Fine start on an important issue and opportunity! And now let me see if I can build a bit on the good points just made by Margaret and Pri and perhaps which many of us have in the back of our heads.

There is a broader pattern at work here and it is perhaps a good idea if we get this in our sights first. I have been observing the world of development initiatives from many sides since the late sixties (sob!), and what I have noted is that the staying power is among the weakest of their attributes. It seems as if after a few years and a project or two in the direction of something that appears to be a worthy cause, say gender and transport to take but one example of thousands, and then poof! The sun sets, the energy flags, new people come on board and the “old stuff” is considered to have had its day in the sun and on to new and surely better. “Gender and transport? Sure great stuff. Real important. We have done it.” Pow!  End of problem.

Well the question that we appear to be asking ourselves collectively here is: will we be satisfied with more of the same in this case? I am glad to see a couple of us, but surly more of you as well, starting to dig in their heels. Which leaves us with the question, where to from here? We have to figure it out for ourselves because surely no one else is going to do it for us.

I suggest not putting all our eggs into the basket with of good old World Bank, but rather that we consider probing at least a full handful of parallel tracks. To get us stated on this:

1.       UNESCO

2.       The European Commission’s program on Information Society/Sustainable Development, and perhaps others yet

3.       UNEP – but who, where?

4.       The best of the bilateral aid agencies – namely those that have learned the lesson of the importance of long term, in place commitment. – GTZ, Danida, Sida and a few others come to mind

5.       The regional UN Economic Commissions, Banks and then the likes of UNDP, UNCHR, Habitat, ITU . . .

6.       And yes, the WB

If we put our heads together on this, I am confident that we can not only come up with a fine long list to get us going, but also begin to identify some of the possible people/ways of getting through to them.

Couple of quick points about how to proceed in this case some to mind:

·         First, to take simultaneously an inside/outside approach -- for us to locate our champions within each of these groups and to see if we can bring them on board, and then give them credible materials and ideas with which to work from the inside – all of which supported by a recognized international “expert group” (I prefer the expression invisible college) that by their qualifications and achievements in this area command attention .

·         The second key – and here you have just my personal prejudices – is to continue what we have started to do here and focus the efforts in terms of a varied, lively, competent and dedicated network of individuals and groups who understand in death what this is all about. (In the “old days” -- still sadly here in the minds of many – the response to this kind of need – once all the conferences had taken place and all the various reports been written on the subject – was to put the old “edifice complex” into play. IN this case this would be creating a permanent institution, fitting up a G&T building in Brussels or DC with a permanent staff, a silver haired DG (me?), and a budget and turf to be defended.  Nope. That one is part of the past.  Our key is the network – and that is something we are already beginning to have in hand.

Finally I am copying this note to a handful of personal contacts in some of these groups, and perhaps they may have some leads for us on this. If so you have the thanks of us all.

That’s it from me on this today. I note with pride that I have stayed within my one page limit, and so now I have to get off and hope that some of you will do more and better with this.  For my part I am ready to read, think and do what I can from here to make this work.  This is far too good, far too important an initiative to let it peter out cause someone got tired or forgot to remember.

Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: Priyanthi Fernando [mailto:priyanthi@...]
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2005 6:08 AM
To: Gender and Transport
Subject: [gatnet] RE: The gender and transport group is no longer active at the world bank

I agree with Margaret, though being in Sri Lanka and seeing the

scepticism with which the Bank is viewed by the different actors in the

south, I often wonder if we do not spend too much effort trying to

reform the World Bank - as a colleague once said, its probably easier to

change the world than change the World Bank!

The lack of emphasis in the World Bank  for gender and transport is also

the result of a lack of a champion within the World Bank (Michael

Bamberger and Jerry Lebo played a very strong part in maintaining the

momentum of the gender and transport thematic group) and possibly more

importantly, the lack of concerted pressure from outside, pressure which

in those days was exerted by the work of the IFRTD and others and

without which the Bank would not have invested so much money and time on

the issue. 

I was surprised at the high profile that the Bank's Transport and Social

Responsibility is giving to disability and suspect this is very much

because there is concerted pressure  exerted on the Bank by disability

activists, and also because mainstreaming disability has a greater

appeal to infrastructure and mechanical engineers!!! 

So yes, members of GATNET, suggest we go for it...

Priyanthi Fernando

64/1 Dharmapala Mawatha

Madiwela

Kotte

-----Original Message-----
From: Margaret Sybil Grieco-Kanbur [mailto:mg294@...]
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2005 1:28 AM
To: Gender and Transport
Subject: [gatnet] The gender and transport group is no longer active at the world bank

Apologies for being off list for so long but as with us all, there were

pressing matters elsewhere to handle.

The world bank gender and transport group is no longer active, it has been

subsumed under responsible transport with gender being listed below

disability.

The momentum and institutional standing that the world bank gender and

transport group gave the gender and transport agenda was critical.  As a

University teacher, I could use the site to give authority to the subject

matter.

The decline of the gender and transport group at the world bank is

undoubtedly the consequence of insufficient resources being allocated

there to properly maintain both gender and transport activities and web

site.

I believe that unless we get gender and transport recognised as a key area

of transport planning then we are not only going in circles but those

circles are taking us backwards.

It is clear that gender and transport are important across the range of

activities undertaken by the world bank: gender and transport

considerations have impact from the full range of activities from health

to wealth.

The institutional lead given by the bank was important.  The bank having

moved the spotlight on elsewhere it is important that either pressure is

put on the bank to regain the focus or an equally important international

or governmental body meet this need.

Suggestions for action?

Cheers

margaret grieco

professor of transport and society

napier university

edinburgh

and

visiting professor,

institute for african development

cornell university

and

visiting professor

department of mechanical engineering under the auspices of the centre for

gender studies

technical university

braunschweig

germany

Subject: Bringing knowledge about gender issues closer to you.

Dear Friends,

I would like to draw your attention to the conference information and
the two replies from members of our little informal distance-dispersed
international team on matters of gender, governance, etc., in which they
indicate that they are not going to be able to make the trip to
participate for financial reasons. As your sweating moderator of the ICT
sessions earlier this year, I read about these probably most useful
conferences and workshops- and too the notes that come in from our well
qualified colleagues who could benefit from the exchanges but who simply
don't have the $$ to make the trip. This did not fell my heart with
joy.

May I venture the thought that given that it is after all 2005 and that
since we have in hand pretty much everything that is needed to
virtualize if not all, at least a great deal of these sessions it really
should be given a major priority? The truth is that people who are
working on gender issues, and particularly in the field which after all
is the only place that all this stuff goes on, are spread out over the
globe and that by and large they are at best only marginally financed.
But these contacts and exchanges are important for them and their work.
Well . . .

What to do?

Well, on the one hand - and bearing in mind that the New Delhi session
is afar all taking place at this minute and that Manila is just a few
short weeks away - we have to reach beyond these two projects and think
about next steps in practical terms. The fact is however that we have
in hand today the technologies and tools that are needed for anyone to
be able to do a pretty good job at virtualizing their conference so that
not only the results but also the on-going process can be shared - not
only in terms of papers, etc. but also in more immediate real time (or
close to it) terms.

1. To get at least a first feel for some of the tools that might
be put to work to do the job, let me point you to our little
www.xmobility.org site which provides a
quick first summary of the cheap (often free) and effective tools that
we use on a daily basis in our own international work. That is only a
start of course but should at least serve to give you a feel for the
sorts of things we might now be looking at together.

2. Then and quickly a bit of ancient history. Our first stab at
something along these lines was something called The Zero Emissions
Strategy Conference which opened its virtual doors on Friday the 1st of
August, 1997 at http://ecoplan.org/zero-ems/ As you will see if you
drop in to the site we ran this with the assistance, funding and inputs
from the UN University in Tokyo, the French Ministry of Environment, and
several others contributors and players. (Perhaps that is a formula for
next steps here, with 2005 players of course). Bearing in mind that that
was no less than eight generations ago according to Moore's Law (not yet
repealed) it provided a pretty effective forum for discussions and
exchanges. And a lot has happened since.

3. Also by way of backdrop, I can also point you to a program here
at The Commons which is just now being revived, in part precisely for
these purposes, which you will be able to visit in first draft from via
www.xability.com . You will see the links to
our work together over these last months - as well as a lot of room for
progress. Stay tuned.

I wonder where we might take this discussion next. For starters it would
be good to hear from all of you - and perhaps your networks if you think
there might be interest there. At the same time I am sharing this note
with two high officials leading ICT programs at the European Commission
and UNESCO, with the thought that they may have some inspiration or
guidance (might we dream of support) to get the first couple of pilot
projects up and going. You, I am sure will have other contacts, and it
would be good, if you think it useful, if we can also bring them into
this conversation.

What's the message of all this? Simple really . . . We can do it if we
chose to.

Eric Britton

The Commons: Open Society Sustainability Initiative at www.ecoplan.org
Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris, France, Europe
T: +331 4326 1323 Fax/Voicemail hotline: +331 5301 2896
E: mailto:eric.britton@... E Back-up:
mail@...

-----------------------------------
Annexes:

* Times Foundation & Centre For Social Research Workshop on
Gender Sensitisation on October 7, 2005 in New Delhi


* Training on "Making Governance Gender Responsive (MGGR)",
October 23-29, 2005 at Manila, Philippines



-----Original Message-----
From: kyarimpa peninah [mailto:pkyarimpa@...]
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 12:03 AM
To: Gender and Transport
Subject: [gatnet] Re: Training on "Making Governance Gender Responsive
(MGGR)", October 23-29, 2005 at Manila, Philippines

Thanks so much for the invitation and information. Unfortunately I have
received the information a bit late and will not be able to raise the
funds to attend the course. Otherwise it is a very relevant course to
me and would have so much loved to attend funds permiting.

Best Regards

Peninah Kyarimpa

Uganda


-----Original Message-----
From: Hassan Wunmi [mailto:reachaoh@...]
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 12:24 AM
To: Gender and Transport
Subject: [gatnet] Training on "Making Gender Governance Responsive"

Dearie,

Thank you for this information it is a very useful one but unfortunately
the fund for registration and
travelling is a big issue and I might not be able to make it but I hope
a better chance can be available
for people like us to have materials on the topic in a later time.

Thank you and remain blessed.

Wunmi Hassan
National Centre for Technology Management
Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife
Nigeria.
+234-8034241874