Upgrading rural footpaths to motorcycle taxi tracks in rural sub-Saharan Africa

Motorcycle taxis have rapidly expanded throughout sub-Saharan Africa, providing many with affordable improved access to essential services: markets, education, and health facilities. So far, this phenomenon has been almost completely market driven, with no input or involvement of governments or international development partners, even though it has created millions of (new) jobs and is substantially contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.In a 2017 pilot project in Northern Liberia, ‘farmstead - homestead - roadside footpaths’ were converted into to narrow 2m wide motorcycle tracks and the socio-economic impact rigorously studied. Findings were overwhelmingly positive and briefly summarised in this article. This led to the funding of a second ‘track construction’ project in central Liberia in 2021. Its ‘Community Based’ approach was documented in a manual, to be used for training of future contractors in both the technical and social dimensions of (village) track construction. This track construction methodology is presented and discussed in this article. It gives governments and international donors a unique and significant opportunity to support this sector and increase its reach and impact, and by so doing address deep isolation, improve the livelihoods of rural peopl