Feeder routes
Connecting settlements to main roads and services.
Focus — Mobility, Energy & Essential Infrastructure — Rural and last-mile mobility
RURAL AND LAST-MILE MOBILITY
IDEAS WE SUPPORT.
World Seed Fund supports people whose ideas improve the last stretch between people and services for the households, patients, and producers on that stretch.
Why this area
RURAL AND LAST-MILE MOBILITY
IN CONTEXT.
The last mile is where services are lost. Ideas qualify when the specific stretch and its seasonal condition are described.
Scope of the area
WHAT THIS AREA
INCLUDES.
Illustrations of scope, not a fixed list. If your idea belongs here but is not described below, introduce it anyway.
Seasonal access
Getting through the rainy season.
Emergency transport
Reaching care in time.
Goods to market
Moving produce before it spoils.
Criteria to qualify
WHAT A RURAL AND LAST-MILE MOBILITY
IDEA MUST SHOW.
All five criteria apply. An idea does not need to be complete or proven — it needs to be specific enough that we can judge it, and grounded enough that a next step is possible.
A defined problem, in a defined place
We need to understand exactly who is affected, where, and how they cope today. General statements about a global challenge are not enough to qualify.
- Names the place, community, or system where the last stretch between people and services fall short.
- States the situation today in plain terms — travel time, cost, seasonal days passable, or trips completed.
- Explains what the households, patients, and producers on that stretch do now, and what it costs them.
Human insight behind the idea
The idea should come from knowledge of the situation — technical, scientific, operational, cultural, or lived — rather than from an assumption about it.
- Draws on direct knowledge of the last stretch between people and services in that place.
- Accounts for why earlier rural road and transport projects did not hold here.
- Was shaped with the households, patients, and producers on that stretch, not only for them.
A credible next step
There must be a specific thing that can be attempted next, at a scale that can be observed honestly, with a stated way of judging whether it worked.
- A defined pilot with a stated size — kilometres, settlements, or trips served.
- A stated measure of success — travel time, cost, seasonal days passable, or trips completed.
- A timeframe within which the result can be judged honestly.
Value for people and place
The benefit should be meaningful to the community or system the idea serves, and describable in terms they would recognise.
- Improves access to care, market, and school for the households, patients, and producers on that stretch.
- The benefit is described in words the community itself would use.
- Does not shift cost, risk, or harm onto neighbouring people or systems.
A path to keep working
Ideas qualify when someone can plausibly own, operate, fund, and repair the result after the first phase of support ends.
- A named local authority, transport group, or cooperative able to carry the work after the first phase.
- Running costs, materials, and skills obtainable near the work.
- Ownership, permission, or agreement that lets the work continue.
Evidence & boundaries
WHAT HELPS,
AND WHAT DOES NOT.
Evidence can be modest. A careful account of a small trial is worth more than a projection.
Evidence we look for
- Any observation, record, or measurement of the last stretch between people and services in that place.
- Costs, materials, or time recorded from a small trial, however modest.
- Notes, letters, or agreements from the households, patients, and producers on that stretch or the local authority, transport group, or cooperative.
Usually outside this area
- Broad proposals about rural and last-mile mobility with no named place and no named people.
- Equipment or funding requests with no operator and no running cost.
- Work that transfers cost, risk, or harm to neighbouring people or systems.
Submit an idea
INTRODUCE YOUR
RURAL AND LAST-MILE MOBILITY IDEA.
There is no application window and no required format. Answer these four questions in your own words and we will read them.
Who is affected, where, and how do they manage today?
What do you know about the last stretch between people and services that others working on it may not?
What could you attempt next, and how would you judge whether it worked?
Who continues the work afterwards, and what keeps it running?
Human potential is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.