Les difficultés dans la mobilité des personnes et des biens constituent l’un des obstacles majeurs à l’amélioration des conditions de vie des populations des pays sous-développés en général et celles de l’Afrique en particulier. Cette situation est particulièrement vraie pour la république du Niger. En observant la carte de l’Afrique on peut déjà imaginer les contraintes que peuvent induire la position géographique du pays pour ses échanges avec l’extérieur. Aussi, autant son isolement externe est criant, autant à l’intérieur du territoire national, l’enclavement est réel et pose un véritable problème de développement. L’étendue du territoire, son enclavement et une situation de fragilité économique constituent les éléments fondamentaux du contexte dans lequel évolue le secteur des transports au Niger. À l’échelle du territoire nigérien, le département de Téra permet d’appréhender les difficultés que pose le dysfonctionnement d’un système de transport et de voir comment la mobilité s’inscrit dans le processus du développement local. La faiblesse de l’offre des services de transport, la vétusté des infrastructures et le difficile accès aux moyens de transport sont des problèmes récurrents pour les populations. Les stratégies des acteurs n’ont eu qu’un impact limité sur l’amélioration de la mobilité dans l’espace départemental. Cet important dysfonctionnement dans la mobilité des personnes et des biens devra être résolu. / Difficulties in people’s mobility and in the flow of goods are one of the major obstacles to better the living conditions of populations in less-developed countries generally speaking, and particularly in Africa. That is true indeed for the Republic of Niger. As far as foreign trade is concerned, one can easily notice the constraints linked to the geographical location of the country, just by looking at the map of Africa. Not only its striking external isolation, but also its land-locked situation focuses a serious development issue. The size of this land-locked state and its economic weakness are the basic context for transportation in Niger. The department of Téra, which represents Niger well, allows understanding malfunctions in the transportation system and how mobility is part of the local development process. The low level of the services of transportation, the ageing infrastructures and the difficult access to means of transport are recurring problems for populations. The different stakeholders’ strategies have had limited impact on the improvement of mobility within the department. Those important malfunctions concerning people’s mobility and the flow of goods must be solved.

The study investigated the possibility of developing a monitoring and evaluation tool to capacitate the South African Department of Home Affairs towards the sustainability of its mobile unit project. As South Africa has a history of gross discrepancies in the appropriation of services by the citizenry, a fleet of 117 mobile trucks was deployed as part of the 2004 Turnaround Strategy. The chosen structural-functionalist theoretical vantage point informed a quantitative baseline survey in which the views of thirty eight respondents in six provinces and across various ranks were gauged. The majority expressed positive views about the sustainability of the mobile units beyond project phase. They expressed confidence in the goals, relevance and realistic nature of the mobile units. In the SWOT analysis, the respondents expressed more strengths and opportunities than weaknesses and threats. These findings form the baseline for the development of the intended M&E framework. / M.A. (Sociology)

The study investigated the possibility of developing a monitoring and evaluation tool to capacitate the South African Department of Home Affairs towards the sustainability of its mobile unit project. As South Africa has a history of gross discrepancies in the appropriation of services by the citizenry, a fleet of 117 mobile trucks was deployed as part of the 2004 Turnaround Strategy. The chosen structural-functionalist theoretical vantage point informed a quantitative baseline survey in which the views of thirty eight respondents in six provinces and across various ranks were gauged. The majority expressed positive views about the sustainability of the mobile units beyond project phase. They expressed confidence in the goals, relevance and realistic nature of the mobile units. In the SWOT analysis, the respondents expressed more strengths and opportunities than weaknesses and threats. These findings form the baseline for the development of the intended M&E framework. / Sociology / M.A. (Sociology)