Improving children’s mobility and access to socio-economic opportunities: A synthesis of literature

Abstract

Children and youths under the age of eighteen have received remarkably little attention in transport and mobility studies in low income countries, apart from limited work on road safety. This is an extremely important omission given that over half the population of many such countries consists of children and young persons. Improving mobility and access to socio-economic opportunities for this group is crucial if the Millennium Development Goals of Universal Primary Education, Promotion of Gender Equity and Empowerment of Women, and Reduction of Child Mortality are to be achieved. The paper aims to explicate how the girl and boy child's rights to Universal Primary Education and Health are affected by the capacity - or lack of capacity - of transport systems to meet their mobility and access needs. It aims to discover how their mobility and access characteristics impact on participation in education, and how they impact on child morbidity and mortality