Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

Transport and roads

transport is important in Uzbekistan, a double-landlocked country with about 32 million people. Uzbekistan serves three of the six transport corridors of the Central asia Regional economic Cooperation (CaReC) program, a partnership program that unites 11 countries to promote development.
Executive Summary xix

Women’s and men’s travel patterns typically differ. In group discussions and interviews, female respondents stated that they mainly use private transport for trips to purchase raw materials from the wholesale market, deliver products for sale, visit administrative institutions, care for in-laws, take children to and from school, shop for daily needs, and other activities.

Unreliable transport presents considerable social barriers to employment, good-quality health services, and education. It also undermines women’s potential to start and enhance their MSMes, limiting access to local markets for raw materials, equipment, and services; banks; markets where they can sell their products; and training and information opportunities.

the adB strategy for the sector aims to improve travel, thus countering the implications of poor transport for the general population, particularly women and girls. the CaReC 2 project Gap was intended to ensure that women in the project areas would benefit from constructed roads and accompanying infrastructure (e.g., capacity building) and would thus be better able to start businesses. a key output was building the capacity of local community leaders and female residents in small and remote rural areas along the road construction. Over 200 women from small remote villages in Namangan and Khorezm regions were trained in the basics of entrepreneurship.

the strategy aims to enhance gender mainstreaming in the transport and road sector by

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  developing and endorsing a long-term gender policy that includes actions for increasing women’s employment and capacity in human resource development policies; and
  
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  providing consistent capacity building and support to implementing and executing agencies in the development of Gaps.
  

Key actions in the Gaps could include the following:

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  doing a baseline study of women’s use of transport facilities;
  
• 
  conducting gender sensitization of the implementing and executing agencies;
  
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  creating quotas for women’s participation in all project activities;
  
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  ensuring women’s equal opportunities in road construction and maintenance works;
  
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  supporting women entering business by including them in roadside enterprises;
  
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  supporting pCBs in extending their outreach coverage to the most remote rural areas with women-friendly financial products;
  
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  in collaboration with the WCU, enhancing HIV/aIdS awareness interventions; and
  
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  for current or future pipeline road projects, incorporating gender-responsive roadside facilities (e.g., separate washrooms, well-lit rest areas, mother-and-baby rooms).