Introduction
The Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) has been providing technical and material support to the Government of Nepal to make trail bridges a priority-1 programme for rural infrastructure development in Nepal. By the end of 2021 more than 9000 trail bridges have already been established since the program’s inception in the early 1950s. The TBSSP- Phase V of the project is working towards building 2,400 bridges by 2023. The project aims to increase the accessibility of rural communities across Nepal, especially among disadvantaged groups, in terms of basic services and economic opportunities by providing safer and shorter means of travel.
TBSU is conducting the review which is expected to focus on the impacts of not only Phase V, but, on the programme since Swiss assistance began.
Objective of the Assignment
SWN in association with the National Institute of Policy Research (NIPoRe) has been awarded to conduct the impact study of the trail bridge sub-sector programme. The study’s main objective is to understand the impact of trail bridges on the livelihoods of local beneficiaries – especially disadvantaged groups in terms of socio-economic and environmental factors through a comparative study of pre and post-evaluation of people living in the surrounding areas of planned and completed bridge sites.
To meet the objective SWN and NIPoRe are undertaking an outcome study through Baseline and Endline study of 263 trail bridges that are established in phase V. The team will also access the long-term impact of trail bridges that have been in operation for at least 5 years.
Key Activities and Service Provided by SWN
SWN is applying both quantitative and qualitative study approaches and activities to understand the impact of the project on the beneficiaries and the stakeholders.
The key activities SWN is undertaking include:
- 20 household surveys with DAG community people at each bridge site. A total of 238 trail bridges from the treatment group and 25 bridges from the control group are selected for Baseline and Endline study.
- KII with relevant stakeholders and FGD with the marginalized community.
- Conducting Average Daily Traffic Counts (ADTC) to measure average human and livestock crossings across the 14 trail bridges during monsoon and dry seasons.
- Conducting Economic analysis
- Impact study of the trail bridge program that has been implemented under the technical assistant funded by SDC.
Outcome
- Economic Analysis report
- Conducted outcome study of Trail Bridge Sub-Sector Project – Phase V (Baseline and Endline report)
- Two or more policy papers on TBSU.
- Final report on Impact Study of Trail bridge
