VREF invites you to join a mini-series of three Research Forums in September – November 2024 which celebrate 5 years of research results on mobility & access in SSA through the MAC program.
The purpose of this mini-series is to highlight new knowledge production and results from research projects which have been carried out by scholars in the MAC community and which have strong relevance for understanding core dimensions of transport, mobility and access in African cities. What are some of the overriding thematic issues that have been explored in the program so far – and with what conceptual and empirical results? 

Research Forum #2: Practices and challenges in informal and shared mobility in SSA – lessons for capacity building and planning

Background

Issues related to the planning and operation of informal and shared mobility (also known as paratransit) have been a central focus of many research projects within VREF’s program “Mobility & Access in African Cities” (MAC) in the past five years. 

Multiple modes of travel by informal and shared mobility play an important role in public transportation in Sub-Saharan Africa by filling the deficit of formal public transport systems. Notwithstanding, these modes are inadequately planned, exposing them to many challenges related to operation, management and capacity building. 

This Research Forum will interrogate these issues using recent work on current and changing practices within informal and shared mobility in various contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Forum will focus on presentations by leading scholars within the MAC program, followed by comments from researchers within VREF’s “Program on Informal and Shared Mobility” (PRISM), as well as an interactive discussion. 

The Research Forum is the second in a series of three webinars “Celebrating 5 years of new research on mobility & access in SSA” in September – November 2024. Each Forum (3 hours including break) focuses on a specific theme which has strong relevance for understanding issues related to transport, mobility and access in Sub-Saharan African cities. 

Program – preliminary speakers and topics

Welcome and framing the Forum: Henrik Nolmark, VREF Director

Keynote speaker: Roger Behrens, University of Cape Town, South Africa
“Mainstreaming informal mobility: reflections on recent advances and future challenges” 

Short Q&A

Presentation: Jackie Klopp, Columbia University, USA
“The Partnership for Research on Informal and Shared Mobility (PRISM): engagement, exchange, “ecosystems” and equity”

Short Q&A

Presentations: 

Ayobami Popoola, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
“Workplace relationships of harassment and intimidation between informal public transport operators and city officials in Durban, South Africa” 

Alicia Fortuin, African Center for Cities
“Platform Politics and Silicon Savannas in Cape Town, Nairobi and Kigali.” 

Herrie Schalekamp, Codatu, France
“Building capacity on informal urban public transport in Africa: experiences and challenges” 

Commentators

Ernest Agyemang, University of Ghana (also PRISM program) 
John Mark Mwanika, Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union, Uganda 
Farida Moawad, Transport for Cairo

Plenary discussion

Moderator: Winnie Mitullah, University of Nairobi
Rapporteur: Mary Mwangi, University of Nairobi