The challenge of providing access to the Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro Region, Tanzania

The District Roads Support Program (DRSP) in Tanzania has been addressing a long-standing problem of accessibility to the fertile and productive Uluguru mountains in the Morogoro region. Challenges are technical (steepness of slopes and wet climate), financial (lack of national resources and high maintenance costs), and social (ensuring that improved access to markets will benefit all social groups). Project support has focused on addressing all of these issues: it has introduced soil stabilisation and alternative pavement methods, helped construct a new type of pedestrian bridge, promoted low-cost and durable road improvement involving the local population, taken into account the whole area instead of focusing only on a few roads, provided reliable access to markets in the region and outside markets, supported income generating activities for the poor, as well as disseminated information about the spreading and prevention of HIV/AIDS.