Overview
There is a significant lack of sector-specific literature on capacity building in the field of passenger transport and urban mobility. The report addresses this gap by examining various capacity building activities and their effectiveness for LICs. After defining capacity building, the report identifies six types of stakeholders involved in capacity building (public authorities, international development cooperation agencies, non-profits and NGOs, initiatives and partnerships, universities, and the private sector). A non-exhaustive overview of the different organisations and entities under each type is presented. The report then compiles a catalogue of 14 capacity building formats and lists examples of each related to transport sector.
Highly relevant for the international transport community and even more so for transport institutions worldwide, the findings of the report give a detailed response to the question of “who does what where” in terms of capacity building support for transport institutions. One of the main findings has been that capacity building can take different forms and extends well beyond trainings to include different formats that promote expert and peer exchanges such as peer reviews, mentorship programmes, participation in committees and working groups etc.
To take funding and budget constraints into account, capacity building activities are categorised by their degree of excludability and rivalry. The authors further suggest analysing capacity building activities based on factors related to the themes of content, target audience and logistics. With these three themes, detailed guidelines to assess capacity building activities are presented. The guidelines provide a useful reference to assess the relative success and effectiveness of capacity building measures, which is especially relevant for the international transport community given the lack of information and strong evidence base on capacity building strategies for transport institutions in LICs.
Finally, the report introduces capacity needs assessments as a tool to enhance the design, funding, and coordination of capacity building efforts. The methodology of the research project relied on a literature review, twelve expert interviews with different organisations working on capacity building for transport institutions in Africa and Asia, as well as a multi-stakeholder consultation webinar with 37 transport professionals from LICs, MICs, and HICs.
