The SUM Net year end workshop was held at Gandhinagar Gujarat on the 7th and 8th November 2016, just before the Urban Mobility India Conference commenced in the same city. The workshop sought to share the work done this year by the network with all members and to discuss future initiatives and the broader discussion of SUM Net’s goals, advocacy and strategies for the same.
The first day of the workshop was focused on sharing of work done this year which included the multi city transport budget analysis being done in five cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Nagpur and Pune along with sustainable transport projects done in six cities, namely Shimla, Guwahati, Nagpur, Indore, Patna and Ranchi. Short discussions on how these projects can be taken further followed the presentation. Two special sessions focusing on ‘Use of Communication tools for advocacy’ and ‘Road Safety’ were taken by Madonna Thomas (CAG, Chennai) and Nalin Sinha (Global Road Safety Programme) respectively.
The second day concentrated on chalking out the work plan of SUM Net for the coming year, through group discussions and brainstorming ideas. Intense discussions happened on the broader vision of SUM Net – to deeply democratise processes of decision making related to urban transport and to support and facilitate local participation in the same, providing important lessons and tasks for SUM Net to translate this vision into reality.
The workshop, which was followed by the Urban Mobility India Conference, held in Gandhinagar for the first time since its inception was also attended by the SUM Net members.