“TEST”- Research Network in Africa:

Raising Awareness, Sharing Knowledge and Enhancing Capacity on Transport and Environment

The first year of the TEST (Transport, Environment, Science and Technology) project network in six African countries (Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) con- cluded successfully with a report about research capacity and needs in these countries. The Project is part of the ACP Science and Technology Programme of the 9th European Development Fund supported by the European Union. Generally, the report concluded that though a huge effort in research and development took place over the past decades, limited resources have hampered the investment in research and development.

QUEST

Quality Management Tool for Urban Energy efficient Sustainable Transpor

 

The overall goal is to set up a quality management tool for sustainable urban mobility for all European cities. The focus in the QUEST project is on midsized cities (50.000 – 300.000 inhabitants). These city types have a lot of problems to organise traffic in an sustainable way. Other than bigger cities they often don’t have the capacity/knowledge to prepare and implement sustainable mobility plans.

In the QUEST project we will develop an audit tool to evaluate and improve the quality of urban sustainable transport in 50 cities. At the end of a QUEST audit cities receive a QUEST quality label which recognizes the efforts in sustainable urban transport planning. In the future this labelling system can form the basis for investment programs from different policy levels to support local authorities (cfr. BYPAD). QUEST is building further on experiences with existing quality management tools for urban transport and environment like BYPAD, MEDIATE, EMAS, … and recognizes the existing EU-frameworks for sustainable urban transport planning which were for instance developed in PILOT.

QUEST is however more than giving a quality label to cities. The main aim is to support cities in actually making progress. Depending on the present quality level on sustainable urban transport (= audit) a tailor made improvement program for urban mobility policy is set up (certifying process). QUEST distinguishes three types of improvement programs:
starters, climbers and champions.
The intensity of the improvement program is directly linked to the present quality level of sustainable urban mobility. Effort is being focused primarily on starter cities and secondary on climber cities. Champion cities have sufficient experience in sustainable mobility to come up with adequate improvements themselves. Within QUEST they act as an inspiration and a role model for other cities. But also the champion cities are confronted with each other to further improve themselves.

 

Going further on commitment of more than 50 cities from all over Europe who want to implement the QUEST audit it is clear that there is a high demand of direct advice on urban mobility planning by many EU-cities. The QUEST project is an answer to this demand and will combine European expertise and knowledge to improve local urban mobility policies.

Sustainable Urban Transport in East Africa

 

GEF, the UN Global Environmental Facility, funds projects and initiatives related to glob- al environmental challenges in developing and transition countries. GEF has five focus areas forming the background for the projects‟ targets. One of these is “Climate Change Mitigation”, setting an objective of promoting energy efficient, low-carbon transport and urban systems.

EURIST is involved in the project “Promoting Sustainable Transport Solutions for East African Cities”, which aims to reduce growth in private motorised vehicles, thus reducing traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions in the three capital cities of Addis Aba-

ba, Kampala and Nairobi.The project goal is to create a technical and institutional basis for implementing sustainable transport networks and systems, and establish a demonstration corridor for sustainable urban mobility. The envisaged strategic response is to upgrade the transit systems in these cities, provide improved non-motorised transport infrastructure and implement travel demand management as well as other supporting policies.