mashiri
and G. Maponya: 2010 Where dogs, ghosts and lions roam: learning
from mobile ethnographies on the journey from school. Children’s Geographies 8,2: 91-105.
Porter, G.: 2010 Transport planning in sub-Saharan Africa III.
The challenges of meeting children and young people’s mobility and
transport needs. Progress in
Development Studies vol 10, no 2: 169-80.
Porter, G., K. Hampshire, A. Abane, A. Munthali, E. Robson, M. Mashiri
and A. Tanle: 2010 Youth transport, mobility and security in
sub-Saharan Africa: the gendered journey to school. World Transport Policy and Practice
16,1: 51-71.
Papers in press:
Porter, G., K. Hampshire, M. Bourdillon, E. Robson, A. Munthali,
A. Abane, M. Mashiri: Children as research collaborators: issues and
reflections from a mobility study in sub-Saharan Africa. American Journal of Community Psychology,
September 2010
Porter, G., K, Hampshire, A. Abane, E. Robson, A.
Munthali, M, Mashiri, A. Tanle: 2010 Moving young lives: Mobility,
immobility and inter-generational tensions in urban Africa. Geoforum
Timetable: 1st May 2006 –
31 April 2010
Researcher contact
addresses:
Dr Gina Porter and Dr Kate Hampshire (Department of Anthropology,
Durham University),
Ms Kate Czuczman (IFRTD London)
Professor Albert Abane (University of Cape Coast, Ghana)
Mr Mac Mashiri (Transportek, Pretoria and National Forum Group
for rural transport, South Africa)
Dr Elsbeth Robson (University of Malawi and Durham University)
Dr Alister Munthali (University of Malawi)
Prof Michael Bourdillon
If you would like further information on the project please contact
the project P.I., Dr
Gina Porter
Site last maintained: 29 May 2010
