The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and Global Labour Institute (GLI) have announced a new initiative that will see the application of labour impact assessments in transport planning around the world.
The initiative, announced at the Transforming Transportation conference organised by the World Bank and the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, is supported by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) as a special study within its research program ‘Informal and Shared Mobility in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
The project will launch an action agenda for the application of Labour Impact Assessment approach and methods in the procedures and policies of city authorities, national governments, multilateral development banks, and other international stakeholders which is set to greatly benefit sector actors, transport planners and policymakers concerned with wider reforms in the public transport sector, including informal transport.
A first stage of the initiative will be reviewing and synthesising findings and methodologies from Labour Impact Assessments of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects in Nairobi, Dakar, Kampala, Accra and Abidjan and other initiatives designed to improve the quality, efficiency and decarbonisation of urban public transport in the informal economy. The synthesis of the major findings, lessons learned and recommendations for sector actors, transport planners and policy-makers concerned with wider reforms will then be produced and presented to major stakeholders.
The labour impact assessments include participatory research methods, innovative research tools, a broad and inclusive definition of ‘transport worker’ to include all those directly dependent on informal transport for their livelihoods, partnership with local academic institutions, and support for constructive dialogue and engagement between trade unions and transport authorities.
This initiative is another crucial step in adding workers’ voices to the changes in public transport and ensuring that workers’ livelihoods are protected and improved moving forward.
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Click here for more information about GLI’s work on informal transport.