Analysis of the effects of geographical, methodological and gender data gaps on the response and recovery of transport systems in sub-Saharan Africa from global shocks

Abstract

The lack of high-quality transport data in Africa affects the ability to effectively respond to global externalities and therefore undermines the ability to create sustainable, just, and equitable transportation systems. The data gaps observed are characterised into gaps in the geographical or spatial coverage, gaps in the methodological design of data collection, and gender data gaps. It was found that although some data gaps are a result of lack of financial capacity to set up world-class data collection and monitoring systems, some gaps are a result of poor or inadequate research design, and lack of data sharing among stakeholders which may lead to wastage of resources in undertaking duplicate studies by different stakeholders. The study recommends institutional coordination amongst data owners to enable optimum utilisation of the financial resources available for data collection and intentionality in inclusive data collection to support the development transport systems for all. The study also recommends that transport planning adopts a multidisciplinary approach towards research and survey design including the fields of psychology, data science, and human geography to develop holistic data collection and analysis systems.