practices of involvement of human in rural roads

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Practices on involvement of local community in rural roads Technical Committee A.4 Rural Road Systems and Accessibility to Rural Areas

The World Road Association (PIARC) is a nonprofit organisation established in 1909 to improve international co-operation and to foster progress in the field of roads and road transport.

The study that is the subject of this report was defined in the PIARC Strategic Plan 2007 – 2011 approved by the Council of the World Road Association, whose members are representatives of the member national governments. The members of the Technical Committee responsible for this report were nominated by the member national governments for their special competences.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their parent organizations or agencies.

This report is available from the internet site of the World Road Association (PIARC)http://www.piarc.org

Copyright by the World Road Association. All rights reserved.

World Road Association (PIARC)La Grande Arche, Paroi nord, Niveau 292055 La Défense cedex, FRANCe

International Standard Book Number 978-2-84060-329-0

Cover: World Bank

statements

Practices on involvement of local community in rural roads2

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This report has been prepared by the Working Group 3 of the Technical Committee A.4 of the World Road Association on “Rural Road Systems and Accessibility to Rural Areas”.

Three issues were assigned to Technical Committee A.4:

WG1 - Accessibility and Planning of the Development of Rural Roads WG2 - Sustainability of MaintenanceWG3 - Involvement of local communities

The main author of this report is Prabha Kant Katare (India).

The main contributors to the preparation of this report are:

enrique León de la Barra (Mexico);Olav egil ellevset (Norway);Terje Tessem (ILO);Tiraogo Hervé Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso);Maurizio Crispino (Italy);Manon Baril (Canada);Liviu Bota (Romania);B. Shyam-Babu (India).

The author is grateful to the support and guidance extended by the members of TC A.4 and particularly to enrique Leon de la Bara, the Chair of TC A.4 and Jean Francois Corté, Secretary General of the World Road Association.

The Technical Committee was chaired by enrique León de la Barra (Mexico), Tiraogo Hervé Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso) was the French-speaking secretary.


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sommaire

eXeCUtiVe sUmmarY ........................................................................................................................5introdUCtion .....................................................................................................................................101. need for PartiCiPation of CommUnitY and its sCoPe ........................................152. faCtors affeCting CommUnitY PartiCiPation and stePs for CommUnitY

PartiCiPation .................................................................................................................................182.1. Factors aFFecting community participation ....................................................182.2. steps For community participation .......................................................................19

3. PraCtiCes of CommUnitY PartiCiPation ......................................................................224. referenCes ......................................................................................................................................29aPPendiCes ............................................................................................................................................30aPPendiX 1 – miCroenterPrise-Based roUtine road maintenanCe – the Latin ameriCan eXPerienCe ...........................................................................................30

1. types oF roads under routine maintenance ....................................................342. organisational modality ...........................................................................................353. microenterprise Formation .......................................................................................384. contracting modalities ..............................................................................................435. tools and equipment ......................................................................................................466. maintenance activities ...............................................................................................477. levels oF service and perFormance indicators .............................................498. productivity rates and maintenance costs ....................................................519. Financing mecHanisms ...................................................................................................5610. training and accompaniment ....................................................................................5911. contract supervision ...................................................................................................6212. conclusion ...........................................................................................................................63

aPPendiX 2 – Understanding the diVersitY of rUraL transPort needs to maXimize CommUnitY PartiCiPation – eXPerienCe of PraCtiCaL aCtion rUraL transPort ProjeCts in sri Lanka and nePaL ...............................65aPPendiX 3 - the eXPerienCe of CommUnitY inVoLVement in BUrkina faso and Benin .........................................................................................................70

1. Best practice / case studies .............................................................................................711.1 Context ................................................................................................................................711.2 Project .................................................................................................................................721.3 Results achieved to date .......................................................................................................721.4 The Prest program budget ...................................................................................................731.5 Prospects .............................................................................................................................73

2. - comments on a Few pHases and activities oF tHe local road component pasr ii (Benin) ......................................................................................................................73

Step 1: exploration .........................................................................................................................73Step 2: Road project preparation ...................................................................................................74Step 3: Social mobilization ............................................................................................................75Step 4: Study and work .................................................................................................................76Step 5: Monitoring and follow-up system ......................................................................................77


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eXeCUtiVe sUmmarY

the communities may be defined differently according to the project demands. in the context of rural roads and transport planning, the community can be identified as legal or administrative community, social community and geographical community.

rural accessibility has direct impact on reduction of poverty; therefore, sustainability of rural road network would obviously have direct impact on sustainability of enhanced socio-economic conditions of the community. and therefore, the relation of poverty with the sustainability of the rural road network should trigger immense interests of the communities leading to active participation and involvement, provided the communities are adequately sensitized to the above facts.

in the early decades since world war ii, states played pre-eminent role as prime movers with respect to development. the initiative for development came from the state, the infrastructure projects were planned, designed and executed by the state through the funds raised from taxation, borrowings, etc. the limitations of this top-down planning and implementation came to be realized only after decades of experience on the ground. as public investments in many sectors expanded, the evaluations showed that often the intended outcomes of projects were not fully achieved. in many projects, it was found that unintended consequences such as environmental damages had taken place leading to enormous social costs. in some cases, facilities were created, but their utilization by the people left much to be desired. these adverse outcomes forced governments and policy makers to rethink about the prevailing approaches to development and the concept and practice of “community participation” emerged to the forefront of development strategies. if the outcomes of development projects did not meet expectations, one plausible reason could be that they did not respond to the felt needs of the people. when people are kept away from the design of projects or when procurement is done without transparency, the scope for corruption and diversion of funds becomes greater. similarly, when the local community is kept ignorant of a project or when major decisions are made without their participation or knowledge, its members may not feel any affinity towards it and may refuse to evince interest in its creation and maintenance.

participation of community refers to its active involvement in an activity through taking part or sharing it. a rural road network is such a basic community asset which has tremendous bearing on socio-economic development of rural communities, therefore; involvement of communities is critical in projects or works aimed at providing rural accessibility. in a highly technical sector, the scope for a local community to be involved in the design process may be much less than in a social sector project that uses a simple technology. participation does


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not imply that communities will make the final decisions on projects. in some cases, they may offer consultative inputs. on other occasions, they may share in decision making.

local communities can contribute in the assessment of transportation needs, they may provide inputs for design, they may contribute through labour inputs or cost sharing for road building, the community can play a vital role in monitoring the quality and the project implementation. the community may immensely contribute in maintenance on a continuing basis. the roles identified above represent a- mix of partnership and watchdog functions. though the mix of roles that local communities can play in the road sector might vary from one context to another, there are some generalizations that can be useful. First, in all road projects, an early assessment should be undertaken of appropriateness and feasibility of community participation. second, participation will be easier to organize when potential users are easily identified and brought on board. the roles of community may seem simple enough, but getting the work organized with efficiency and integrity will call for competent organizations and leaders. the mechanistic or standardized approaches to community participation are unlikely to work. the areas, including their various combinations, pertaining to (a) planning the rural accessibility, in rural accessibility planning and selection alignment for individual roads or tracks; (b) community contribution, in terms of funding of construction or maintenance or providing labour support or material support and in terms of community contracting; (c) community in watchdog role in construction supervision or quality control as a stake holder and (d) community involvement in maintenance management planning and implementation, may be considered for community participation in rural road projects.

group homogeneity, importance and type of access, administrative strength, infrastructure history and capacity to conduct the activity are the significant factors that determine the likely success of community participation in roads. these factors are important in predisposing or sensitizing communities to participate in the field of rural roads or local transport infrastructure. these factors form an important backdrop to project planning which seeks to actively engage communities in road maintenance with a view to establishing long-term sustainable systems.

For engaging communities in community involvement or participation, the steps shown below can be taken:

• step 1 – screening: Screening is the first step in process of community participation. the screening would provide an opportunity to assess the community willingness, intend to participate and type of participation that can be expected.


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• step 2 – assessment of Capacity: community capacity can be assessed in the areas of community organizational capacity, human, natural and financial resources. there are various methods for the assessment of the above including interviews, questionnaire surveys and participatory group techniques.

• step 3 – organization forming and Linking: From the capacity assessment stage, knowledge of administrative or community leadership will be gained and it would be clear whether there is a capability of representing the community and participating in the project.

• step 4 – Planning and design: the previous steps could form an integral part of the planning stage in a project. the information gathered in the 3 steps can be used to shape the way in which the process of participation would continue into the more detailed design and implementation stages.

• step 5 – implementation: the majority of activities take place in the process of implementation of a project and this depends on good planning. therefore, for active and sustained community participation the previous steps are essential to ascertain good participation at implementation stage. the community can most actively participate in construction or maintenance directly. the community may participate as contractors and the choice of construction techniques may also be entrusted to the community under supervision of the experts.

• step 6 – monitoring and evaluation: project monitoring with respect to quality and the progress may effectively be done by the community. the socio-economic impact assessment is also an area where the community participation under the guidance from experts is likely to yield good results.

• step 7 – sustainability: sustainable community participation could be ensured through involvement of community in one form or the other in a road project till project completion and continuation of participation through involvement in the activity of preventive and routine maintenance.

the following experience and practices of community participation in roads have been identified:

1. guidelines for Planners and engineers in Community Participation in maintenance of roads, august, 2003 by dfid: these guidelines, prepared by it transport limited, consultants in transport for rural development for the dFid, have been perceived as a significant effort towards structured community participation in the road sector. these guidelines are for use of transport planners and engineers alike wishing to engage communities or groups of people in the rehabilitation and maintenance of transport infrastructure. the document is available at: www.ittransport.co.uk/ documents/Guidelines

2. UndP experience of integrated rural accessibility Planning and Community Participation in rural infrastructure development in Vientiane, Laos: cris donnges, international labour organization has published an issue paper on Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning and Community


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Participation in Rural Infrastructure Development in Laos (1996-1999) for the ministry of communications, transport, post and construction, rural development committee. government of laos, vientiane. this issue paper is about rural infrastructure planning and community participation. it is partly based on the experiences from the pilot project on participatory planning of rural infrastructure (pprid) and partly on the efforts of the integrated rural accessibility planning project (irap) to integrate community participation in a better way in its effort to improve rural access. in lao p.d.r. the pprid project has demonstrated that communities can successfully participate in the development of their rural infrastructure if this opportunity is given to them. the document is available at: http://www.ilo.on!/vublic/en2:lish/emvlovment /recon

3. the Latin american experience of micro enterprise Based routine maintenance: serge cartier van dissel, consultant in road sector presented a paper on Microenterprise Based Road Maintenance - The Latin American experience in piarc international seminar on sustainable maintenance of rural roads at Hyderabad, india in January 2010. the experience of micro enterprise originating from the local community and its involvement in the maintenance of rural roads has proven to be an economically and technically viable option for the conservation of road by national and sub-national governments in the latin american region, resulting in improved road conditions, a longer lifespan for both the paved and unpaved networks, and lower overall maintenance costs. additionally, the approach has demonstrated to have an important positive influence on local economies and local capacity building, resulting in the generation of incomes and employment for communities along the roads concerned. the document is available in Appendix 1.

4. Case study on Community involvement in maintenance of rural infrastructure in sri Lanka and nepal, by Practical action south asia: ranjith de silva, regional coordinator for asia and the pacific, international Forum for rural transport and development (iFrtd) presented a paper on Understanding the Diversity of Rural Transport Needs to Maximize Community Participation - experience of Practical Action Rural Transport Projects in Sri Lanka and Nepal in piarc international seminar on sustainable maintenance of rural roads at Hyderabad, india in January 2010. the document is available in Appendix 2.

5. Community Participation in Planning and implementation of rural roads - a case study adB timor-Leste road sector improvement Project: Francesco tornieri, social development specialist (gad), rsdd and marcelo minc, principal project management specialist, eard, asian development Bank, presented community participation in planning and implementation of rural roads - a case study ad~ timor-leste road sector improvement project.


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the document is available on web-site: http//www.adb.org/documents events 2008 adb transport-forum-2008.

6. Community involvement in Burkina faso: the experience of community involvement in Burkina Faso as presented by mr. amade ouedraogo, Burkina Faso has been abstracted as below: it has been projected that Burkina Faso has put the improvement of rural transport as a priority socio-economic development tool and a tool to struggle against poverty. nine urban and rural districts in the three provinces of the eastern region viz., gourma, gnagna and tapoa are involved in the programme aiming at broadly, action - research and knowledge on technical, socio-economic and environmental of High intensity labour method (Himo) rural roads development to supply the rural transport national strategy (sntr); the establishment in the technical sector and the positioning as a representative of the local government, the population and village communities; capacity building of the organs of the programme, the partners, the community, the local actors including those of the private sector; setting up financing mechanisms for local transport infrastructures and their maintenance; the empowerment of local board of directors and equitable involvement of the users in the implementation, the management and maintenance of these facilities and promoting local good governance and citizenship through training and communication. the document is available in Appendix 3.

7. Citizen monitoring and audit of rural roads under Prime minister’s rural road Programme in india: public affairs centre, a Bangalore, india based civil society organization has presented a report on citizen monitoring and audit of pmgsy roads: pilot phase ii in July 2009. the experience of involvement of community in monitoring the quality and audit of rural roads taken up under prime minister’s rural roads programme in india in 2007-08 is available at: http://www.vacindia.or2:/ publications/PMGSY.


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introdUCtion

Community1

the concept of a community varies depending on countries, regions or provinces, sub-regions within provinces, sectors, and projects. in general, depending upon their legal/administrative, social and guild resource characteristics, the communities may be of the following three types:

• legal/administrative communities: legal/administrative communities are generally defined by a country’s local government legislation, which may recognize a hierarchy of communities and codify their administration in terms of traditional or political structures. in such communities, both traditional and elected structures may also exist side by side;

• social communities: Social Communities are generally defined by the members of such communities themselves and generally reflect the differentiation through prevailing social, economic or cultural norms and may be reinforced by residential segregation. this type of community can be seen as having a common characteristic and a bound by its common interests. the example of such communities may be traders and farmers, etc.;

• geographical communities: These communities may be defined in geographical or planning terms. geographical or natural features or levels of demand/ supply may be used to identify community interests or catchment areas. in a water supply and irrigation project in forestry development programmes or other such programmes concerned with natural resource management, a resource-based differentiation of the community may be useful, however, in contrast, the local management and governance of schools may need to incorporate a number of ‘social communities’ if they are to be representative.

1 community participation in road maintenance, guidelines for planners and engineers, 1st edition, dFid research scheme no. r6476 august, 2003.


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the implication of these different concepts is that communities will be defined differently according to the project demands.

road projects and their maintenance are no different in this respect and it is possible to identify all three types of communities in the context of rural roads and transport planning. thus, awareness about these different types of community would be important in issues relating to sustainability of rural road network.

relation of rural accessibility and poverty – a trigger for community participation

rural roads as a component of rural transport network and as a means of accessibility to rural areas is essentially a community asset. rural roads are used as an entry point for poverty alleviation since lack of access is accepted universally as a fundamental factor in continuation of poverty. over time perception of poverty has undergone a significant change. poverty is not only related to low level of per capita income but also conditions such as mal nutrition, ill health, illiteracy and lack of access to basic services. there is a growing body of empirical evidence linking transport investment to the improved well-being of the poor and transport is highly relevant to the achievement of a number of targets defined under the millennium development goals (mdgs). the linkages between transport improvement and mdgs are clearly elaborated in a recent study by the africa union and the un commission for africa (2005). improved infrastructure of roads and transport services would make trading in rural areas more efficient thereby reducing cost of inputs and contributing to increased agricultural output and rural development. in this process, income levels of villagers get raised thus improving their quality of life. side by side, access to health, education and other services is improved providing the villagers with better opportunities for improving their standards of living. in yet another indirect way, roads influence the process of growth through changes in socio-economic attitudes of people by facilitating the dispersal of knowledge and reduction of inequalities leading to demand for more goods and service.

a study (Fan et al. 1999)2 carried out by the international Food policy research institute on linkages between government expenditure and poverty in rural india has revealed that an investment of rs 1 crore in roads lifts 1650 poor persons above the poverty line. public investment on roads impacts rural poverty through its effect on improved agricultural productivity, higher non farm employment opportunities, increased rural wages etc. improvement in agricultural productivity not only reduces rural poverty directly by increasing income of poor households,

2 (2007). J. K mohapatra and B. p. chandrasekher, rural roads in india infrastructure report 2007.


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it also causes decline in poverty indirectly by raising agricultural wages and lowering food prices (since poor households are net buyers of food grains). similarly, increased non-farm employment and higher rural wages also enhance incomes of the rural poor and consequently, reduce rural poverty. this study estimated that while the productivity effect of government spending on rural roads accounts for 24% of total impact on poverty, increased non-farm employment accounts for 55% and higher rural wages accounts for the remaining 31%.

Further, of the total productivity effect on poverty, 75% arises from the direct impact of roads in increasing income, while the remaining 25% arises from lower food prices (15%) and increased wages (10%). similar results are found in other developing countries. the study by the same institute (Fan et al. 2000) in china revealed that with every 10,000 yuan (about $1,200) spent on rural roads eleven persons are lifted above the poverty line. living standard survey in vietnam in 2002 showed that populations living within 2 km of all-weather roads have lower poverty rates as noted in the vision document for rural roads, 2006 (mord, 2006).

since the rural accessibility has direct impact on reduction of poverty, the sustainability of rural road network would obviously have direct impact on sustainability of enhanced socio-economic conditions of the community and therefore, the relation of poverty with the sustainability of the rural road network should trigger immense interests of the communities leading to active participation and involvement provided the communities are adequately sensitized to the above facts.

Background of Community Participation in infrastructure3

the dominant development paradigm in the early decades since world war ii was marked by the pre-eminent role of the state as the prime mover. all developing countries were poor at that time, with very few entrepreneurs and limited access to technology, capital and skills. under these conditions, the initiative for development had necessarily to come from the state, as the starting point was a programme of public investment to create the needed infrastructure and essential services. infrastructure such as roads, irrigation, water supply, energy, etc., needed heavy investments and only governments had the vision, strength and capacity to mobilize the resources and organization to create them. plans and designs of projects would be prepared under government auspices, and the needed funds were raised through taxation and borrowing. in most developing countries, the allocation of funds to different projects and states was the responsibility of the federal governments. Foreign aid in support of development projects was also generally routed through these federal governments only. the top-down nature of

3 (January, 2010) dr. samuel paul, roads and the role of community participation, Key note address in pr international seminar on sustainable maintenance of rural roads, Hyderabad, india.


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this type of planning and governance was widely accepted at that time across most of the developing countries.

the limitations of top-down planning and implementation of development programmes and projects came to be appreciated by governments and development experts only after decades of experience on the ground. as public investments in many sectors expanded, and much foreign aid was absorbed by governments, evaluations showed that often the intended outcomes of projects were not fully achieved. in many completed projects, it was found that unintended consequences such as environmental damages had taken place leading to enormous social costs that were overlooked in accounting. in some cases, facilities were created, but their utilization by the people left much to be desired. it was adverse outcomes of this kind that forced governments, experts and policy makers to rethink the prevailing approaches to development.

it is this rethinking that brought the concept and practice of “community participation” to the forefront of development strategies. if the outcomes of development projects did not meet expectations, one plausible reason could be that they did not respond to the felt needs of the people. if a school is built at a wrong location, for example, some people in need may not be able to make use of it. when people are kept away from the design of projects or when procurement is done without transparency, the scope for corruption and diversion of funds becomes greater. similarly, when the local community is kept ignorant of a project or when major decisions are made without their participation or knowledge, its members may not feel any affinity towards it and may refuse to evince interest in its creation and maintenance.


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a sense of partnership and ownership of projects on the part of local communities was thus seen as a positive force for the outcomes of development projects to improve. over the years, governments have learnt that communities can complement and strengthen their efforts to accelerate the pace and quality of development.

Purpose of the document

as the partnership and ownership of projects by the local communities was perceived to have substantially positive impact on improvement of delivery of development projects, the community participation has been practiced widely in various parts of the world. the purpose of the document is to compile some significant practices of community participation in rural roads and present it to the various stake holders involved in development and management of rural road networks in various parts of the world. starting from guidelines for planners and engineers for community participation in road maintenance issued by dFid in august, 2003, efforts have been made to present abstracts and details of practices in various activities involved in rural accessibility, development and management of rural roads and such related networks.


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Practices on involvement of local community in rural roads

1. need for PartiCiPation of CommUnitY and its sCoPe4

participation of community refers to its active involvement in an activity through taking part or sharing it. a rural road network is such a basic community asset which has tremendous bearing on socio-economic development of rural communities, therefore; involvement of communities is critical in projects or works aimed at rural accessibility. if the community is kept ignorant of a basic community asset and are kept away from major decisions about the community asset without their participation, the use of public funds for creation of such community asset cannot be fully justified.

what are the roles that a community can play in a development project? it is best to answer this question in the context of specific sectors as the feasibility and usefulness of community participation can vary from one activity to another. in a highly technical sector, for example, the scope for a local community to be involved in the design process may be much less than in a social sector project that uses a simple technology. participation does not imply that communities will make the final decisions on projects. in some cases, they may offer consultative inputs. on other occasions, they may share in decision making.

given below are the roles that communities can play in the road sector:

• local communities can contribute to the assessment of their transportation needs;• they will be able to provide inputs at the design stage, especially when different

options are made available;• cost sharing through labour inputs or money for road building is another form of

community participation. this may be easier in rural areas rather than in the context of very large road projects;

• monitoring of road works while under construction or completion is another role that communities can play;

• maintenance of roads, especially in rural areas may lend themselves to some measure of community involvement on a continuing basis.

the roles identified above represent a mix of partnership and watchdog functions. design inputs, and cost sharing in road construction and maintenance are examples of partnership with governments. monitoring, on the other hand, can be viewed as a watchdog role of the community that has to be performed in a neutral fashion.

though the mix of roles that local communities can play in the road sector might vary from one context to another, there are some generalizations that can be useful. First, in all road projects, an early assessment of where community participation

4 community participation in road maintenance, guidelines for planners and engineers, 1st edition, dFid research scheme no. r6476 august, 2003.

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would be most appropriate and feasible should be undertaken. local level discussions and visits will be an aid to this endeavor. second, participation will be easier to organize when potential users are easily identified and brought on board. this applies, for example, to rural roads that pass by or through villages or towns. Highways, on the other hand, have far flung and multiple users. it is not easy to organize or involve them in all aspects of design. third, communities will play constructive roles when they are cohesive groups. when they are very large or diverse, organizing them to play certain roles will become more difficult. Fourth, organization and leadership are key to the success of community participation. the roles themselves may seem simple enough, but getting the work organized with efficiency and integrity will call for competent organizations and leaders. Fifth, all of the above point out to the fact that mechanistic or standardized approaches to community participation are unlikely to work.

the areas in which the participation could be considered may be following including various combinations:

1. planning the rural accessibility:

• the involvement of community in rural accessibility planning;• selection of best suited alignment for individual roads or tracks.

2. community contribution:

• the community may be involved in funding of construction or maintenance; • the community may also contribute in terms of providing labour support or

material support;• community contracting.

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3. community in watchdog role. the community may be involved in construction supervision or quality control as a stake holder.

4. community involvement in maintenance management planning and implementation

For community participation, the dFid guidelines have suggested a typology, as given in table 1, following page. in a project, one or more of these participatory modes, in its planning and implementation stages, may be included and this list may neither be treated as exhaustive nor progressive. it may also be argued that all projects could be termed as participatory because invariably some degree of passive or material incentive participation may be involved.

taBLe 1 – tYPes of PartiCiPationParticipation type Characteristics

Passive participationpeople participate by living in the area of the project. they may be told what is going to happen or has already happened but will have no other input.

Participation for material incentive

people participate by being paid for labour in food or cash, for a pre-determined project. this may be as a ‘community’ or as groups.

Participation by resource contribution

people participate by contributing a resource such as labour or money, to a pre-determined project.

Participation by consultation

people participate by being consulted (perhaps with options) on projects where the majority of the decisions have been made. their view may or may not be considered.

interactive participation

people participate by joining with external professionals in analysis of their situation, developing action plans and determining common project.

spontaneous mobilization

people participate by taking their own initiative independent of external professionals to change their situation. this may lead to self-help projects or requests to other institutions for assistance.

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2. faCtors affeCting CommUnitY PartiCiPation and stePs for CommUnitY PartiCiPation

2.1. faCtors affeCting CommUnitY PartiCiPation

the following are the significant factors that determine the likely success of community participation in roads.

• group homogeneity: there will be a number of different social and economic groups within a community and these groups may not be exclusive and inter-linked. For community participation to be successful and sustainable, it is required to have substantially large homogeneous groups within the community that accrues a benefit from having good roads.

• importance and type of access: the community maintains the road to match its need for a particular level of access. If sufficient people do not feel such a need for example if the majority of the people walk or head load crops to a nearby market, it is likely that the community will be reluctant to participate in other than footpath and footbridge maintenance. wealthier people with large land holding may like to participate whereas poor people with low land holding may be reluctant.

• administrative strength: the ability of the community to organize works shows the strength of the administration. this was apparent in some communities where there was a history of organized participation in road maintenance. if people defaulted on the work they usually had to pay a fine or carry out the work at a later date. this had even led to a change in the labour levy system and some wealthier households were regularly paying a ‘fine’ and this was being used to pay someone else to do the work - a kind of local taxation. unfortunately, these positive role

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models are not common and in many rural communities these labour-levy by-laws are unpopular and not enforced.

• infrastructure history: previous work carried out on the communities’ transport infrastructure has a profound impact on its willingness to participate. if work has been done on the road and there has been little or no consultation with the villagers, they feel the responsibility for the road has passed over to the organization conducting the works. therefore the willingness of communities to participate further has a setback.

• Capacity to conduct the activity: the construction method used can greatly affect the willingness of communities to participate in roadworks. if large plant machinery with a number of experts and imported labour is used, it undermines its ability to conduct further works. in contrast, the use of labour-based techniques and manual tools like the hoe and slasher reduces the organization and time scale of road construction at the community level and they can identify with and apply these techniques to their own activities.

these factors are important in predisposing or sensitizing communities to participate in the field of rural roads or local transport infrastructure. these factors form an important backdrop to project planning which seeks to actively engage communities in road maintenance with a view to establishing long-term sustainable systems.

2.2. stePs for CommUnitY PartiCiPation

For engaging communities in community involvement or participation, the following steps can be taken:

• step 1 - screening: Screening is the first step in process of community participation. By screening it may be assessed whether the activity in which community is participating is a priority to the community and what type of community participation may be appropriate to the project. this would ensure more realistic dialogue with the project leaders as well as the community. there may be number of ways of assessing community needs ranging from quantitative surveys to participatory techniques. the screening would provide an opportunity to assess the community willingness, intend to participate and type of participation that can be expected.

• step 2 - assessment of Capacity: community capacity can be assessed in the areas of community organizational capacity, human, natural and financial resources. It needs to be ascertained how many people are able to participate, what skill they have, is there any history of participation. it may also be assessed that use of local people either as labourers, supervisors, technicians’ or monitors can cut project costs and increase community responsibility and participation. For example in many rural areas there could be a councilor leadership structure, there would be a need to assess how strong and active they are. the type of natural resources available in the area that are useful for the project also needs to be assessed. the

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community members may already be paying taxes or levies, however, it needs to be assessed that whether there is a scope for additional taxes or one time payoff capacity in the community.

there are various methods for the assessment of the above including interviews, questionnaire surveys and participatory group techniques.

• step 3 - organization forming and Linking: From the capacity assessment stage, knowledge of administrative or community leadership will be gained and it would be clear whether there is a capability of representing the community and participating in the project. if community is not capable, there may be need for revitalization or restructuring. For the purpose of the project there would be a need to develop appropriate organization of the community and linkages between the members of community, community organization and project people.

• step 4 - Planning and design: the previous steps could form an integral part of the planning stage in a project. the information gathered in the 3 steps can be used to shape the way in which the process of participation would continue into the more detailed design and implementation stages. to maintain the trust and relationship with the community their inclusion in the planning stage is vital. the participation should be ensured for planning of physical activities as well as managerial aspects.

• step 5 - implementation: the majority of activities take place in the process of implementation of a project and this depends on good planning, therefore, for active and sustained community participation the previous steps are essential to ascertain good participation at implementation stage. the community can most actively participate in the following elements of project implementation:

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a. construction: in construction of a road or maintenance activity the community can participate through labour, material or through contribution of payment of cash to labourers. depending on the class of road the community involvement can vary from being the community contractor or labourer for the contractor;

b. contractors: the use of contractors presents an opportunity to allow local communities to physically participate in the implementation of a project. this participation may be with large contractors or petty contractors and even as community contractors also. For ensuring better community participation in form of community contractors there may be the need for reviewing processes of contracting and capacity building exercise in form of financial aids and incentives and training of the communities in this regard;

c. construction techniques: the choice of construction techniques will depend on availability of financial resources, human resources and machinery in the area of the project. this would also depend on the type of output that is expected in a project. in the context of community participation, the application of labour based construction techniques have been found to be favorable because of the fact that local people can be directly benefited by labour employment and community in more involved in road works, which may engender or responsibility towards infrastructure. labour based projects usually provide skill development opportunities to unskilled workers and these can be used in future for purposes of sustainability of the road. the labour based groups can work on a number of sites allowing ‘length-man/ contractor’ system to be used.

• step 6 - monitoring and evaluation: the monitoring and evaluation of a rural road project usually carried out in respect of physical parameters such as, length of roads constructed/improved, amount of material used etc. in some projects socio-economic impact assessment is also taken up. pilot projects in involvement of

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citizen for monitoring the quality of rural infrastructure have amply demonstrated feasibility of citizen monitoring of the quality of the infrastructure. quality testing equipment piloted in these projects have proved user friendly and effective, moreover, the involvement of intermediary civil society organizations to mobilize citizens’ participation in the monitoring and audit of road works has been found to be most critical success factor. communities can participate in these activities and the last stage i.e. the monitoring and evaluation of actual community participation.

• step 7 - sustainability: the continuation of the community participation after the initial input or at the end of the project should not be neglected. sustainable community participation could be ensured through involvement of community in one form or the other in a road project till project completion and continuation of participation through involvement in the activity of preventive and routine maintenance.

3. PraCtiCes of CommUnitY PartiCiPation

since the infrastructure directly affects the community, there would also be participation of the community in development and management of the infrastructure asset, either in passive or in active form and it may not be necessary that appropriate documentation of such community participation is done; therefore substantial documentation on this topic is not available. However, documentation of community participation activity has been done by various agencies in case of structured interventions in this field. the efforts have been made to compile some significant practices of community participation in rural roads.

the following practices of community participation in roads have been identified.

1. guidelines for Planners and engineers in Community Participation in maintenance of roads, august, 2003 by dfid.

these guidelines, prepared by it transport limited, consultants in transport for rural development for the dFid, have been perceived as a significant effort towards structured community participation in road sector.

these guidelines are for use of transport planners and engineers alike wishing to engage communities or groups of people in the rehabilitation and maintenance of transport infrastructure. the guidelines have been developed over three years from research conducted in east africa, specifically uganda, tanzania and Kenya. they also draw on worldwide experience from other development projects engaging communities in the sustainable maintenance of communal resources. it has emerged that the maintenance of community resources and particularly transport infrastructure has been neglected in the past and a cycle of re-construction or rehabilitation has evolved. to break this cycle many projects and programmes are focusing on the

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development of sustainable and more realistic approaches to maintenance. these guidelines form part of this approach and cover the more common community participation options for all levels of road throughout the project cycle. the guidelines are expected to provide guidance as well as stimulate new ideas.

the document is available from www.ittransport.co.uk/ documents/Guidelines

2. UndP experience of integrated rural accessibility Planning and Community Participation in rural infrastructure development in Vientiane, Laos.

cris donnges, international labour organization has published issue paper 4 on integrated rural accessibility planning and community participation in rural infrastructure development in laos (1996-1999) for the ministry of communications, transport, post and construction, rural development committee. government of laos, vientiane.

this paper is partly based on the experiences from the pilot project on participatory planning of rural infrastructure (pprid) and partly on the efforts of the integrated rural accessibility planning project (irap) to integrate community participation in a better way in its effort to improve rural access.

community participation is a process whereby beneficiaries influence the direction and execution of development projects rather than merely receiving a share of project benefits. it has been demonstrated time after time that communities are able to identify their real problems and define interventions that are best suited to their real needs. top-down planning of small-scale rural infrastructure projects without consulting the villagers has often proven to be an ineffective approach and may result in ineffective projects and a waste of resources. rural infrastructure projects should address the real needs of the local people and should optimize the use of local resources from a cost perspective. to the extent possible, they should be planned, designed, implemented and maintained in the communities, by the communities and for the communities.

a case study on best practices in community-based rural infrastructure planning, commissioned by escap, concluded “that the taking of responsibility by people for their own development is a better way to achieve improvements in economic and social conditions, and it is more likely to be successful, cost effective and sustainable.” effective community participation requires communities “ready” to participate and government departments and agencies “ready” to work with communities. creating an enhanced environment which facilitates sustainable and self-reliant socio-economic development is often necessary pre-requisite for effective community participation.

in conclusion, in lao p.d.r. the pprid project has demonstrated that communities

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can successfully participate in the development of their rural infrastructure if this opportunity is given to them. optimizing the use of local resources (construction materials, labour) reduces the cost of most small-scale infrastructure works and enhances sustainability. in addition it creates an income and multiplier effect in that rural communities experience a short-term capital injection. assisting communities to identify their priority infrastructure needs, through a community participatory approach, also prepares them for the broader task of effectively identifying and prioritizing other development needs.

the document is available from http://www.ilo.on!/vublic/en2:lish/emvlovment/recon

3. the Latin american experience of micro enterprise Based routine maintenance.

serge cartier van dissel, consultant in road sector presented a paper on ‘Microenterprise Based Road Maintenance - The Latin American experience’ in piarc international seminar on sustainable maintenance of rural roads at Hyderabad, india in January 2010.

with the aim of improving the quality of their roads and lowering the related maintenance costs, in the late 1980’s and early 90’s, several countries in latin america started to switch from maintenance by force account with agency staff, to contracting out the routine maintenance of their road network. this move was part of an overall reform process to modernize the public sector and develop greater efficiency by involving the private sector. one of the approaches adopted by a wide variety of countries in the region has been the promotion and creation of microenterprises for labour-based routine road maintenance, both of the paved network and the unpaved network.

the concept of microenterprise-based routine road maintenance was pioneered by colombia, where in 1984, together with the ilo and unido, the ministry of transport and public works began experimenting with associative microenterprises. the programme has undergone several transformations and is currently carried out by the national Highway institute (invias), which contracts over 300 microenterprises through either direct or competitive bidding for the routine maintenance of over 14,000 kilometres of paved roads, which is equivalent to almost the entire paved network. the colombian experience has served as a model for the entire latin american region, and has been replicated in countries such as peru, uruguay, nicaragua, Honduras, ecuador, Bolivia, guatemala, costa rica and paraguay. the microenterprise-based routine road maintenance has been applied successfully in both paved and unpaved road networks. the two largest and at the same time oldest experiences of invias in colombia and provias rural in peru, respectively covered paved and unpaved roads.

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contrary to experiences in asia and africa where the lengthman system has been prevalent (one person in charge of the maintenance of 2-3 km of road), in latin america there has been a tendency to organize the road maintenance workers into microenterprises. despite the increased initial input required in creating and strengthening these microenterprises, the main advantage has been the lower requirements for supervision, as a section of road of up to 50 km can be evaluated at a single time, rather than having to assess each 2-3 km stretch separately. a second important advantage has been the effect on the local economy and productive activities, where the entrepreneurial training and experience have resulted in the creation of new business endeavors, both by the microenterprise members themselves, as well as their family members and others. thirdly, it has been found that the maintenance work carried out by microenterprises is generally of better quality and more efficient than that of individual workers, mainly as a result of mutual assistance and group dynamics.

microenterprise-based routine road maintenance has proven to be an economically and technically viable option for the conservation of road by national and sub-national governments in the latin american region, resulting in improved road conditions, a longer lifespan for both the paved and unpaved networks, and lower overall maintenance costs. additionally, the approach has demonstrated to have an important positive influence on local economies and local capacity building, resulting in the generation of incomes and employment for communities along the roads concerned.

Full text of the paper is in Appendix 1.

4. Case study on Community involvement in maintenance of rural infrastructure in sri Lanka and nepal, by Practical action south asia

ranjith de silva, regional coordinator for asia and the pacific, international Forum for rural transport and development (iFrtd) presented a paper on Understanding the Diversity of Rural Transport Needs to Maximize Community Participation - experience of Practical Action Rural Transport Projects in Sri Lanka and Nepal in piarc international seminar on sustainable maintenance of rural roads at Hyderabad, india in January 2010.

people have different needs in mobility and access and they are mostly inclusive in the context of rural transport. improved understanding of the transport sector through studies and development work of govt. institutions, ngos and assessments of donor organizations have contributed towards recognizing the importance of rural transport development needs to be highlighted. it has also helped identify the key factors that influence transport needs and patterns of rural people. these factors strongly influence people’s preference and use of transport systems that are appropriate to them.

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the paper highlights the social and economic benefits of community participation as a result of their involvement in planning, constructions and maintenance of rural infrastructures in sri lanka and nepal. the connectivity made by rural infrastructures will definitely reduce the “out migration” of the villagers as an answer to the predicted increase of “in migration” of rural communities to the urban areas by 2020.

Post Project Impacts of Sri Lanka Case Studypractical action did an evaluation of the project after two years of its completion and found out many social and economic changes in the villages. one of the major aspects was the sense of ownership of the road by the communities. they have gained many economic benefits such as better prices for their products as a result of reducing the transport costs and influx of transport services and traders in to their villages. the land value has increased significantly and many opportunities have been made open. However, as a result of the impacts, the trained educated youth had left the village for either higher studies or high income employment outside the village. anyhow, they have not forgotten to continue their support as and when required in the road maintenance work.

Impacts of Nepal Case Studythe economic and social impacts of this community managed ropeway have been great. the improved quick transportation of goods has given them the opportunity to grow more and sell more. an elderly woman in the mountain village commented “we seldom had rice to eat those days in our houses but now we have the privilege of eating ‘Basmati’ rice. We also have the time to go on pilgrimage and visit our relatives living far”.

Full text of the paper is in Appendix 2.

5. Community Participation in Planning and implementation of rural roads - a case study adB timor-Leste road sector improvement Project.

Francesco tornieri, social development specialist (gad), rsdd and marcelo minc, principal project management specialist, eard, asian development Bank, made a presentation on community participation in planning and implementation of rural roads. this was made in the background of adB’s engagement in road transportation sector policy dialogue and investments with a view to leverage innovative practices developed by ngos, faith-based organizations and community-based organizations to define culturally-sensitive modalities to mitigate the health/ social risks associated with infrastructure development.

the presentation covered community participation in project design, stakeholder consultation and data collection, integrating women in stakeholder consultations, gender-design Features and project implementation.

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in conclusion, the presentation has highlighted the following:

• infrastructure as core area of adB operations;• gender equity as the driver of change;• community participation as a critical demand driven and bottom-up approach to

increase the capacity of communities for self -development and strengthen local institutions.

the document is available from http//www.adb.org/documents events 2008 adb transport-forum-2008.

6. Community involvement in Burkina faso:

the experience of community involvement in Burkina Faso was presented by mr. amade ouedraogo.

Burkina Faso has put the improvement of rural transport as a priority socio-economic development tool and a tool to struggle against poverty. nine urban and rural districts in the three provinces of the eastern region viz., gourma, gnagna and tapoa are involved in the programme aiming at broadly:

• action - research and knowledge on technical, socio-economic and environmental of High intensity labour method (Himo) rural roads development to supply the rural transport national strategy (sntr);

• the establishment in the technical sector and the positioning as a representative of the local government, the population and village communities;

• capacity building of the organs of the programme, the partners, the community, the local actors including those of the private sector, communication cross-cutting (local governance, gender, Hiv/aids, etc.);

• setting up financing mechanisms for local transport infrastructures and their maintenance;

• the empowerment of local board of directors and equitable involvement of the users in the implementation, the management and maintenance of these facilities;

• promote local good governance and citizenship through training and communicate cross-cutting (local governance, gender, Hiv / aids, etc.).

the approach adopted is based on action research, the programme acting as innovator in High intensity labour method (Himo) and facilitator.

Full text of the presentation is in appendix 3.

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7. Citizen monitoring and audit of rural roads under Prime minister’s rural road Programme in india.

public affairs centre, a Bangalore, india based civil society organization has presented a report on “Citizen Monitoring and Audit of PMGSY Roads”: pilot phase ii in July 2009. the experience of involvement of community in monitoring the quality and audit of rural roads taken up under prime minister’s rural roads programme in india in 2007-08 has been abstracted as below.

with a view to explore the possibility of involvement of citizens in the monitoring of rural roads under pmgsy, a pilot project “Citizen Monitoring and Audit of PMGSY Roads”, phase-i was taken up in two states of orissa and Karnataka in collaboration with public affairs centre (pac) a reputed civil society based in Bangalore, Karnataka. the pilot project aimed at conceptualization and exploration of citizen monitoring of road works under pmgsy and development and trial of monitoring quality and testing equipment kit. in this phase the tool kit was developed but citizen monitoring concept could not be brought to a logical conclusion. due to various reasons including that of non-linkage of monitoring agency with implementing agency, non-predictable field operations, rural citizen could not be persuaded to monitor the quality and conduct the tests in a neutral fashion. as a result, three more options for volunteers were tried. the ngos, students of college and school children were also selected in addition to rural citizen but success could not be achieved and it was felt that there was a need to pay more attention in finding network and organizations to lead such an activity.

Based on the findings of phase-i of the pilot project, phase-ii of the project was launched. the findings of pilot phase ii have amply demonstrated the feasibility of citizen monitoring of the quality of pmgsy roads. quality testing equipment piloted has been proved user friendly and effective. the presence of state/ district level intermediary civil society organizations to mobilize rural citizens’ participation in the monitoring and audit pmgsy roads emerges as one of the most critical success factor. the project has also thrown open some pertinent issues that need to be addressed for scaling up of citizen monitoring and audit of pmgsy roads. salient amongst these are: doing away with beneficiary feedback survey since satisfaction ratings are bound to be higher in hitherto unconnected habitations and also for cost savings; the need to evolve a set of critical minimum quality parameters so as to reduce the burden on citizen monitors; development of training manual with audio visual materials; establishing institutional mechanisms of feedback to local implementing authorities for corrective action based on the monitoring and audit data; and the role of a centralized agency for planning, supervision and coordination of state level scaling up initiatives.

the document is available from http://www.vacindia.or2:/publications/PMGSY.

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4. referenCes

• dFid (2003) “Community Participation in Road Maintenance, Guidelines for Planners and engineers”, 1st edition, dFid research scheme no. r6476. website: www.ittransport.co.uk/documents/Guidelines

• J. K mohapatra and B. p. chandrasekher (2007), “Rural Roads in India Infrastructure Report 2007”.

• dr. samuel paul, (January, 2010), “Roads and the Role of Community Participation”, Key note address in pr international seminar on sustainable maintenance of rural roads, Hyderabad, india. website: http://publications.piarc.org/resources/documents/actes-seminaires10/A4-hyderabad2010

• criss donnges (1999), “Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning and Community Participation in Rural Infrastructure Development, Vientiane”, issue paper-4. website: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment /recon

• serge cartier van dissel, (2010). consultant in road sector, “The Latin American experience, Microenterprise-Based Routine Road Maintenance”, paper presented in piarc international seminar on sustainable maintenance of rural roads Hyderabad, india 21-23 January, 2010. website: http://publications.piarc.org/resources/documents/actes-seminaires10/A4-hyderabad2010.

• ranjit de silva, (2010). “Understanding the diversity of rural transport needs to maximize community participation - experience of Practical Action Rural Transport projects in Sri Lanka and Nepal”, paper presented in piarc international seminar on sustainable maintenance of rural roads Hyderabad, india. website: http://publications.piarc.org/resources/documents/actes-seminaires10/A4-hyderabad2010.

• Francesco tornieri, (2008) “Community Participation in Planning and Implementation of Rural Roads, A Case-Study ADB Timor-Leste Road Sector Improvement Project”. website: http://www.adb.org/documents/events/2008/adb transport-forum-2008

• amade ouedraogo, Burkina Faso, (2010). “The experience of community involvement in Burkina Faso” as presented.

• public affairs centre, Bangalore, (2009) “Citizen Monitoring and Audit of PMGSY Roads: Pilot Phase-II”, http://www.vacindia.or2:/publications/PMGSY

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aPPendiCes

aPPendiX 1 – miCroenterPrise-Based roUtine road maintenanCe – the Latin ameriCan eXPerienCe5

serge cartier van disselpiarc international seminar on sustainable maintenance of rural roadsHyderabad, india - 21-23 January 2010

with the aim of improving the quality of their roads and lowering the related maintenance costs, in the late 1980’s and early 90’s, many countries in latin america started to switch from maintenance by force account with agency staff, to contracting out the routine maintenance of their road network. this move was part of an overall reform process to modernize the public sector and develop greater efficiency by involving the private sector. one of the approaches adopted by a wide variety of countries in the region, has been the promotion and creation of microenterprises for labour-based routine road maintenance, both of the paved network and the unpaved network.

the concept of microenterprise-based routine road maintenance was pioneered by Colombia, where in 1984, together with the ilo and undp, the ministry of transport and public works began experimenting with associative microenterprises. the programme has undergone several transformations and is currently carried out by the national Highway institute (invias), which contracts over 300 microenterprises through either direct or competitive bidding for the routine maintenance of over 14,000 kilometres of paved roads, which is equivalent to almost the entire paved network. the colombian experience has served as a model for the entire latin american region, and has been replicated in countries such as peru, uruguay, nicaragua, Honduras, ecuador, Bolivia, guatemala, costa rica and paraguay.

the microenterprises typically consist of between 10 and 15 workers, which use labour-based methods and hand tools in carrying out different activities aimed at improving and maintaining the standard of a stretch of road of between 15 and 50 km, at an average annual cost of around us$ 1000 per kilometre6. performance-based contracts are used, in which payments are made based on the achievement of a set of performance indicators, rather than on the amount of inputs, thus greatly facilitating contract administration and motivating the microenterprises to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.

5 this paper is based on a study carried out for the world Bank: cartier van dissel, s. “Team-based routine maintenance of rural roads - experiences form Latin America”, world Bank, 2009.

6 it is important to note that the cost per kilometre per year depends very much on the wage rates used in the country concerned, and as such may vary greatly between countries and regions as wage rates in many asian and african countries are significantly lower.

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the contracting of microenterprises for routine road maintenance has proven to be a viable option resulting in improved road conditions throughout the year, as well as an extended lifespan of the roads. as a consequence, transport costs and travel times have been reduced and economic activities and incomes have increased.

an evaluation of the rural road program in peru, comparing the roads covered by the program with similar roads that had not received routine maintenance, showed that transport costs had been reduced by over 20%, traffic had increased by over 100%, and transport times had been halved.

one of the main reasons for opting for the microenterprise-based routine maintenance has been the overall cost savings, which can run up to 50% compared with previous force account operations, especially in cases where only corrective maintenance was applied. this is both a result of the preventative maintenance of the roads, thus avoiding the need for more costly conservation measures, as well as a more efficient execution of the maintenance activities by the microenterprises and the greatly reduced staff needs in the public sector. similar cost savings and improvements in road conditions have also been found in cases where the routine maintenance activities have been transferred from larger private contractors to microenterprises (e.g. in Bolivia).

the rural road programme in Peru demonstrated that initial rehabilitation of rural roads had an average cost of us$ 16,500 per kilometre. subsequent routine maintenance with microenterprises averaged a cost of us$ 700 per kilometre per year, through which the lifespan of the road could be extended to 5 years. after these 5 years periodic maintenance was generally required, costing on average us$ 3,000 per kilometre, resulting in a total cost every 5 years of us$ 6,500 per kilometre (5 x us$ 700 + us$ 3,000). in the alternative without maintenance, the roads tended to require full rehabilitation after 5 years, resulting in a total cost of us$ 16,500 per kilometre. the subsequent savings due to a combination of routine and periodic maintenance were thus calculated to be us$ 10,000 per kilometre every 5 years (us$ 16,500 - us$ 6,500). given the nearly 15,000 kilometres of roads covered by the programme, this implies a savings of approximately us$ 150 million every 5 years.

in honduras, the department of maintenance employed 5,208 people in the execution of maintenance activities by force account, resulting in low levels of efficiency and 74% of the budget being spent on salaries. with the introduction of the microenterprise-based routine maintenance system as part of the newly created road Fund, the personnel required was reduced to 700 people and the coverage was greatly increased. whereas in the former department of maintenance each employee was on average responsible for 2.6 km of road, each employee of the road Fund is currently responsible for 368 km of roads.

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apart from the impact on the road conditions and conservation costs, the microenterprises have had a significant impact on local economies, creating significant local incomes and employment; both direct employment in the microenterprises themselves, as well as indirect employment in their communities. the improved incomes of the microenterprise members have significantly improved their living standards and those of their families, with incomes generally being spent on better nutrition, education, household items and housing. the indirect employment is mainly a result of local consumption by microenterprise members of their incomes, the hiring of local labour to attend to their agricultural fields, and the launching of additional productive activities and enterprises by the microenterprises or their members.

the second phase of the rural road programme in peru resulted in the routine maintenance of nearly 15,000 km of roads, contracting over 600 microenterprises and providing over 6,000 permanent jobs to microenterprise members. a study carried out by the programme showed that in general the microenterprise members spent over 70% of their income locally, creating incomes for the rest of the community. indirect job creation has been estimated by the programme to be approximately 49,000 jobs, including over 1,000 people employed in 352 productive activities initiated by the microenterprises or their members.

6%

35%

34%

25%

Housing Nutrition

Education Household items

Besides creating incomes, the microenterprise-based routine maintenance system has resulted in the creation of a local contracting capacity and in improved technical and entrepreneurial skills of the microenterprise members. many members have improved their leadership skills, and a number of microenterprise members have been elected municipal board members or even mayors. a significant number of microenterprise members have left the microenterprises in order to start other productive ventures, providing opportunities for other community members to earn an income and acquire technical and entrepreneurial skills through working in the microenterprises.

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the greatest testimony to the success of the approach is probably the fact that it has been replicated in so many countries and by so many national and subnational governments, even where external funding was not or no longer available. in those countries with more mature programmes, the coverage has been expanded over the years, resulting in the routine maintenance of extremely large networks by large numbers of microenterprises (e.g. peru with nearly 15,000 km of unpaved roads being maintained by over 600 microenterprises, and colombia with over 14,000 kilometres of paved roads being maintained by over 300 microenterprises). an interesting case is that of Bolivia, where in a relatively short time, over 300 microenterprises have been created which are responsible for the routine maintenance of over 8,000 km of national roads (both paved and unpaved).

in 1998, in a pilot project of the ilo in the province of azuay in ecuador, two microenterprises were created with a total of 15 people, providing routine maintenance for 30 kilometres of roads. currently, nearly 10 years later, a total of 20 microenterprises are contracted by the provincial government. the entire promotional process, the financing of the microenterprises, and their supervision is carried out by the provincial municipality. in a similar case in tungurahua province, the rural road programme financed by the world Bank and inter american development Bank, created 6 microenterprises. the approach was adopted by the provincial government, which replicated the experience creating a further 28 microenterprises.

this document aims to make a comparative analysis of this successful approach, identifying the main aspects which have to be taken into account in its introduction or expansion in a specific country or area. For this purpose, microenterprise-based routine road maintenance programmes in 9 countries in latin america were studied, and the following aspects, which were considered critical in the implementation of a routine maintenance system based on microenterprises, were further analysed:

1. types of roads under routine maintenance2. organisational modality of the microenterprises3. Formation of the microenterprises4. contracting modalities5. tools and equipment6. maintenance activities7. levels of service and performance indicators8. productivity rates and maintenance costs9. Financing mechanisms10. training and accompaniment of the microenterprises11. contract supervision by the contracting agency

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1. tYPes of roads Under roUtine maintenanCe

the microenterprise-based routine road maintenance model has been applied successfully in both paved and unpaved road networks. the two largest, and at the same time oldest experiences of invias in colombia and provias rural in peru, respectively covered paved and unpaved roads. in the case of peru, the model was first applied on the unpaved tertiary road network, subsequently replicated in the paved national road network, and was later adapted to suit the secondary road network (high traffic paved and unpaved roads). in latin america, the model has been applied to all types of roads, with the only exception being the multi-lane highways and expressways, due to the technical requirements of such roads, but also because the maintenance of these roads has in many cases become the responsibility of larger private companies, either through concession contracts or combined rehabilitation and maintenance contracts (crema).

in almost all of the countries analysed in this document, the microenterprise-based routine road maintenance model has been piloted and subsequently applied to ever increasing parts of the road network. the application in the paved national road networks has been somewhat more widespread due to a greater availability of funds with which to finance the microenterprises, but despite the lack of funding for rural unpaved roads, the application has still been very successful.

the paved roads in latin america are mainly asphalt roads, whereas the unpaved roads are generally gravel roads. the model applied in both road surface types has been largely the same, the main difference being the treatment of the road surface. in the unpaved networks, microenterprises have generally been responsible for minor repairs to the road surface (e.g. filling potholes), whereas in the paved networks this has largely remained the responsibility of the contracting agency or larger companies, due to the technical requirements of repairing asphalt roads (especially the access to asphalt material has been a limiting factor). nevertheless, in certain countries (e.g. colombia and ecuador), the microenterprises have also been responsible for the road surface, with the necessary material being provided to them by the contacting agency.

the table below lists the different experiences that were evaluated as part of this study, indicating the kilometres of road currently covered by routine road maintenance microenterprises, as well as the surface type. it is important to note that although these amounts may seem small in the cases of certain countries, these should be put in the context of the country concerned, where either the small country size or the lack of development of the paved road network, means that in fact in many of the countries included in the table, almost the entire paved road network is covered, and in the case of peru, a significant part of the unpaved network.

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Country name start #me km surfaceBolivia servicio nacional de caminos - snc 2003 302 8,228 pavedColombia instituto nacional de vías - invias 1984 318 14,157 paved

ecuadorunidad de caminos vecinales - ucv 2001 36 420 unpavedministerio de obras públicas - mop 2003 84 2,259 pavedmunicipalidad de azuay 1998 20 unpaved

guatemala unidad ejecutora de conservación vial - covial 1997 130 4,200 paved

honduras Fondo vial 2000 70 2,762 paved

nicaragua

programa de mantenimiento rutinario por microempresas 1997 37 2,140 paved

programa de apoyo al sector de transporte - past 1999 unpaved

Paraguay programa nacional de caminos rurales - pncr 2000 -7 unpaved

Peruprovias rural 1996 600 14,251 unpavedprovias nacional 2003 127 7,256 paved

Uruguay dirección nacional de vialidad - dnv 1996 10 1,613 paved

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2. organisationaL modaLitY

contrary to experiences in asia and africa where the lengthman system has been prevalent (one person in charge of the maintenance of 2-3 km of road), in latin america there has been a tendency to organise the road maintenance workers into microenterprises. despite the increased initial input required in creating and strengthening these microenterprises, the main advantage has been the lower requirements for supervision, as a section of road of up to 50 km can be evaluated at a single time, rather than having to assess each 2-3 km stretch separately. a second important advantage has been the effect on the local economy and productive activities, where the entrepreneurial training and experience have resulted in the creation of new business endeavours, both by the microenterprise members themselves, as well as their family members and others. thirdly, it has been found that the maintenance work carried out by microenterprises is generally of better quality and more efficient than that of individual workers, mainly as a result of mutual assistance and group dynamics.

the microenterprises in the different countries and programmes have generally chosen for associative organisational modalities, where all co-owners of the microenterprise are workers, and all workers are co-owners (although additional labour has been contracted by the microenterprises in emergency situations or seasons of high work demand). single owner microenterprises also exist, especially

7 in paraguay two rural road programmes exist, financed by the iadB and the world Bank. these are both currently introducing routine road maintenance microenterprises in secondary and tertiary roads.

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in early experiences, but it has been found that co-owned microenterprises generally have better morale and provide better quality work, in addition to being less vulnerable to corruption. generally, the microenterprise members are people from nearby communities, selected through a participatory process to form the microenterprises. there are certain exceptions to this rule, however, especially in the case of microenterprises that are formed by former road agency staff, which often do not reside locally and are more likely to employ workers who are not co-owners. the members of such enterprises also tend to have higher levels of education and generally limit their activities to the paved network.

the choice of legal organisational modalities tends to be based on the above principle of co-ownership. in the selection of the most appropriate legal organisational modality, two criteria generally play an important role. Firstly there is a desire from both the contracting agency as well as the microenterprise members to select an organisational modality for which the legal constitution is inexpensive and swift. in many countries in latin america this has resulted in a choice for non-enterprise modalities, although during the past decade the administrative procedures for the constitution of enterprises have been simplified significantly, thus making enterprise modalities a more viable alternative. the selected non-profit modalities also resulted in less taxes being applied, leading to lower costs and administrative requirements for the microenterprise members. secondly, especially in the unpaved network, there has been a strong desire from the communities to select legal organisational modalities that allow for the changing of microenterprise members, thus allowing members to leave and start other endeavours, as well as allowing other community members to enter and earn an income. this too has promoted the use of non-enterprise modalities, where the change in members is often much easier. as a consequence, the majority of routine road maintenance microenterprises in latin america are non-profit associations or cooperatives, or even committees, whereas a small minority are companies (public or private).

in 1995, the Peruvian rural road program initially wanted to promote the entrepreneurial character of the microenterprises by using the organisational modality of public limited companies8, but due to the complexity and rigidity of the procedures and requirements involved with this modality, they later opted for the non-profit modality of civil associations. the latter modality had the advantage that its legal constitution was relatively simple, that it allowed for the change of members and that its members were not required to pay income tax. as a result, currently 10 public companies exist, in comparison to over 400 civil associations. However, in an evaluation carried out in 2001, the public companies were rated amongst the best performing enterprises. with regards to the changing of microenterprise members,

8 public limited companies refer to a specific legal organisational modality for private companies of which the shares may be traded freely and anonymously.

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60% of the original microenterprise members was found to have changed after 6 years of existence, mainly due to members starting other endeavours or because of internal conflicts within the microenterprises.

in contrary, in the national road program for the routine maintenance of the paved national road network, where the microenterprises were formed by former road agency staff, modalities of public or private companies were adopted, which did not allow for the rotation of members. in a few cases this resulted in difficulties where members wished to leave the microenterprise or new members wished to enter.

in the first pilot experiences of microenterprises in Bolivia carried out by the ilo, the modality of “Asociación Incidental” was used in order to achieve the constitution of the microenterprises within an acceptable timeframe. However, this modality was in fact intended for temporary associations, and as such was not very appropriate for road maintenance microenterprises. only in 2002, with the approval of the “Tarjeta empresarial” (enterprise card) and the related simplification of administrative procedures, was it possible to use more appropriate modalities as are currently being used by the national road agency snc.

the great drawback of the non-enterprise modalities is that they tend to be non-profit organisations. the potential gains of the microenterprise can thus not be paid out to the members, who tend to subsequently view themselves more as wage-earners employed by the contracting agency rather than entrepreneurs, resulting in little effort being taken to improve the management and efficiency of the enterprise. there is therefore an increasing interest in introducing enterprise modalities, although the aspects of expedient constitution and the possibility of rotation will need to be ensured.

generally, existing legal modalities have been used, but in those cases where appropriate modalities did not exist, specific modalities have been created, either by the contracting agency itself or by presidential or ministerial decree.

in the first pilot experiences with microenterprises in ecuador, the ilo promoted the legal modality of “Asociación de Producción”. the legal constitution of this modality took nearly a year, however, as each microenterprise had to be approved by the minister of labour. additionally, “supplementary members” needed to be included in certain cases in order to comply with the legal minimum of 10 members. in the subsequent ucv rural roads program, the modality of civil association was selected, which first needed to be amended through ministerial decree to allow it to be used by microenterprises with less than 15 members. in addition, a number of mechanisms needed to be developed and incorporated into the organisation’s regulations to allow it to function adequately. this modality had the advantage over the alternative modality that had been identified, that of a cooperative, in that it allowed for the changing of microenterprise members. in the program for the national

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paved road network, the modality of private limited company9 was used, which did not allow for the rotation of its members.

3. miCroenterPrise formation

the promotion and formation of microenterprises is generally carried out by the contracting agency, and tends to be seen as a crucial factor in determining the success or failure of the approach. in the promotional process, the concept of routine maintenance microenterprises is first presented to the communities living near the roads that are to be put under routine maintenance. generally this initial promotion is carried out in cooperation with municipal authorities and community leaders. once the concept has been presented to and accepted by the communities, the subsequent step is the selection of community members to form the microenterprises, where the number of microenterprise members required is determined by the length and characteristics of the road to be maintained. in cases where the section of road to be maintained passes through several communities, a quota system is generally applied, whereby a certain percentage of the required microenterprise members comes from each of the respective communities. in such cases, extra attention needs to be paid to the organisational strengthening of the microenterprise, given the fact that its members come from different communities and may not know each other.

as a first step in the selection process, a call for candidates is carried out in the communities involved, in certain cases by visiting households, in others by announcements in communal centres, churches, schools and health centres, or by radio. the selection of microenterprise members is carried out from amongst interested candidates based on several criteria. the main criteria used are that candidates are amongst the poorest in the community, live near the road, have no current employment and are heads of households. given the rather low educational levels encountered in many of the communities, especially in rural areas, another criterion often applied is the requirement for basic reading, writing and calculation skills, in order to ensure the efficient management of the microenterprise and the compliance with the need to submit periodic reports. although it is important to also give illiterate community members and those with lower levels of education an opportunity to participate in the microenterprises, the sustainability and performance of microenterprises is found to improve with the educational levels of its members. this criterion is therefore generally used to give priority to certain candidates, especially in the selection of the management of the microenterprise, rather than as an exclusion criterion10. Basic experience in construction or maintenance was also

9 private limited companies refer to a specific legal organisational modality for private companies of which the shares may only be traded with the permission of the other shareholders and shareholders are registered.

10 in many cases microenterprise members are also given literacy courses during the first year of existence and motivated to complete their primary education.

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often required, but this was later rephrased to include agricultural experience, in order to promote wider participation. the final selection is either by competition, for which suitable candidates would undergo specifically designed exams and interviews, or by ballot.

under the rural road program in Peru, 60% of the microenterprise members had only primary education or less, 35% had secondary education or less, and only 2% had higher education, whilst 3% of microenterprise members was illiterate.

in the national road program in honduras, only 23% of microenterprise members had finished primary education, whilst 21% was illiterate. in this programme all microenterprise members were given basic education as part of their training courses, with the aim of improving literacy and basic mathematics.

the participation of women has generally been low, especially in the initial experiences. the rural road program in ecuador initially had virtually no female entrepreneurs, whereas in Honduras and peru participation of women was as low as 2-3%. the causes of this low participation lay mainly in existing stereotypes and social prejudices, where women were seen to be too weak and feeble, and women themselves thought they were not eligible to become microenterprise members. in practise, however, female microenterprise members proved to be more than capable of carrying out the maintenance activities and managing the microenterprises, often surpassing their male colleagues. in mixed microenterprises a gender division of labour tends to emerge, where the male colleagues carry out the physically demanding tasks, and women are responsible for tasks such as clearing of the side drains and those tasks that require special attention to detail. in addition, their participation often worked as a moral catalyst, leading to a better distribution of tasks according to skills and abilities, and better behavioural standards within the microenterprise. also, women were found to perform well in the administration of the microenterprises and to be better able to interact with the contracting agencies.

as a consequence of the low female participation, changes were made to the promotional process as well as to the requirements for selection. calls for candidates specifically included women’s organisations and explicitly stated that women could apply. also the separate tasks of road maintenance were described in order to demonstrate their affinity with basic agricultural activities, in which women in rural areas generally have ample experience. requirements were adapted to accept experience working in agriculture and to acknowledge experience as household manager or as leader of a social organisation. certain programs included targets for female participation, such as the rural road programme in peru (minimum 30% women). as a result of these different measures, female participation increased from 2-3% to approximately 23% in both Honduras and peru.

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the rural road programme in Peru, in its second phase, carried out studies and design improvements aimed at increasing the participation of women in the microenterprises. the studies identified existing prejudices and social stereotypes, as a result of which women were deemed unable to carry out the physically demanding work involved in road maintenance, it was considered unacceptable to put them in dangerous situations such as the clearing of slopes, and their participation was thought to provoke the jealousy of the wives of their male colleagues. in addition, women themselves were found to be under the impression that only men were eligible to become microenterprise members.

the studies also showed that in practice female microenterprise members performed very well, often achieving high levels of performance, with women tending to be more precise in the execution of their work, attaining higher quality in activities such as patching. even the few women-only microenterprises that exist were found to be performing above average. the participation of women in mixed enterprises was furthermore found to work as a moral catalyst, leading to a better division of tasks according to skills and abilities, thus resulting in an effective gender division of responsibilities, and resulting in better behavioural standards with less conflicts and problems of alcohol abuse. women furthermore proved to be very good in interacting with the contracting agency and in the general management of the enterprises, resulting in savings for the microenterprises which were used for other productive activities such as animal rearing and fish farming, for which the microenterprises generally contracted family members. a number of former female microenterprise members have even been elected municipal board members.

the determination of the selection criteria and the ultimate selection of workers are carried out by the contracting agency, often with strong involvement of the community. it was found that the involvement of communities in the selection process often improved their acceptance of the microenterprises, thus increasing the support these received from the communities. also the involvement of the communities in the selection process generally resulted in the selection of a more cohesive group of microenterprise members, resulting in improved efficiency and effectiveness in the execution of their maintenance tasks and the management of the microenterprises.

in the formation of microenterprises for routine maintenance of the paved network in ecuador, communities were not strongly involved in the selection process. as a result, there was often a lack of cohesion between microenterprise members, resulting in difficult group dynamics and problems with desertions. Furthermore, the selected organisational modality was closed, thus not allowing easy rotation of members. as a result, departing members were often replaced by family members or friends of the remaining members, who did not always meet the necessary requirements.

in both the ilo pilot project in the municipality of azuay, as well as the ucv rural road programme, there was significant involvement of the communities in the

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selection of microenterprise members and of the organisational modality. although no clear evidence exists, this is thought to be one of the factors in the success of these experiences and its subsequent replication by provincial governments using their own resources.

in addition to the selected microenterprise members, a number of additional candidates is generally included in the training activities, in order to allow for the departure of certain members during and immediately after the legal constitution of the microenterprise. as these additional candidates participate in the same training courses as the selected microenterprise members, this does not entail extra costs and results in additional local capacities being created.

in rural areas, where few alternatives exist for paid work, the contracting agencies and microenterprises are often faced with pressure from the communities to allow other community members to temporarily enter into the microenterprise, especially in the andes countries where a strong relationship exists between the community and the microenterprise. the microenterprises and the selection of its members were usually fully accepted at first, but with the increased incomes and living standards of the microenterprise members, resentment from the community members developed in certain cases, resulting in pressure from the community to give other people an opportunity to earn an income. this generally resulted in a core group of microenterprise members complemented by a group of temporary workers which would rotate quite frequently. this aspect was not taken into account in the original designs, where all workers were seen to be co-owners of the microenterprise, and only the occasional rotation upon the departure of a microenterprise member was foreseen. some current designs take into account the need to allow for the rotation of workers in the microenterprise, using a format where the microenterprise owners only provide part of the required labour, and are complemented by temporary workers which rotate and vary in quantity according to need.

an issue that remains, however, is the lack of training and skills of such temporary workers, generally causing the work carried out by such workers to be of a lower standard that that of more experienced microenterprise members. a similar problem occurs where microenterprise members are temporarily substituted or permanently replaced by family members or friends (e.g. due to sickness, or as a result of other economic endeavours), where such substitutes and replacements also tend to lack the required training and skills. as a result, the quality of work has tended to decrease in microenterprises which incorporated a rotation system or applied substitutes on a regular basis. nevertheless, due to the pressure from the communities, this is a factor that cannot be avoided, and there is a need to develop an efficient rotation system ensuring continuity and quality as well as innovative measures to ensure proper training of such temporary workers.

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such measures could include extending the training sessions to more members of the community as well as repeating them on a regular basis, and making the training a requirement for participating in the maintenance activities, as is currently the case in colombia. the selection based on competencies and qualifications has also proved to increase the long-run acceptance of the microenterprise members by the communities. the fact that the microenterprises have in many cases unquestioningly been given renewals of their contract has worsened the situation. motivating microenterprise members and temporary workers to form other microenterprises, and the subsequent introduction of competitive bidding in a later stage of a road maintenance program could prove beneficial (as is the case in colombia and the paved network in peru).

an evaluation of the rural road program in Peru carried out by the ilo in 2004, showed that as a result of pressure from the communities, approximately 60% of the microenterprises were applying some form of rotation system, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the maintenance activities. in some cases the rotation periods were found to be as short as two weeks, thus not allowing for any build-up of skills. although the rotation systems were found to improve relations between the microenterprises and the communities, as well as creating certain skills in the community, the members of the microenterprise spent a large part of their time training and supervising the temporary workers, resulting in a decrease in the average productivity of the microenterprise. also the entrepreneurial character of the microenterprises tended to get lost, with the communities deciding who would enter as temporary workers.

in Colombia, contracts are only awarded to microenterprises whose members have all been accredited as having successfully completed the routine maintenance course given by the national training service sena.

in the national road network in Peru, where microenterprises had been formed by former road agency personnel, maintenance contracts were immediately opened up to competitive bidding. in certain cases, microenterprises formed under the rural road programme competed as well, and in a number of road sections were awarded the contract, thus proving their ability to participate in competitive bidding processes.

the actual activities involved in the promotion process, are either carried out directly by the contracting agency, often as part of an externally financed road program, or through consultants, the private sector or ngo’s. in both scenarios, the promoters are usually trained and the required promotional and training materials are developed as part of the programme. the promotional team generally consists of a social expert responsible for ensuring wide understanding and participation in the selection process, a technical expert responsible for explaining the different elements that form a road and the activities to be carried out by the microenterprise, and a legal

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specialist responsible for explaining and drawing up the necessary legal documents for the constitution of the microenterprise11.

different is the case where the microenterprises have been formed by former personnel of the contracting agency or road agency (e.g. in the national paved networks of peru and uruguay). in these cases the promotion of the microenterprises has been carried out amongst agency staff, often in combination with early retirement packages as part of an effort to reduce the size of the public sector. in these cases, personnel was encouraged and assisted in forming microenterprises which could subsequently be contracted by the contracting agency. in uruguay these enterprises where guaranteed a contract for two years, whereas in peru they immediately entered into competitive bidding.

in 1996, employees of the road agency in Uruguay were being encouraged to form microenterprises which would subsequently be contracted for routine road maintenance for a period of 2 years, after which they would have to enter into competitive bidding. the former employees were given the opportunity to reintegrate themselves into the road administration if their venture failed, but in practice none of them failed and nobody opted to return. the scheme was so successful that more staff wanted to form microenterprises and by the end of the year 2001 there were 9 microenterprises maintaining 1,768 km of the national paved road network.

4. ContraCting modaLities

in the introduction of routine maintenance with microenterprises, contracting agencies tend to start off with a contracting modality with one single bidder (direct contracting), thus allowing for the contracting of the microenterprises formed by the contracting agency. at a later stage, once the microenterprises have matured and sufficient alternative candidates with the necessary experience and skills exist within the communities, the contracts are sometimes opened up to competitive bidding, thus allowing newly created microenterprises to challenge the incumbent. competitive bidding at a too early stage can prove to be problematic, however, as the microenterprises are unable to adequately prepare the necessary bidding documents or insufficient competition exist to comply with the requirements of a minimum number of bidders, especially in rural areas.

in Colombia, after many years of program implementation, a great number of potential candidates currently exist in the communities, who have acquired capacities and skills participating in routine maintenance activities in the past. such candidates

11 such legal documents include an act constituting the microenterprise (name, purpose, members and contributions), a statute of the microenterprise approved by all members, the appointment of a legal representative, treasurer, secretary and a board of directors, and the registration of the microenterprise with the public notary and tax office.

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are in a position to form their own microenterprises and compete with the incumbent ones. the national road agency has therefore opened up routine maintenance contracts to competitive bidding in certain cases. award of the contract is made to the lowest bid that complies with the budget cap stipulated in the bidding document and that complies with a minimum number of labourers, all of whom need to be members of the cooperative, be certified by the national training service and live near the road to be maintained.

as most road maintenance programs in latin america originally started off with external financing (usually from the world Bank or inter american development Bank), these generally used the procurement regulations of these financing institutions, thus allowing for direct contracting. in those cases where national procurement procedures are used, either from the start or after an initial maturing process, the contracting agency is bound by national legislation, often severely limiting the possibilities for direct contracting. in certain countries direct contracting is prohibited, whereas in others the maximum contract amount permitted under this modality allows only for a number of months of routine maintenance. as a result, contracting agencies face serious challenges to continue hiring the microenterprises created under the initial programme, unless the duration of the contracts is limited in order to still be able to award them directly (a practice often also prohibited by national legislation). in peru, for instance, as a result of the decentralisation of the program and the subsequent need to abide by national procurement legislation requiring competitive bidding, the percentage of microenterprises awarded contracts has been steadily decreasing from 75% in 2004, to only 25% in 2006. other difficulties related to public procurement under national legislation, are the general need for a certain minimum number of bidders and the requirements regarding financial capital, equipment, educational level of personnel and proven experience.

in the first experiences with road maintenance enterprises with the ilo in Bolivia, the maximum contract sum allowed under direct contracting was limited to approximately us$ 8,000, allowing for the contracting of microenterprises for a period of only some 4 months. national legislation further prohibited sequential contracts under this modality, thus in fact inhibiting the direct contracting of microenterprises. with the introduction of the “Tarjeta empresarial” in 2002, the amount for direct contracting was increased to nearly us$ 27,00012, allowing for annual routine maintenance contracts for smaller sections of roads (up to some 25 km).

in the rural roads programme in Peru, direct contracting was possible under the procurement procedures of the world Bank as described in the manual of operations, allowing for direct contracting for contract sums up to us$ 50,000. upon the

12 200,000 Bolivianos

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decentralisation of the programme, the contracting of the microenterprises was transferred to local governments, which were forced to apply national procurement legislation. direct contracting under national legislation was limited to a little over us$ 4,000 for public services, resulting in the need to apply “Private Bidding”. this latter contracting modality had a limit of us$ 26,000, complicating the contracting of microenterprises for large road sections where annual contract sums exceeded this amount. this modality also required a minimum of 3 bidders for the contract amounts involved, which was often problematic in the rural areas where other bidders were absent. during the initial transfer period an exception was made to this requirement by presidential decree. at present, the contracting of the microenterprises is bound by national legislation, although the programme is attempting to achieve legislative changes allowing greater flexibility in the contracting of road maintenance at municipal level. under the national roads program for the paved network, contracting was under national procurement regulation from the start. as a result the microenterprises formed by former road agency staff, had to compete with other bidders (including in some cases the microenterprises formed by the rural road programme), resulting in them not always being awarded the contract.

in Paraguay a direct contracting modality does not exist, and a minimum of 3 bidders is required. this was circumvented by the national road maintenance program by using the legal mechanism of “transfer of public funds”, allowing the direct transfer to non-profit organisations. as of 2007, the use of this mechanism has to comply with the requirements stipulated in the public procurement legislation, and is thus bound by the same requirement of a minimum of 3 bidders. Both the world Bank and inter american development Bank rural road maintenance projects are proposing to use bank regulations and to seek changes to national legislation to allow direct contracting of the microenterprises in the future.

in ecuador, each public entity is able to define in their internal regulations the limits for the different procurement modalities, within the national limits as set in the national procurement legislation. in the rural roads programme a limit had been established of us$35,000 for direct contracting of routine road maintenance microenterprises, which allowed the ministry of public works to sign annual contracts with the microenterprises. in the paved road programme, however, due to the higher average costs and the longer road sections, this limit was found to be insufficient, forcing the ministry to limit the duration of the contracts for the longer sections of road, issuing contracts of between 7 and 12 months.

in public procurement, especially when carried out under national legislation, bidders are often required to supply guarantees as a security for their bid, as a security for any advance they may receive, and in some cases to ensure the satisfactory execution of the work to be carried out by them. in many countries, the requirement for these guarantees as well as the percentages required are quite rigid, as are the forms the

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guarantees may take. the supply of such guarantees by the microenterprises, generally formed from amongst the poorest community members, proves to be extremely difficult, as they tend to have little capital and their access to credit is close to non-existent, or only at extremely high interest rates. road maintenance programmes have therefore generally sought to decrease the types and percentages of the guarantees required, or to develop innovative forms in which these can be provided by the microenterprises. Bid securities are often disregarded, as are in some cases the guarantees for the satisfactory execution of the work. guarantees for advances are always required in those cases that advances are given, but often instead of securities, the microenterprises can opt for a monthly retention of each payment. in the case of the rural road programme in ecuador for instance, an advance of 20% of the annual contract sum is discounted over 12 monthly payments.

another important aspect in the contracting of microenterprises, is the use of simple contract documents and terms of reference, as well as the development of useful guides to help the microenterprises in this process. in the rural road programme in ecuador, for instance, terms of reference were used that were several pages long, intimidating potential microenterprises. most programmes in latin america have developed special contract documents, adapted to the character and objectives of the microenterprises.

5. tooLs and eqUiPment

the routine maintenance activities are carried out by the members of the microenterprise using basic hand tools. only in very few occasions is (light) machinery used by the microenterprises, which is then usually provided by the contracting agency. the tools and materials used are basic implements available in most hardware stores and generally entail a cost of us$ 100 - 150 per microenterprise member. the purchase of the tools is generally the responsibility of the microenterprise, although upon the creation of the microenterprise, tools are sometimes provided by the contracting agency as part of the promotional process13, which ensures that microenterprises have appropriate tools in good condition at their disposal, improving their productivity. it has been noticed that tools bought by the microenterprises themselves are often of poor quality, and that especially safety equipment and uniforms are not considered a priority by the microenterprise members.

an allocation for the purchase of tools and equipment is generally included in the maintenance contract sum as part of the payment made to the microenterprise workers, and often an advance is provided to cover the initial costs concerned in the purchase of the tools and equipment (where these are not provided by the contracting

13 For instance in Bolivia and the rural road program in ecuador.

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agency). in the case of ecuador, microenterprises where required to provide a minimum financial start-up capital of us$ 400 to cover costs such as equipment, a requirement which proved very difficult for some microenterprises to meet.

• The tools and equipment can be classified in four broad groups: tools, supplies, clothing and safety equipment:

• tools generally include grass cutters or bush knives (machetes), wheelbarrows, pickaxes, mattocks, shovels, spades, axes, hammers, sledgehammers, rakes, spreaders, (forked) hoes, garden scissors, brooms, earth rammers, large crowbars, ropes, buckets, trowels, files, chisels, bow saws, paintbrushes and measuring tape

• supplies generally include sandpaper, paint, wooden planks, trash bags and cement• clothing generally includes rubber boots, work boots, trousers, shirts, rain ponchos,

masks, hats and leather gloves• Safety equipment generally includes a first aid kit, safety vests, cones, signs, and

markers or chalk

6. maintenanCe aCtiVities

in general, the microenterprises tend to be responsible for maintenance activities related to the road pavement, the right-of-way, the drainage system, the road works, and the road signalling and safety measures. Below, the different activities are listed for each of these road elements. activities related to the right-of-way and the drainage system are generally included in all experiences with microenterprise-based routine maintenance, whereas the other activities are sometimes considered to be the responsibility of the contracting agency.

road surface• clearing the road surface• removing minor landslides• repairing and sealing cracks, joints, rills and ruts • patching potholes in the road surface and shoulders

right-of-way• clearing the right-of-way• cutting grass and brush• trimming, cutting and removal of trees• removing loose material from slopes • stabilising slopes using vegetative measures

drainage system• clearing and repairing culverts and inlets• clearing and repairing side drains, channels and other surface drainage structures• clearing small waterways

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road works• repairing retaining walls• cleaning and repairing bridge structures

road signalling and safety measures• Cleaning, painting and maintaining traffic signs and road markers• cleaning, painting and repairing guardrails and bridge railings• removing billboards and other obstacles in the right-of-way

apart from the different activities mentioned above, the microenterprise is generally responsible for inspecting the entire stretch of road at least once a day to assess whether any urgent attention is required. the microenterprises are furthermore required to assist in responding to emergency situations as well (e.g. floods or large landslides). these emergency situations are often the responsibility of the local, regional or national authorities, but the microenterprises are required to assist with labour in the stretches of road under their responsibility, whereas the authorities supply the required machinery and materials.

For each activity, separate tasks are defined, together with the required tools and equipment, in order to certify that the work is carried out correctly, as well as to ensure the safety of the microenterprise members and the road users (e.g. the use of cones to mark road works). an example of an activity task sheet is given below.

activ ity: cleaning of side drains

description: consists of the cleaning and removal of sediment and other material from the side drain, avoiding that the flow of water is blocked.

objective: guarantee the adequate flow of water in order to remove excess water from the road surface and shoulder

team: 4 workersProductivity: 700 m per daytools: wheelbarrows, shovels, pickaxes, crowbar, safety signs

Procedure:

1. place safety signs and elements2. clean and remove all foreign material from the side drains (soil, stones,

vegetation, waste, etc.). 3. transport removed material to an adequate dumpsite, avoiding that it can be

washed back into the side drain or cause damage to the road or the environment.4. assure that the side drains have regained their original cross section and that no

erosion is occurring.5. remove safety signs and elements.

materials: none

indicator: side drains should always be clean and free from obstacles, with the proper cross section

tolerance: sediment should not fill more than 25% of the cross section at any timeresponse: Before rains: 6 days - during rains: 1 day

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the provision of materials tends to be the responsibility of the local authority or contracting agency, as is often the case for the patching of potholes, where this is included in the routine maintenance contract. the required patching material is generally supplied to the microenterprise, especially in the case of paved roads, after which the microenterprise is responsible for the patching work itself. in other cases microenterprises are indicated a suitable borrow pit, and are given an allowance for the transport of the material to the road. with respect to those activities which are not included in the routine maintenance contract, the microenterprise usually has the responsibility to report any required actions to the contracting agency or supervisor.

in the paved networks of ecuador and Colombia, the microenterprises are responsible for the patching of potholes. in ecuador, material for patching is provided by the decentralised offices of the ministry of public works. in colombia, material for patching and sealing is provided by the national road agency invias.

7. LeVeLs of serViCe and PerformanCe indiCators

in the contracting of microenterprises performance-based contracts are applied, in which the payments for the maintenance of road assets are not made based on the amount of inputs and work carried out by the microenterprise (input-based or method-based contracts), but are explicitly linked to the microenterprise successfully meeting or exceeding certain clearly defined minimum performance indicators or levels of service. some of the risks associated with maintaining the road are thus transferred to the microenterprises, but at the same time the microenterprises are in a position to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of design, process, technology or management, resulting in lower costs and generating greater profits. in the application of this type of contract, it is important that the different risks are allocated to the party that is in the best position to manage them.

payments are thus made for measured outputs and not for the quantity of inputs, making administration and monitoring much easier. such performance-based contracts consequently result in cost savings in their management, as only the defined performance indicators need to be evaluated, and the checking of the inputs is no longer of concern to the contracting agency (although information on inputs is sometimes still collected in order to determine the average productivity rates). as a result, less staff is required for the management and supervision of the contracts. additional benefits are the greater expenditure certainty due to fixed prices, and the existence of incentives for the microenterprises to improve their efficiency.

the defined performance indicators are generally linked to the different road assets and maintenance activities. whereas performance indicators should as much as possible be objectively measurable to avoid ambiguity, in the case of microenterprises the contracting agency has to ensure that the microenterprise is able to assess its

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performance without having to acquire expensive and sophisticated measuring equipment. also, the required supervision effort, and thus the complexity of the performance indicators, should be commensurable with the cost and scope of the contract. as a result, performance indicators for routine road maintenance by microenterprises tend to be simpler than those used in for instance concession contracts or rehabilitation and maintenance contracts (crema) with large companies.

in the more developed road maintenance programs, clearly defined tolerances are developed for performance indicators, above which penalties will be applied if not corrected within a defined timeframe (usually 1 to 7 days). these penalties usually take the form of a certain amount to be withheld from payment for each day that the indicator is not met, or a general deduction of the monthly payment (generally 5-20%) if not corrected within the specified timeframe. in practice, however, these penalties are generally not enforced, in certain cases leading to a decrease in the general quality of maintenance works due to a lack of incentive to perform well. additionally, performance-based contracts are currently increasingly including incentives for exceeding the defined minimum standards or continuously meeting them, thus motivating the microenterprises to achieve higher levels of service. Below, the most common performance indicators are given, including examples of the allowed tolerances.

road pavement and right-of-way• road surface and right-of-way should be free from obstructions, litter, debris and

road kill;• potholes should be non-existent or their amount and size should be below a certain

minimum14;• Joints and cracks above a certain size should be sealed15;• Rills and ruts should be non-existent or their size should be under a defined

minimum16;• Vegetation in the right-of-way should not exceed a specified height17;• No trees should obstruct traffic or visibility or pose a safety hazard;• slopes should be free from rocks and other loose material posing a safety hazard

and should be stabilised using vegetative measures.

drainage system• culverts and inlets should be structurally sound and free from debris and sediment,

or below a maximum percentage of the cross section18;

14 argentina: less than 2 cm deep, peru rural roads: less than 15 cm deep and less than 10 per kilometre, ecuador rural roads: less than 10 potholes greater than 15 cm diameter per kilometre

15 ecuador: cracks wider than 3 mm should be sealed16 argentina: less than 20 cm long and 12 mm deep, 17 argentina: < 15 cm, uruguay: 5-15 cm, peru rural roads: < 45 cm, peru departmental roads < 30 cm, colombia: < 30 cm,

ecuador: < 30 cm, paraguay: 20-40 cm, Bolivia < 30 cm18 peru rural roads: < 20%, ecuador: < 20%, paraguay: < 20%

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• surface drainage structures should be structurally sound, with the correct cross section and free from debris and sediment, or below a maximum percentage of the cross section19;

• riverbeds should be clear for a certain distance from the edges of the road20.

road works• retaining walls should be structurally sound;• Bridge structures should be structurally sound and free from litter and debris.

road signalling and safety measures• Traffic signs, road signs and road markers should be complete, clean and clearly

visible;• guardrails and bridge railings should be clean, painted and clearly visible.

in honduras, 20% of the monthly contract sum is retained if the performance indicators are not met. this amount is accredited the next month if the problem has been corrected. if the problem repeats itself in 3 consecutive or alternate months, the contracting agency has the right to cancel the contract. in addition to this measure regarding the level of service, fines are applied for each day that the safety equipment is not used.

in Colombia, 5% of the monthly contract sum is deducted the first time the performance indicators are not met. the second time the problem is encountered, 10% is deducted, and the third time 15%. should the problem still persist, the contracting agency has the right to terminate the contract

8. ProdUCtiVitY rates and maintenanCe Costs

the performance-based contracts generally applied in microenterprise-based routine maintenance imply a standard cost per kilometre. where in the early programmes a single standard cost was used for all roads, this was later on replaced by differentiated costs according to the characteristics of the road and the resulting labour requirements per kilometre. the labour requirements, and thus the size of the microenterprise, are determined by the daily productivity rates for the different maintenance activities included in the maintenance contract, the amount of work required for each activity per kilometre of road (dependant on the type of road and number of drainage structures and other road works), and the number of times the activities have to be repeated each year (dependant mainly on the environment the road is situated in, e.g. in certain climates the vegetation needs to be cut more often and in certain areas landslides and sedimentation of drainage structures is more common).

19 peru rural roads: < 20-30%, ecuador: < 10-20%,20 peru: 50 m, ecuador: 100 m

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Based on experience, daily productivity rates can be developed for the different maintenance activities. an example of the daily productivity rates achieved in different maintenance activities in the rural road programmes in peru and ecuador is given below, where these refer to the daily productivity rates of a small team of microenterprise members.

activityPeru ecuador

team Productivity team Productivity clearing the road surface 3 600 m/day 3 10 m3/daypatching 4 40 m2/day 4 42 m2/dayremoving loose material from slopes 4 10 m3/day 3 12 m3/dayremoving minor landslides 3 9 m3/day 3 10 m3/dayclearing side drains 4 480 m/day 4 700 m/dayclearing culverts and inlets 3 2 units/day 3 3 units/dayclearing drifts 4 40 m2/day 4 42 m2/dayclearing ditches at the top of slopes 4 480 m/day 4 700 m/daycleaning bridge structures 4 2 units/day 4 2 units/dayclearing small waterways 3 60 m/day 3 60 m/daycutting grass and clearing right-of-way 3 1,200 m2/day 3 900m2/daymaintaining traffic signs and road markers 2 10 units/day - -reforestation 6 600 units/day - -inspecting the road 1 25 km/day21 1 10 km/day22

repairing retaining walls 5 6 m3/day 4 12 m2/dayrepairing bridge structures 4 1 units/day 4 2 units/daytransporting borrow pit material 3 48 m3/day 3 18 m3/day

in order to take into account the amount of work to be carried out per kilometre of road and the amount of times this needs to be repeated per year, different road categories are developed (usually 4-6 categories). the road to be maintained is subsequently categorised according to criteria such as class, traffic, topography, vegetation, and number of drainage and other road works per kilometre. For each category, average productivity rates (km/person) are subsequently defined based on the daily productivity rates and the total amount of work required per activity (determined on the basis of experience).

in the rural road program in Peru, two characteristics are currently used in determining the average productivity rates: service level and road type. the service

21 By bicycle22 walking

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level of a road is determined by its class, importance and traffic level, resulting in a service level of either high (a) or basic (B). the road type takes into account the topography, amount and type of road works and the vegetation, resulting in a typology of i, ii or iii. the average productivity rates for a road are subsequently determined using the following table, which was developed based on past experience. a section of road with different service levels and road types can be accommodated by dividing it into separate stretches, each belonging to a different road category.

road type service level road category average productivity rate (km/worker)

iB iB 5.0a ia 4.5

iiB iiB 3.5a iia 3.0

iiiB iiiB 2.5a iiia 2.0

in Colombia three characteristics are used, namely the number of drainage works per kilometre (a:<5, B:6-9, c:>10), the hectares of road side vegetation per kilometre multiplied by the times this has to be cut per year (a:<1.5, B:1.5-5, c:>5), and the type of terrain (a: flat, B: hilly, c: mountainous). For each characteristic the road receives points (1 for type a, 2 for B, 3 for c) which are multiplied to determine the road category (i:1-3, ii:4-8, iii:9-27). an additional category iv was added later for extremely critical roads. For each road category, average productivity rates were subsequently defined.

road category average productivity rate (km/worker)i 5.0ii 4.0iii 3.0iV 2.5

For each road category, standard costs per kilometre are subsequently defined. these standard costs are determined according to the different costs involved in the maintenance of the road, as well as the additional benefits to be paid to the microenterprise. the main determinant herein are the labour costs, i.e. the wages the microenterprise members receive, forming between 55 and 80% of the total cost. these labour costs depend on the applied wage levels, which are generally based on the defined legal minimum wage or on prevailing wages in the area of intervention, and on the amount of labour required per kilometre of road (which is equal to the inverse of the average productivity rate). the labour costs per kilometre per year are

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thus calculated by dividing the wage rate (us$/worker/year) by the average productivity rate (km/worker).

apart from labour costs, the standard costs generally also include different allowances to cover costs for tools and equipment, food, health insurance23, pension, third party insurance, transport, and administration and accounting. in certain cases a profit margin is included, which in the case of non-profit modalities is aimed at starting up complementary productive activities such as animal breeding, shops, transport services or credit facilities. Below, the importance of the various costs in determining the standard cost per kilometre is shown for a number of different countries.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Bolivia paved Peru paved Peru rural Ecuador rural

Labour Other costs Transport Profit, social projects administration, contingencies

the rural road program in peru initially applied a single standard cost of us$ 1,200 per kilometre of road maintained. at a later stage, based on the experience gained in applying the approach and determining the daily productivity rates, differentiated standard costs were introduced based on the characteristics of the road and their influence on the average productivity rates of the microenterprise members. For each road category, different standard costs were determined for the sierra and selva regions24. on average, 80% of the standard costs was reserved for labour, 6% for tools, 2% for a health fund, 7% for transport, 2% for general expenses, and 3% for investment funds for productive activities.

road Category Productivity rate (km/worker)Cost (Us$/km/year)

sierra selvaiB 5.0 550 510ia 4.5 590 550iiB 3.5 720 680iia 3.0 820 770iiiB 2.5 1,020 970iiia 2.0 1,200 1,150

23 in some cases where appropriate health insurance is not available or does not provide sufficient coverage in the rural areas, health funds are set-up at microenterprise level.

24 respectively the mountainous andes region and the tropical rainforest region.

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in colombia, the following standard costs were determined for each road category.

road category Productivity rate (km/worker) Cost (Us$/km/year)i 5.0 885ii 4.0 1,106iii 3.0 1,475iV 2.5 1,770

under the rural road program in ecuador in the province of loja, the routine maintenance of a stretch of road of 15 km requiring a microenterprise of 5 people, was calculated to cost us$ 9,000 per year.

item Cost/unit Units totalLabour us$ 90 (monthly wage per worker) 5 x 12 us$ 5,400materials us$ 700tools and equipment us$ 70 (per worker) 5 us$ 350administrative costs us$ 50 (per kilometre) 15 us$ 750social fund us$ 1,800 (20% of total contract) 1 us$ 1,800total yearly cost of the contract Us$ 9,000total yearly cost per kilometre Us$ 600

as a result, 60% of the contract sum is spent on labour, 20% on the social fund (intended for the execution of projects beneficial to the communities), 12% on tools and materials, and 8% on administrative costs.

in comparison, the Peruvian road programme for the paved network reserved 56% of the total contract sum for labour, 18% for transport, 10% for indirect costs including tools and equipment, and 16 % for profit, administration costs and contingencies.

in Bolivia, 57% of the contract sum was reserved for wages, 8% for the pension fund (14.5% of wages), 6% for third party insurance (10% of wages), 1% for food allowance, 2% for transport allowance, 1% for tools and equipment, 11% for administration, contingencies and profit (20% of wages), and 14% for taxes (16% of total income of the microenterprise).

resulting standard costs per kilometre for routine maintenance vary greatly, depending primarily on wage levels, the characteristics of the roads under maintenance, and the maintenance activities included in the contract. in the experiences in latin america these costs vary from approximately us$ 600 to us$ 1,500 per kilometre per year, generally being higher for the paved road network.

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examples of average costs for the different countries are given below.

Country average cost per km per year road typeBolivia us$ 800 pavedColombia us$ 885 - us$ 1,770 paved

ecuadorus$ 800 - us$ 1,200 unpavedus$ 1,320 paved

honduras us$ 1,050 paved

nicaraguaus$ 600 pavedus$ 400 unpaved (access roads)

Paraguay us$ 800 - us$ 1,000 unpaved

Peruus$ 510 - us$ 1,200 unpavedus$ 500 - us$ 1,000 paved

9. finanCing meChanisms

sufficient and timely financing of routine road maintenance activities is a crucial factor in the success of the microenterprise-based approach, as the microenterprises generally do not have the capability to survive prolonged delays in payments. recurrent delays in payments often lead to bad morale and conflicts within the microenterprises, as well as a decrease in the quality of their work. where such delays are prolonged, as has been the case of some programs that have found themselves without financial resources at a certain stage, this can lead to the entire investment being lost, including the microenterprises that have been formed. as a consequence of such extended periods without financing and thus without routine maintenance, the roads may require periodic maintenance or even rehabilitation before entering into a system of routine maintenance again, and the microenterprises may have to be re-established.

However, the issue of financing is not a simple one, as an adequate and secure allocation of financial resources for routine road maintenance generally does not exist. although the use of performance based contracts facilitates the appropriate allocation of funds due to the greater expenditure certainty of these types of contracts, the allocation of sufficient funds remains a problem. often initial funding is provided within the framework of an externally funded road (maintenance) programme, but this does not provide a sustainable funding mechanism. the most common approach is that the financing of the road maintenance activities is increasingly transferred to national and subnational governments according to the classification of the road concerned. within this view, national governments are seen to be responsible for the national (paved) network, departmental and/or provincial governments for the secondary roads, and municipal governments for the tertiary roads and access roads.

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in the case of access roads, experiences also exist with community involvement in the co-financing of routine road maintenance activities. However, in many countries a clear and complete classification of the entire road network does not exist, complicating the definition of responsibilities for the roads concerned.

apart from the ambiguity regarding responsibilities, the omnipresent budget limitations for road conservation form a serious complicating factor. the general problem consists in the fact that no direct payment by road users exists for the service of road maintenance, as is the case for other service delivery (e.g. water or electricity). in the major roads of the national network, tolls are sometimes collected to pay for maintenance, but this approach is not economically feasible in lower order roads, and the funds collected are not always directly linked to the financing of road maintenance. the fuel taxes collected by governments are one of the most logical sources of financing, but these are generally used for a wide range of activities, and due to their importance tend to feed into the general government budget, without being specifically earmarked for road maintenance or other road management activities. other relevant taxes include the so-called vehicle or road taxes25, which again are not always specifically destined to be used for road maintenance. as a result, insufficient funds tend to exist for financing routine maintenance, especially at subnational level where budgets are often very small. this situation is improving with the decentralisation processes underway in many of the latin american countries, except in those cases where responsibilities are decentralised without the corresponding decentralisation of the required funds. also the fact that rural (unpaved) roads tend to have less traffic, results in them being given lower priority in the assignment of the budget, complicating continued routine maintenance, and in the long run resulting in higher overall costs due to a need for more costly conservation measures (periodic maintenance or rehabilitation).

in ecuador, routine road maintenance activities were initially co-financed by the road program ucv (70%) and the provincial and municipal governments (each 15%). after the first year, the percentage financed by the subnational governments was increased to 70%, and as from the third year they were fully responsible for financing the maintenance activities. in tungurahua province, the routine road programme formed 6 microenterprises, and the provincial government subsequently replicated the approach, creating 28 other microenterprises. these are paid us$ 450 per kilometre per month for a total of 10 days work per month, compared to us$ 800 – 1,200 under the ucv programme. this is insufficient for adequate routine maintenance of the roads concerned, but the provincial government does not have sufficient funds to increase the scope of the contracts.

25 these taxes are applied to vehicle owners, often according to different vehicle categories, and in theory are destined to finance road maintenance activities, although in practice they are used for a variety of activities.

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in nicaragua, the danida transport program works with access roads, which are rehabilitated by the communities using labour-based methods. routine maintenance is subsequently carried out by microenterprises, which are paid by the communities together with the municipalities. supervision is carried out by a municipal engineer together with the maintenance committee, which is also responsible for collecting fixed fees from every household, or alternatively major road users pay a significant part or tolls are collected, all of which are used to finance the microenterprises at an average cost of us$ 400 per kilometre per year. the program has achieved a significant success rate, where 85% of the projects are receiving continued routine maintenance.

However, it is not purely an issue of lack of funds, but especially of lack of priority, as the investment in construction and rehabilitation often provides more (short-term) political benefits than continued investment in maintenance, and these are therefore often prioritised at the cost of maintenance investments. the use of general budgets for financing road maintenance activities has therefore often resulted in budget cuts in order to use the freed funds for other activities. this is certainly not always the case, as many examples exist where authorities have expanded routine maintenance activities using their own funds, but it does remain a difficulty for adequate budget allocation for routine maintenance.

in many countries the solution for this problem has been sought in the earmarking of public funds by the ministry of Finance. in certain countries this has led to the creation of road Funds, which are used to finance different types of road maintenance activities and are generally funded by specific types of government income (usually a percentage of the fuel tax). cases where routine maintenance microenterprises are financed by road Funds, appear to present important opportunities to enhance sufficient and timely financing and increase sustainability, although a major problem remains the lack of earmarking of such funds for road maintenance and their subsequent use for other purposes. in those cases where road Funds do not exist, another option that has been used is the earmarking of part of the budget that is transferred to local governments, solely for routine maintenance of their road network.

in honduras, a road Fund was created in 2000, which receives 40% of the taxes on fuel. this road fund is used to finance different road maintenance activities, including the routine maintenance activities carried out by microenterprises.

under the rural road program in Peru, routine maintenance activities were initially financed by the programme as part of the world Bank loan, with the intention of subsequently transferring this responsibility to the municipal governments officially responsible for the roads. an ilo study, which was later followed by a larger scale study by the rural road program, showed that the municipalities were in no position to finance the road maintenance activities, given the still very centralized budget that existed at the time. additionally, maintenance was seen as a recurring cost, for

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which only 30% of the municipal budget could be used, most of which was utilised to cover municipal salary costs. this latter problem was solved by allowing the investment part of the municipal budget to be used for road maintenance, whereas for the former problem, as a first step in transferring financial responsibility to municipal governments, the ministry of Finance increased the transfers to the municipalities (Foncomun) and earmarked a certain part of the funds specifically for routine maintenance. at a later stage, provincial road institutes were created with participation of municipal and provincial governments, which are currently responsible for financing routine maintenance.

another important aspect in financing is the reliability and timeliness of payments and payment procedures. the low reliability of payments is often a result of excessively bureaucratic administrative procedures, generally leading to large delays between the approval of works and request of payment, and the subsequent receipt of payment by the microenterprises. many instances exist of delays in payments of 20 days to one month, and in some cases delays have been recorded of more than 5 months26. such delays in payments, even those on the lower scale of this range, put severe pressure on the microenterprise members who generally depend on the maintenance work as their only source of income, and frequently have loans based on the payments they are to receive. large or frequent delays of this type may force them to seek other sources of income in order to cover the expenses they have, thus putting the maintenance of the roads in jeopardy. most road programmes therefore put effort into improving the payment process.

10. training and aCComPaniment

most microenterprises require training before starting work. microenterprises formed by community members generally receive both technical and entrepreneurial training, whereas in the case of microenterprises formed by former road agency staff, the emphasis lies on entrepreneurial training, as they are already used to carrying out most of the maintenance activities. a training package of technical and entrepreneurial training is generally carried out just after having constituted the microenterprise or during the process of legal constitution, followed by a process of technical and entrepreneurial accompaniment during the first 6 months to one year, in order to provide assistance through on the job training in the different aspects of routine maintenance and enterprise management.

the technical training aims to provide the microenterprise members with the technical skills and know-how required for carrying out the different activities included under their routine maintenance contract. this training is usually carried

26 generally in such cases the lack of sufficient funding is the main cause.

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out by the technical specialist of the promotional team during a period varying from one day to one week, whereby the different activities and road elements are explained and the microenterprise is assisted in carrying out a road inventory of their stretch of road and in developing a plan of activities based mainly on the different seasons and workloads. this training is carried out both in the field and in the classroom. experiences also exist with training by the private sector, ngo’s or national vocational training institutes.

in Peru, the technical training is carried out by sencico, the national service for training of the construction industry (servicio nacional de capacitación para la industria de la construcción).

in Colombia, the technical training is carried out by the national learning institute sena (servicio nacional de aprendizaje). all microenterprise members must be certified by sena in order for the microenterprise to be awarded a routine maintenance contract.

the entrepreneurial training aims to provide the microenterprise members with the entrepreneurial skills and know-how required to ensure the proper management of the enterprise and any complementary productive activities to be carried out by the microenterprise members and their families, with the ultimate aim of producing microenterprises that are able to enter into competitive bidding and of creating an entrepreneurial capacity in the communities capable of developing productive activities and stimulating the local economy. the training includes different aspects of business management, such as how to work as a team, understanding the maintenance contract, leadership skills and the responsibilities of president, treasurer and secretary, income and expenses, accounts and administration, problem solving, and the different reporting activities required by the contracting agency as well as other public institutions (income tax, municipal tax, social security, etc.). But it also includes aspects such as the relationship between the microenterprise and the contracting agency, the local authorities, the road users and the communities. this training is usually carried out by the social specialist of the promotional team in classroom sessions using various dynamics, although experiences also exist with ngo’s and the private sector.

during the process of accompaniment, which generally lasts from 6 months to one year, the microenterprise members are given assistance in the technical and entrepreneurial management of the microenterprise and the execution of the contract. usually this entails frequent visits to the road concerned, where the microenterprise is assisted and given training in the planning and execution of the different maintenance activities, as well as in the general management of the enterprise and the preparation of the required reports and other documentation.

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the technical accompaniment is generally carried out by a consultant contracted by the contracting agency, who is usually responsible for assisting a number of different microenterprises in different road sections. experience exists with private consultants, university graduates doing their practical period, and road management enterprises responsible for both assisting the microenterprises and carrying out the maintenance activities beyond the scope of the microenterprises (e.g. major patching and periodic maintenance). in many programs the technical accompaniment includes the preparation of the workplan up till the next visit, although this in fact undermines the business character of the microenterprises, which should in reality be assisted to develop this plan themselves.

in many cases the technical accompaniment is combined with the supervision of the microenterprises, evaluating the execution of the contract and ensuring the compliance with the performance indicators. although this entails a cost saving, it does lead to a complicated situation where the same person or enterprise is responsible for ensuring that the microenterprises function correctly, as well as evaluating that same functioning. the result is a blurring of the division between the microenterprise and the contracting agency. where possible the packaging of these two tasks should be avoided.

the entrepreneurial accompaniment is usually carried out by consultants as well, either from the private sector or university graduates, and is combined with the checking of the microenterprise accounts.

in the paved network in ecuador, regional engineers (road administrators) are responsible for training and determining the weekly assignment of tasks. they also collect information regarding the productivity rates for administrative purposes. in the rural road program, technical and entrepreneurial monitors are used to provide accompaniment, as well as an accountant.

in the rural roads program in Peru, the municipality was foreseen to carry out the supervision of the microenterprises, but due to a lack of capacity at this level, provincial road institutes (institutos viales provinciales - ivp) were created for this purpose. where such provincial road institutes do not exist, the rural roads programme carries out the supervision through its local offices. the accompaniment is carried out by road monitors, junior professionals freshly graduated from university. these road monitors receive us$ 350 a month and are responsible for 5-6 microenterprises. in earlier years private consultants were used for the accompaniment, at a cost of us$ 6,000 per year.

apart from the technical and entrepreneurial training, the microenterprises are often used as an entry point for other more general training and education. microenterprise members have been given literacy courses in order to learn to read and write, or been

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helped to finish their primary education. in colombia the monthly training program also includes personal aspects such as sexually transmitted diseases and first aid.

11. ContraCt sUPerVision

the supervision of the microenterprises entails evaluating whether they have met (or exceeded) the performance indicators and related tolerances that have been defined. this task is usually carried out by the contracting agency, though often contracted out to private consultants or to more general road management enterprises that are also responsible for other road conservation activities. in such cases it is often combined with the technical accompaniment of the microenterprises as mentioned above, which results in an ambiguous situation where the assistance to the microenterprises aimed at them meeting the performance indicators, and the evaluation of their performance are in the same hands, a situation which should be avoided. in certain cases such as peru, local authorities are responsible for evaluating the performance of the microenterprises.

the assessment of the road by the supervisor in relation to the performance indicators is often carried out in a rather superficial manner, in order to be able to cover the entire road section. in some cases sample stretches of road are selected for a more thorough assessment. the supervisor is required to inspect all road elements, and compare their condition to the desired state as described by the performance indicators and their respective tolerances. if the microenterprises have performed well and have met the performance indicators within the set tolerances, their monthly payment is subsequently requested. in the case the performance indicators have not been met, the microenterprises are generally given a number of days to correct the problem, after which the road is evaluated again. if the problem has not been corrected by that time, penalties are applied.

the supervisor usually visits the road at least once a month, in agreement with the microenterprise. in certain cases, especially in the more mature programs, only a sample of roads is visited every month, and each road is visited only once every few months. apart from these regular programmed visits, the supervisor also carries out follow-up visits in those cases where performance indicators have not been met, in order to check if the problems have been corrected. in certain cases, unannounced visits are also carried out, as well as interviews with road users to obtain their assessment of the road conditions.

in Paraguay, the microenterprises are given an advance warning of 24 hours before the evaluation of the road. the visit takes place together with the microenterprise. additional informal visits are carried out without warning.

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in honduras, consultants are used who are responsible for both technical accompaniment and supervision. they are paid us$ 116 per kilometre, which includes transport and a driver, and are responsible for assisting and supervising an average of 6 microenterprises.

in Colombia, road administrators are responsible for the supervision and technical accompaniment of the microenterprises, as well as general road management. they generally cover a total of some 200 km.

in the rural road program in ecuador, the microenterprises are visited once a month, in addition to which user surveys are carried out in order to get a more detailed picture of the road conditions over time. the supervisor is also responsible for planning the activities. microenterprises in this programme have been complaining that they felt like government employees instead of entrepreneurs.

in the danida transport program in nicaragua, foremen from the municipalities check the road conditions together with the community maintenance committee, based on simple performance indicators. the foremen determine the work that is needed and present this to the maintenance committees, which ensure that it is carried out.

12. ConCLUsion

microenterprise-based routine road maintenance has proven to be an economically and technically viable option for the conservation of roads by national and subnational governments in the latin american region, resulting in improved road conditions, a longer lifespan for both the paved and unpaved networks, and lower overall maintenance costs. additionally, the approach has demonstrated to have an important positive influence on local economies and local capacity building, resulting in the generation of incomes and employment for communities along the roads concerned.

the implementation of the approach in the different programmes and countries in latin america has demonstrated the need for an adequate intervention strategy, where different aspects of the microenterprise-based routine maintenance system need to be adapted to the national and local contexts in order to ensure success and sustainability of the approach. Key aspects in this sense are the constitution of the microenterprise and the selection of its members, together with their training and accompaniment. this process greatly influences the efficiency and effectiveness of the microenterprise, its acceptance by the communities, and its sustainability. other important aspects are the determination of the maintenance activities and related performance indicators to be included in the contract, together with the calculation of standard costs per kilometre and the identification of suitable contracting procedures and supervision mechanisms. these aspects greatly determine the

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effectiveness of the routine maintenance as well as the possible cost savings to be achieved in the overall conservation of the road network. a final, but crucial aspect is the sustainable and timely financing of the routine maintenance, which determines the success and sustainability of the approach beyond its initial introduction. this document has intended to explore the problems faced and solutions encountered regarding the abovementioned aspects, based on the extensive experience that exists in the latin american region.

Before introducing or expanding the microenterprise-based routine maintenance approach in a country or area, these aspects need to be examined in detail. But even the careful consideration of all these aspects will not instantly result in a satisfactory design, as more often than not, certain legal and institutional adjustments will be needed to ensure the effective and efficient application of the approach, as well as its sustainability. many of these adjustments, both to the context as well as to the design, may be achieved during the initial testing phase of the approach, which will also serve to gather crucial information, for instance regarding the productivity rates and related labour requirements per kilometre and the possible categorisation of roads. lastly, existing experiences, even the most mature ones, are constantly improving themselves, for which it is important to continue examining these in order to learn from the problems they face and the solutions they develop.

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aPPendiX 2 – Understanding the diVersitY of rUraL transPort needs to maXimize CommUnitY PartiCiPation – eXPerienCe of PraCtiCaL aCtion rUraL transPort ProjeCts in sri Lanka and nePaL

By ranjith de silva, regional coordinator for asia and the pacific, international Forum for rural transport and development (iFrtd).

people have different needs in mobility and access and they are mostly inclusive in the context of rural transport. improved understanding of the transport sector through studies and development work of government institutions, ngos and assessments of donor organisations have contributed towards recognising the importance of rural transport development needs to be highlighted. it has also helped identify the key factors that influence transport needs and patterns of rural people. these factors strongly influence people’s preferences and use of transport systems that are appropriate to them. there is no doubt that rural infrastructure development with special focus on rural feeder and access roads bring about many economic and social benefits to the rural community. the benefits are more if the road is served by rural transport services that area appropriate to the travel needs of rural communities.

some of the key influencing factors are as follows:

• economic - occupations of people, affordability, investments to improve infrastructure and facilities.

• topography - terrain, climate, prevalent cultivation. • social aspects - cultural norms, social acceptability, gender roles and responsibilities,

need to access education and health.

improved infrastructure, particularly rural roads fulfill these needs of the communities but very little attention is given by respective governments as opposed to the investment made in to develop national highways and other major roads. connectivity of rural villages to these national highways is often neglected in planning. communities are not even consulted in highway planning processes to ensure their connectivity to them leaving the needs of the rural communities entirely to the local government institutions. this attitude and the inadequate resources available at local government levels have compelled the rural communities to look at alternative technologies and had even shown their willingness to take part in rural infrastructure planning, construction and maintenance.

it should be noted that several factors influence the social and economic development of rural communities through road and infrastructure development. this paper highlights the social and economic benefits of community participation as a result of their involvement in planning, constructions and maintenance of rural infrastructures

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in sri lanka and nepal. the connectivity made by rural infrastructures will definitely reduce the “out-migration” of the villagers as an answer to the predicted increase of “in-migration” of rural communities to the urban areas by 2020.

sri Lanka Case study

a pre-project baseline survey was conducted by practical action south asia in two villages in sri lanka in 1998 to identify the travel needs of the communities who did not have connectivity to the motorable roads. the need of a road that connects the villages with the motorable road came out strongly in the survey. the main reason given by the survey report for the low income earned by the communities in both villages was mainly due to high transport costs and drudgery involved in transporting the village produce to the motorable road. communities felt that their need was only a dream after all the promises given by the politicians during the election time were not fulfilled for years. therefore, the villagers started to migrate out of the village, their agriculture inputs were reduced, their problem of getting access to education and health remained unsolved thus making them poor.

Communicating with the communities: several methodologies and tools have been developed by sociologists for effective communication with community groups in identifying the needs and getting their involvement in planning such as integrated rural accessibility planning (irap)-developed by ilo asist, participatory rural appraisal (pra) etc. these tools ensure the participation of all sectors of the village and enable identifying the local resources including skills.

IRAP: irap tool developed by the ilo is being used in rural planning in many developing countries. it is helpful to get the community participation to plan out locations of important places on their accessibility needs.

PRA: practical action used the pra techniques to communicate with the community and was able to get their effective participation. the capacity of the existing capacity of the village included availability of secondary school educated youth, some attempts made to construct the road through “shramadhana” (donation of free labour), willingness to part with land required for road construction etc.

Process undertaken• planning the process with the community:

– identify available local resources, and demarcation of the proposed road; – allocation of funds, agree on working conditions and labour rates and work and training schedules;

– appointment of a management committee from the community.

•

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• execution of work schedule: – get approvals and support from the local authorities; – conduct technical training and prepare work schedules; – execute construction; – manage labour schedules; – set up maintenance groups.

• management: – set up a long term maintenance plan; – continue liaising with the local authority for maintenance and technical support; – extended activities to market village produce, transport services etc.

in order to carry out the above functions the community should be guided with a strong social mobilizing component. in the case of sri lanka, a social mobiliser was based in the village for the initial one year period of time of the project.

the capacity of the community was assessed and the members with secondary education were selected to undergo the basic technical training on road construction and maintenance. these trainings enable community members to understand the basic requirements of road construction and maintenance for engineered roads.

the community members were paid half the cost of the prevailing unskilled labour rate and the other half was the contribution coming from the community. this is a combination of the “shramadhana” and the paid labour system which has been agreed with the community in the planning stage.

Post project impacts: practical action did an evaluation of the project after two years of its completion and found out many social and economic changes in the villages. one of the major aspects was the sense of ownership of the road by the communities. they have gained many economic benefits such as better prices for their products as a result of reducing the transport costs and influx of transport services and traders in to their villages. the land value has increased significantly and many opportunities have been made open.

However, as a result of the impacts, the trained educated youth had left the village for either higher studies or higher income employment outside the village. anyhow, they have not forgotten to continue their support as and when required in the road maintenance work.

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nepal case study

poor communities live in the mountainous regions of nepal face the difficult task of getting access to services and markets. in some villages in the mountainous regions of nepal spend not hours but days to reach a health centre or a market. this is due to high mountain terrain and having to cross of fast flowing rivers. road construction in the mountain regions of nepal is not the best accessibility option due to geological reasons of fragile and active mountains. Hence, alternative transport infrastructure technologies have been provided to improve the accessibility of these people such as trail and foot bridges, ropeways and river crossing devices.

Gravity ropeway project in Bishaltar: communities living in a mountainous village in Bishaltar area had to walk for 2 hours to reach the main road. the villages produced vegetables and had to pay high porterage cost to transport the vegetables down to the road head and were not making any profit. this situation was not very encouraging to the village formers to remain in agriculture.

a similar approach as successfully tried in sri lanka was adopted in nepal to find out the reaction of this community in Bishaltar. as a result an improved gravity operated ropeway (cable cart) technology was introduced to the village. a village committee was formed and a work plan and a schedule were agreed.

Community contributionthe community committee agreed to the following:

• supply locally available material for the construction such as timber, rubble, sand and stones.

• provide masons and labour required for the construction from the village.

the project implementers agreed to provide the technology and the costs of cables, machinery and equipment and transport.

in the final cost analysis, it was observed that the community contribution converted in to cash was 40% of the total capital investment cost. it is therefore attracted the attention of the local district development councils (ddc) and the department of livelihood development and agricultural roads (dolidar) as a viable investment to improve the rural accessibility to markets.

Community management: the committee formed has trained some of their members to get trained on the maintenance of the ropeway and also on the management. the ropeway takes only 2 minutes to transport as opposed to 2 hours walking by the porters to carry the agricultural produce to the road head. the ropeway is gravity operated, requires no energy and is 100% environment friendly with zero emissions.

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the cost of transport has reduced by about 70% and with negligible damage. this enabled the village farmers to get a better price for their products and motivated them to cultivate more land and earn more income.

the committee has now transformed in to a cooperative and also has constructed a warehouse by the road side for storage of vegetables.

Impacts: the economic and social impacts of this community managed ropeway have been great. the improved quick transportation of goods has given them the opportunity to grow more and sell more. on elderly woman in the mountain village commented “we seldom had rice to eat those days in our houses but now we have the privilege of eating “Basmati” rice. We also have the time to go on pilgrimage and visit our relatives living far.”

the manager of the ropeway committee said “This is our ropeway and changed our entire lifestyles. We will take care of this as our own life.”

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aPPendiX 3 -the eXPerienCe of CommUnitY inVoLVement in BUrkina faso and Benin mr. amade oUedraogo (BUrkina faso)

not to fall back into the above mentioned shortcomings and prevent these very significant investments from getting wasted, the local communities should be closely involved in building the infrastructures. within the framework of the cases studied (east of Burkina Faso and south-west and centre of Benin), this involvement was implemented as follows:

(a) awareness Campaign this campaign consists of gathering all the components of the population of the area of influence of the project so that they express their priority need as regards the project. so it was up to the grassroots to identify their needs and priorities in this domain to facilitate appropriation. this appropriation by the populations allows them to accept to participate in all phases of the project.

(b) Planningat this stage the population should accept to back up the engineering and design departments of the state in making an inventory and planning the projects without any remuneration or financial claim. the contribution expected from the populations at this level is of a physical order, that is to say: accompany the administration in different sites identified by the populations, thus contributing to assessing their opening up requirements.

(c) study Phase this phase is reached after the populations have identified the sites. their contribution at this level will be a certain percentage of the studies cost. the tender for this study will be effective only when the contribution is gathered.

the preliminary design is subjected to reconstruction among the populations who express their opinion, which could be taken into account if necessary.

(d) execution Phaseafter the execution proposals are produced for the tracks to be planned and after their planning cost is assessed, the involvement of the populations in the implementation phase will consist of the following:

• the financial contribution amounting to a certain percentage of the total cost (control and execution of work);

• contribution to natural materials (gravel, sand, water); • contribution in unskilled labour. those who took part in the execution of work will

be trained, during the implementation, to carry out some routine maintenance tasks

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(e) maintenance Phase the involvement of the populations in roads maintenance is very important to perpetuate the investments. For that, the people who are trained during the planning phase will form a small group in each village and that group will be responsible for drawing up an inventory of the road surface deterioration. this group will be backed up by the decentralized engineering and design departments of the administration.

at the end of the inventory, some tasks may be performed by the populations under the supervision of this group who would have been equipped with small maintenance equipment (wheelbarrows, hoes, shovels, pestles, etc.).

mechanized tasks will be performed by smes under the supervision of the populations and the decentralized administration.

the experiments presented below under show, with characteristics peculiar to each case, the summary in the above points a, b, c, d and e.

1. Best PraCtiCe / Case stUdies

the rural roads program with High intensity labour method (Himo) includes several components:

• socio-economic structuring and boosting of the milieu;• promotion of the project ownership by the local communities;• creating and professionalizing local entrepreneurship specialized in Himo method; • income and Job creation at the local level;• gender and social equity promoting;• the High intensity labour approach (Himo) used by Helvetas, ensures a

participatory and ecological planning that takes into consideration the relationship between men and women.

1.1 Context

Burkina Faso has put the improvement of rural transport as a priority socio-economic development tool and a tool to struggle against poverty.

in 2001, the swiss development cooperation (sdc) sponsored a feasibility diagnosis of a rural opening up program in the eastern region and then authorized Helvetas ngo to implement the rural track– opening up in the east program (prest).

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1.2 Project

the prest program operates in three provinces of the eastern region (gourma, gnagna, tapoa). the program, initiated in 2002, is now in its third phase (april 2008 - march 2011).

nine urban and rural districts in these three provinces are involved in the program activities.

the approach is based on action-research; the program acting as innovator in High intensity labour method (Himo) and facilitator.

the purpose of the program

the existence of a nearby carriageway network in the eastern region managed in a sustainable way on a local level.

objectives • action - research and knowledge on technical, socio-economic and environmental

of Himo rural roads development to supply the rural transport national strategy (sntr);

• the establishment in the technical sector and the positioning as a representative of the local government, the population and village communities;

• capacity building of the organs of the program, the partners, the community, the localactors including those of the private sector. communication cross-cutting (local governance, gender, Hiv / aids, etc.);

• Setting up financing mechanisms for local transport infrastructures and their maintenance;

• the empowerment of local board of directors and equitable involvement of the users in the implementation, the management and maintenance of these facilities;

• promote local good governance and citizenship through training and communicate cross-cutting (local governance, gender, Hiv / aids, etc.).

1.3 results achieved to date

• about 300 km of rural roads build with the Himo approach (High intensity labour).

• 56.5 kilometers of Himo tracks subjected to maintenance by the state / Fer-B for a budget of FcFa 50.000.000.

• 61 km of Himo roads maintained by ddc funds for FcFa 50.000.000. • 126 (masonry and dry masonry) crossing works. • 50 opened up villages in 11 districts including 2 urban districts and 9 rural districts.• approximately 500,000 people less isolated.

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• trainees from technical engineering schools (2ie, eFp / tp) trained. • nine municipal master plans drawn up and adopted by municipal decision.• 12 local smes trained and authorized to build crossings structures.• 6 local Bet trained and authorized to carry out technical studies.• 30 builders trained and employed in the crossing works sites. • about FcFa 20 million raised by the communities and the municipalities for the

maintenance of the road sections build.• 3 co-financing agreements among the rural Districts of Logobou, Partiaga and

diabo and Helvetas for roads under construction.

1.4 the Prest program budget

contributions of the swiss cooperation ddc to the prest program.

• phase 1 (June 1, 2002 - september 30, 2004) 1,666.000 turn over, that is to say about FcFa 666,400,000.

• phase 2 (october 1, 2004-march31, 2008) 4,998,000 turn over, that is to say FcFa 2,100 Billion.

• phase 3 (april 1, 2008 - march 31, 2011) 4,000,000 turn over, that is to say FcFa 1,600 billion.

1.5 Prospects

• putting in place of a multipartite funding mechanism for the planning and maintenance of rural roads

• anchoring the practice of the program to the transport and opening up sector at the national level

• contribute to the review of the national rural transport strategy • Build and develop the skills and capacities of local authorities (rural regions and

districts) and the private sector • Start a political and technical dialogue with governmental, technical and financial

partners involved in rural decentralization and opening up.

2. - Comments on a few Phases and aCtiVities of the LoCaL road ComPonent Pasr ii (Benin)

the comments focus on the activities of which involve the population and local authorities.

step 1: exploration activity 3: information and awareness campaign on the programthe municipal council is aware of the program, its objectives, its strategies, its

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methodological approach and the Himo method. it will be clear that this is a phased planning which is characterized by improving critical points and sections.

the selection criteria for road under the program are presented to the municipal council who are asked to suggest rural feeder roads to be built. if there is some within the municipal development plan (cdp), so much the better, if not the municipal council make some suggestions taking the criteria into account and validates its proposal through a deliberation report of the municipal council.

activity 4: identification of the priority road network to be built and capital budget

the suggested tracks are being studied to determine the eligibility or not. the High intensity labour method (Himo) requires ensuring that the planning is possible without machines. it must be remembered that it is small tools that are used for the planning work, that is to say: hoes, axes, shovels, rakes, tank trucks or tractors + water tank, 1.5 tons compactor at least, template, dump trucks, etc.). in all the hills like in the Zou, the plateau and the couffo where the program has been operating since september 2006 for a period of five years, there are about a dozen tracks listed per district. the linear vary.

the planning may be rehabilitation or maintenance or both. according to the results of a study conducted in 2007 by a danish consulting Firm thorndal, rehabilitation costs about FcFa 6 million /km and maintenance FcFa 120,000/km.

From these data, an investment plan for local roads is drawn up for each district. the results of this study are reported to the municipal council that amend and approve them.

depending on funding available and thus on the linear allocated to each district, the roads that will be subjected to planning are selected from the investment plan. then mass information and awareness campaigns start in the districts served by the tracks.

steP 2: road project preparation

activity 5: field study and alternative means of transportation

Field and alternative means of transportation studies are conducted in the localities served by the selected roads.

people then inform the program members on local potentialities, the availability of local labor since labour should not come from elsewhere, experience in project management, favourable and adverse factors to the implementation of the program

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and the achievement of its objectives and results, etc. activity 6: Preliminary design draft (aPs)

the population chose opinion leaders and resource people at the local level who assist in carrying out the activity which, inter alia, includes as sub-activity the drawing up of the route outline and management diagram.

activity 7: Contracting of the district

the municipal council is requested to sign a contract that is part of the road project. in this contract, the district agrees to work for the successful implementation of the program on its territory by mainly playing their part on:

• paying up their financial contribution (1.5% of the cost of planning works without the structures’ cost)

• the provision of the local labour program (approximately 80 workers per day including 30% of women)

• contribution in labor (weeding, cleaning the road reservation) is assessed as part of the District besides its financial contribution

• the provision of lateritic gravel deposits in order to partially resurface the road

activity 8: drafting of priority roads project

the information gathered during the field studies and the drafting of the preliminary design are assembled to form a track record.

But before that the results are reported to the municipal council to be amended and approved.

steP 3: social mobilization activity 12: joint Partnership agreement / ddttP / Program management Committee a tripartite partnership agreement is drafted by the management committee who submit it to be assessed by the road administration. the document is submitted to the district who amends and approves it. this agreement highlights the program management methods especially with regard to the execution of the planning works.

activity 13: Putting in place of grassroots organizations

local support structures of the program are set up in the localities. there are inter

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village committees of road user (civup) at the root and the associations of road users at the arrondissement level (aupa) and the municipal associations of road users (acup).

the aupa and civup are involved in the execution of work. they are called upon to raise financial contributions and contributions in kind; to mobilizing the necessary local labor on the construction sites and for the provision of laterite gravel quarries.

the acups are more involved in the maintenance of rehabilitated roads.

activity 14: gathering contributions

local structures organize the mobilization of various contributions: financial contributions and contributions in kind. they report to local authorities who support them in case of difficulty. it is important to mention that the financial contribution is raised through the populations’ contribution. the money collected is deposited at the consolidated revenue Fund and a receipt is issued. the district also plans on their side, if necessary, a budget line for this contribution.

note: the financial contribution is not used as a source of funding for the planning work. the districts use this contribution to fund the maintenance start-up.

steP 4: study and work

in the beginning, only the program management committee and the road administration jointly sign the Be and sme’s contracts. currently, district mayors are also involved as cosignatories.

activity 17: Consulting firms contractualisation

pre-qualified consulting Firms take part in the tendering for the execution of dds. the opening of tenders and awarding of contract are made by the cdg, the road administration and the districts (c / st, collector, members of the municipal contracting committee).

activity 19: smes contractualisation

pre-qualified smes take part in the invitation to tender for the execution of road planning work. the opening of tenders and awarding of contract are made by the cdg, the road administration and the districts (c / st, collector, members of the municipal contracting committee).

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activity 22: advisory support during the work by ngos, C / st, staC, Cdg

during the execution of work, ngo, c / st, cdg support smes in the execution of work. the aupa and civup also work to facilitate the availability of the labor and contribution in kind.

all these actors are involved in site meetings where decisions are taken collectively.

activity 23: Provisional acceptance

they are made by the road administration and the municipality in the presence of all the actors who are all signatories of the acceptance certificate.

activity 24: road maintenance by smes

during the warranty period (one year), cdg, c / st and the aupa record deteriorations that are recorded in the maintenance purchase order sent to the sme. the latter mend the road. the work is done by local workers mobilized by the aupa and acup members.

note: this activity is suppressed during the current phase.

activity 25: final acceptance

they are made by the road administration and the town council in the presence of all the actors who are all signatories of the acceptance certificate.

step 5: monitoring and follow-up system

a maintenance team is put in place in every arrondissement. this team has been trained in routine maintenance techniques carried out without the use of machines. this approach requires the town council’s c/st, with the support of acup members, to identify the deteriorations, and then draw out a bill of quantities and a cost estimate for the maintenance work to be carried out. this estimate is validated by the district board. it helps to draw out a services delivery contract for the team in charge of the work. in this case local workers are recruited by the team to carry out the work. note: in the beginning the project requires an engineering department from the town hall. this department needs to have a specialist in civil engineering (not necessarily an engineer) through whom the skills will be transferred to the districts as regards road planning through the participatory approach with the Himo method. this specialist received theoretical and practical training and was involved in all the activities.

currently the town council’ planners who played an active role in social mobilization activities are involved in the implementation of the programme.

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practices of involvement of human in rural roads

Documents