The workshop brought together representatives of municipalities, citizen groups, NGOs, researchers and policy-makers from Senegal, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, as well as representatives of specialized agencies such as GTZ, ITDG, UN Habitat and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).

Once fully operational, SUSTRAN-Africa is expected to build on a nascent sustainable transport projects being promoted in a number of African cities by such agencies as Institute for Transportation Development and Policy (ITDP), Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), UNEP’s DTIE in Paris. It also dovetails into UN-Habitat’s Sustainable Cities Program (SCP), which works with municipal authorities on sustainable management of urban environments.

SUSTRAN-Africa will promote the adoption of suitable transport options that have proven particularly successful in Asia, Latin America and in some pilot projects in some African cities. These options include promotion of pedestrian and cycleway networks, traffic demand management, bus rapid transit systems, and integrated urban and land-use planning.