Abstract
This study investigated the engagement of men, women spouses (WS) and women heads-of-household (WHH) in the planning and construction of rural roads in two Ethiopian districts of Tigray and Amhara, and the differential impacts of rural roads on the mobility and transport of men, WS and WHH. The fieldwork established that there is a strong demand among women for both road use and employment opportunities in road construction. Compared with men, women demonstrated specific priorities with respect to rural road development, such as access to ambulance services, flat, wide and levelled roads, and improved access to means of transport. Although women's concerns have been slowly but steadily pushed up the planning agenda, there are gaps between gender provision in rural road development and implementation. The benefits of roads for women can be enhanced by targeting gender mainstreaming provisions to take into account the specific travel and transport needs of WS and WHH.
Highlights
Low-volume rural roads (LVRRs) provide essential connectivity for rural populations in Ethiopia
Specific evidence of the positive value of Ethiopian rural road investments is provided by Dercon and Hoddinott (2005), who showed that improvements in road quality increase the likelihood for women of selling artisanal products by 39%, and by Dercon et al (2009), who studied the impact of agricultural extension and rural roads on consumption growth and poverty from 1994 to 2004
An estimated US$200 million is spent annually under the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on LVRRs. These LVRRs are upgraded under the Universal Rural Road Access Program (URRAP)
Summary
Low-volume rural roads (LVRRs) provide essential connectivity for rural populations in Ethiopia. Since 2001, the expansion and maintenance of the rural road network, with the exception of high-standard rural roads, has been devolved to the district level and is the responsibility of the Woreda Rural Roads Offices (WRROs) This focus of this study was on LVRRs developed under the URRAP and PSNP and characterised by having an average daily traffic volume of 2–3 vehicles (BCRT, 2016). These small roads are inter-kebele links and those connecting kebeles to smaller towns or to main roads (the latter known as ‘feeder roads’). Hard data on the level of engagement of women in construction are scarce (Subbarao et al, 2013) but the available information points to their low participation in Ethiopia (Emmenegger, 2012)
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