The mobility desk, headed by Nicolas Zingg, is part of the West Africa Division within SDC's Regional Cooperation Department. Together with the other thematic desks of SDC dealing with economic and social services, mobility contributes to finding solutions for improved access of poor people to livelihood assets and services (human, natural, financial, physical, social, political).

The mobility desk is SDC's focal point for issues related to mobility and transport systems, including transport infrastructure and non-motorized / intermediate means of transport. It contributes to institutional learning and retro feeding of capitalized experiences in development cooperation. The desk provides support to the thematic and geographical division of SDC through:

• Advisory (conceptual / operational) and policy support
• Learning & Innovation
• Documentation & Knowledge dissemination
• Networking (national / international)

In order to fulfil its mandate and to provide an appropriate offer, the mobility desk fosters partnerships (see operational set-up on the right) with:

• IFRTD - Programme Contribution to International Networking (click for information)

• Skat - SDC Support Mandate in Mobility (click for information)

Since its inception in 1992, IFRTD has worked with a range of stakeholders to make the transport sector more accountable to peoples' needs and more sensitive to poverty. IFRTD has contributed to pushing the borders of the debate on rural transport to develop new ideas about the relationship between access, mobility, isolation, gender and poverty. IFRTD was built on the premise that "roads are not enough" and is today champion in positioning transport and mobility as a cross-cutting issue.

SDC has been a core supporter of IFRTD since the establishment of a secretariat in 1995. In the period since then, the Forum membership has grown to approx. 900 active members in over 110 countries, 30 affiliated national and regional networks and over 15'000 information seekers all over the world. The Forum is recognised as a global networking representing developing country's interests and has had considerable success in influencing the rural transport agenda internationally and in several countries where it has a presence. The programme contribution phase 9 amounts to CHF 1'200'000 (£ 500'000) for the period 2008-2011 and covers ~25% of the total core costs of IFRTD, with Sida and DFID being the other core contributers. Early 2009 the IFRTD got independent from its former host Practical Action and is established as a company limited by guarantee based in England under registration number 6835743.

IFRTD's vision is a world in which rural communities, particularly those who are poor and disadvantaged, have improved accessibility to resources and services and increased mobility to satisfy their needs and develop their assets - perfectly in line with with SDC's rural transport strategy and the agency's overall goals. IFRTD will contribute to this vision through:

• Advocacy for more poor people centred transport policies and their application
• Filling gaps in knowledge by promoting and dissemination of research focused on transport to fight rural poverty
• Exchange of information to create awareness of issues to be debated or tackled
• Ensuring that the interests of developing countries are represented in the global rural transport agenda
• Promoting improved and pro poor planning frameworks, financing mechanisms and technologies.

Since 1999, Skat has successfully supported SDC in transport issues. Prominent outputs are the TransWeb - the SDC knowledge portal to mobility & access, and TransNet - a Swiss CoP bringing together all sector actors in a platform for dialogue, exchange of experiences and mutual learning. SDC has been involved in mainly rural transport since 1964 and has established a recognised excellence in labour-based, environmentally friendly and participatory approaches, in strategic transport planning and in sustainable operation and management of transport systems. In order to provide an appropriate support to its thematic and geographical divisions, SDC fosters thematic partnerships with the IFRTD and Skat.

The support mandate outsourced to Skat provides the offer of SDC's mobility desk by reinforcing effectively and professionally the agency’s limited internal thematic capacities and competencies. Through this the thematic desk can provide its core functions and the relevant knowledge in mobility can be managed and made available to the wider audience in Swiss development cooperation. In the current phase II, the mandate specifically builds up and maintains services in the fields of:

• Innovation & Learning (documentation center, TransWeb, capitalization, follow-up of SDC project developments, training, R&D in "Mobility and Health", etc.)
• Development of Policies & Tools (SDC policy and strategy fundamentals, tools and guidelines to mainstream new concepts, approaches and principles, etc.)
• Networking & Knowledge sharing (facilitation of TransNet, international networking, collaboration with IFRTD, mobility newsletter, etc.)
  
• Advisory services & Policy dialogue (advisory / policy support, Q&A service, activities on behalf of SDC, services on demand, etc.)