Driving Sustainable Development: The Power of Vehicle-Based Services in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Vehicle-based services such as mobile health clinics can increase spatial accessibility in rural areas. In contrast to stationary infrastructure, vehicle-based services are flexible and can be less capital-intensive to initiate service supply. In particular, rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa experience insufficient access to essential public services necessary for sustainable human development. We consider vehicles as mobile service platforms capable of temporarily transporting service staff, goods, and functions necessary for service delivery spatially closer to rural demand locations. Despite these advantages, public authorities must perform a cost–benefit analysis before allocating resources to a vehicle-based service fleet. This paper analyzes which vehicle-based services beneficially influence the Sustainable Development Goals and quantify their potential for the sub-Saharah African region. Based on a criteria-based selection method, we parse 169 target formulations and extract a set of directly influential Sustainable Development Goals. The remaining goals are the starting point for a literature review to identify existing vehicle-based service concepts addressing the targets. Our evaluation reveals that vehicle-based services can enhance about 128 (76%) of all targets and 16 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Half of these targets require the delivery of consumable goods, whereas 59 (35%) of the Sustainable Development Goal targets relate to the transportation of people, and 24 (14%) require access to a broader spectrum of functionality mounted on top of the vehicle, such as water pumps or refrigerators. In combination with publicly available data, we can identify the SDG for each African country with the greatest potential for a vehicle-based service intervention. Our approach enriches public project appraisals for systematical decision support between stationary and mobile infrastructure.

1. Introduction

Public infrastructure has profound implications for human development and prosperity [1]. Access to public services such as healthcare, electricity, water, or education determines the extent to which an individual is able to develop and is therefore directly related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) [2]. Stationary infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, markets, sewage treatment plants, or power plants, are spatially fixed facilities. Building such stationary infrastructure comes with a myriad of challenges: (i) Infrastructure is expensive to build. Typically, investments have long payback periods, which makes them unattractive for private investors seeking investments with short amortization periods [3]. (ii) Infrastructure is inflexible. Once the infrastructure has been implemented, it imposes a technological lock-in effect since the high investment costs into the technology need to be amortized [2]. (iii) Infrastructure investments need to be meticulously planned and allocated. Before new sites are established, detailed preliminary work is required that also involves political stakeholders [4]. This makes most public infrastructure projects long-term endeavors subject to substantial political risk.

Condensing these three characteristics, it is not surprising that access to public services is generally best in urban areas [2]. Here, infrastructure investments are able to address a more significant economic and political fraction of a country’s population.

Currently, however, approximately 45% (3.4 billion individuals) of the world’s population lives in rural areas outside such urban centers [5]. In contrast to cities, the demand density for public services in the countryside is relatively low. To keep the price per service unit (i.e., supply of 1 kWh of electric energy) affordable for the local population, rural infrastructure investments are almost always subsidized over their entire productive life cycle [6]. This fact requires responsible planning authorities to not only evaluate rural infrastructure interventions based on their return on financial investment but their effectiveness for the respective communities [2,7].

In this work, we consider vehicles as mobile platforms capable of rendering spatially flexible public services on-demand. Mobile clinics [8,9,10,11,12], mobile energy storages [13,14], water trucks [15], or agricultural transport services [16,17] have proven to enhance public service delivery where appropriate stationary infrastructure is lacking. Such offerings can substantially reduce investment costs for local authorities to initiate service coverage in undeveloped regions or temporarily overcome supply shortages during natural disasters [10,11,15].

In this paper, we conduct a qualitative analysis of the theoretical potential of vehicles to deliver public services and therefore enhance sustainable human development. We utilize the SDG framework consisting of 17 goals and 169 referring targets to identify relevant service propositions that can actually be supplied with vehicles. The analysis covers sub-Saharan Africa and identifies the SDGs most likely to benefit from such interventions. We set our focus on the region because of the current state of many countries’ rural infrastructure and the resulting insufficient access to public services for many of its rural communities [2].

Based on our findings, public authorities, non-governmental organizations, and private service providers can offset investment costs for vehicle fleets with their projected positive SDG impact and perform a holistic cost–benefit analysis. This analysis is essential during public project appraisals and will be more critical in the near future [7]. In particular, foreign development investments in Global South countries require a more diverse impact assessment [18]. Our approach provides an opportunity to leverage existing resources to support the SDGs while addressing the challenges of underdeveloped rural infrastructure.

2. Vehicles and the Sustainable Human Development

A public service or service of general interest is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community [19]. However, the perception and definition of public needs often depend on a country’s economic development, cultural norms, and other aspects of public life. To now determine what public services can be delivered by means of vehicles instead of stationary infrastructure and what aspect of human development theoretically benefits from its offering, we utilize the SDG framework as the minimal set of needs shared by all humans and communities globally [20]. The SDG framework is a linguistic formulation of 17 interlinked and partly quantified objectives that define a global standard for sustainable human development.

Matching the goal-oriented formulation of the SDGs with the technical capabilities of road vehicles requires (i) a concept for a vehicle’s general service-oriented functional spectrum and (ii) a qualitative, criteria-based selection method to filter the SDGs based on this spectrum. Before reviewing the existing literature on criteria-based SDG analysis and concepts for services based on vehicles, we briefly reflect on the spatial notion of accessibility.

2.1. A Spatial Notion of Accessibility

The ease with which an individual is able to reach a desired location and participate in certain activities at this location is defined as accessibility [21,22]. This ability is not only constrained by the geographic distance between the individual’s position and the desired location but also by limitations stemming from cultural, financial, or systemic circumstances [23]. Nevertheless, the general concept of accessibility as a geographic impedance that needs to be overcome is referred to as spatial accessibility and reflected in indicators such as the population-to-supply ratio [24] or the cost-of-distance [25]. In particular, the travel time to the nearest city based on an average speed calculated from the available type of road gives a good indication of spatial accessibility, assuming that most basic products and services are accessible there [25,26].

Zooming into sub-Saharan Africa, travel times from any point to the subsequent settlement with more than 50,000 inhabitants vary between 90 min and 24 h. Combining these estimates with some of the lowest penetration rates for personal means of mobility worldwide [27], it is clear that rural communities in the region face challenges in accessing necessary public services.

Apart from rural-to-urban population typologies, emergency situations such as armed conflicts or natural disasters negatively influence spatial accessibility [28]. In these cases, either the supply side (e.g., destroyed infrastructure) or the demand side (e.g., displacement of the population) influences spatial accessibility negatively [29]. Due to the unpredictability of such events, flexible infrastructure is needed.

2.2. Vehicles Enhance Spatial Accessibility

Vehicles can potentially enhance spatial accessibility. They transport individuals more effectively from their disadvantageous location to a desired supply center or visit underserved regions to deliver a service value directly. Especially in healthcare, vehicles have proven to be effective [9,10,30,31,32]. Such mobile clinics directly address the three challenges of stationary infrastructure mentioned in Section 1 by (i) covering a broader geographic region [8,33], (ii) offering flexible service stations [8,11,33], and (iii) providing demand-based operations [8,34,35,36]. In the US, more than 2000 mobile health clinics are operated to alleviate health disparities in vulnerable, primarily rural populations [37]. Especially in emergency situations, United Nations organizations (i.e., World Food Programme, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) deploy vehicles to render necessary services to displaced people [15].

2.3. Functional Spectrum of Vehicles

From a conceptual perspective, vehicles consist of a chassis, a drive train, and a use-case-specific superstructure [38] (see Figure 1). Whereas the drive unit always comprises similar components to perform the vehicle’s driving function (engine, transmission, etc.), there is a great variety of non-driving related components, depending on the intended use case for the vehicle [39]. For passenger transport, vehicle superstructures basically contain seating and entertainment functions [38]. Depending on the cargo to be transported (liquid, bulk, etc.), utility vehicles come with various required components (winch, rack, tank, etc.) [40]. Mobile working machines are more complex road vehicles, with auxiliary machines operating energy-intensive functions such as street sweeping or mobile concrete pumps [41]. Mobile workspaces such as mobile health units or libraries utilize the available installation space to offer fully equipped service facilities [42,43]. The design of such mobile workspaces can be similar to their stationary counterparts. Figure 2. illustrates the four categories.

In a modern service economy, Grieger et al. [44] summarizes that the physical vehicle and its components are embedded into a service system. Customers can access services on demand and within a defined service scheme. Utilizing a parked vehicle as a parcel drop-off station is an illustrative example of such a service system [44]. With the advent of autonomous vehicles, the literature on such non-driving related functions has only recently emerged, and only a few concepts are available [45,46].

2.4. Criteria-Based SDG Selection Methods

The SDG framework aims to act as a global reference for sustainable human development. The implementation of the 17 goals is monitored through the definition of 169 targets. Progress towards these targets is agreed to be tracked by 232 unique indicators [47]. Since its inception, several publications have introduced methods to utilize the goals, targets, and indicators for the analysis of specific industries or assessment of investment interventions (Table 1). We introduce a selection of the most important publications for our endeavor.

Fuso Nerini et al. [48] found that 65% of targets are interconnected to SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy). An individual’s improved access to energy, therefore, increases not only SDG 7 but a whole range of other targets. To arrive at this statement, the authors first extracted all targets directly related to energy-based activities. In the second step, the benefits and drawbacks of improved energy systems were identified based on the published, peer-reviewed literature for each target. In a more recent publication, the authors examined the impact of climate change on achieving the SDG. Through expert elicitation and surveys, they found that 72 targets are influenced by climate change [49].

In a more industry-related analysis, Lisowski et al. [20] examined which indicators are suitable for measuring the automotive industry’s positive and negative environmental impact. Their criteria-based approach reduced the initial indicators to the 32 most relevant ones. The three filter steps include ecology-based indicators, indicators that directly impact the environment, and those under the direct influence of the automotive industry.

Allen et al. [50] gave an example of utilizing the targets for a country-specific analysis. They applied three different filter criteria to 43 selected targets. Targets were assigned a score and combined by a multi-criteria analysis decision framework. They found from their analysis that four targets are of paramount urgency, and the other four are of systematic impact on the Arab region. Political measures need to be taken from there.

Fuldauer et al. [51] focused on targeting climate adaptation and progress on SDGs, whereas Thacker et al. [2] zoomed in on infrastructure and its implication on the SDG level. Both publications use a two-step iterative approach that divides the targets into directly influenced, indirectly influenced, or not influenced by any of the initially introduced infrastructure categories. The authors examined if the target can be improved directly by progress in one or more infrastructure sectors. If yes, the target is classified accordingly. Otherwise, an expert survey approach provides indications of whether there is an indirect influence of the infrastructure on the target. This process allows an understanding of which infrastructure categories provide better results for the SDGs. The interdependence among sectors is given if more than one category can influence a single target. The obtained results indicate the importance of improving infrastructure in the achievement of SDGs [2].

The reviewed literature points to the diversity of aspects derived from the SDG agenda. For analyzing vehicles and their influence on different targets at once, we consider the methodology by Thacker et al. [2] as a valuable starting point. Table 1 gives an overview of the reviewed literature.

Table 1. Overview of criteria-based SDG selection methods and their findings.

Author	Focus	Method	Finding
Nerini et al. (2018) [48]	Relationship between energy infrastructure (SDG7) and other SDGs	Qualitative content analysis + expert elicitation process	113 SDG targets are influenced by the quality of the energy system. 143 SDG targets represent either trade-off or yield synergies in pursuit of SDG 7
Fuldauer et al. (2022) [51]	Framework to mediate between climatic impact drivers and SDG target achievement	Content analyses and evidence mapping	Wetlands, rivers, cropland, construction, water, electricity, and housing is required to safeguard achievement of 68% of SDG targets from near-term climate risk
Thacker et al. (2019) [2]	Relationship between infrastructure (i.e., energy, water, etc.) and SDG targets	Iterative expert elicitation process	Infrastructure either directly or indirectly influences the attainment of all the SDGs, including 72% of the targets.
Lisowski et al. (2020) [20]	Identification of relevant ecological SDG targets that are directly affected by the automotive industry	Qualitative selection process based on three defined criteria	31 SDG indicators are directly influenced by the automobile industry
Allen et al. (2018) [50]	Prioritizing SDG targets on a country level	Multi-criteria analysis decision framework which assesses and prioritizes SDG targets based upon their ‘level of urgency’, ‘systemic impact’, and ‘policy gap‘	A general approach is introduced, no specific results

Table 1. Overview of criteria-based SDG selection methods and their findings.

Author	Focus	Method	Finding
Nerini et al. (2018) [48]	Relationship between energy infrastructure (SDG7) and other SDGs	Qualitative content analysis + expert elicitation process	113 SDG targets are influenced by the quality of the energy system. 143 SDG targets represent either trade-off or yield synergies in pursuit of SDG 7
Fuldauer et al. (2022) [51]	Framework to mediate between climatic impact drivers and SDG target achievement	Content analyses and evidence mapping	Wetlands, rivers, cropland, construction, water, electricity, and housing is required to safeguard achievement of 68% of SDG targets from near-term climate risk
Thacker et al. (2019) [2]	Relationship between infrastructure (i.e., energy, water, etc.) and SDG targets	Iterative expert elicitation process	Infrastructure either directly or indirectly influences the attainment of all the SDGs, including 72% of the targets.
Lisowski et al. (2020) [20]	Identification of relevant ecological SDG targets that are directly affected by the automotive industry	Qualitative selection process based on three defined criteria	31 SDG indicators are directly influenced by the automobile industry
Allen et al. (2018) [50]	Prioritizing SDG targets on a country level	Multi-criteria analysis decision framework which assesses and prioritizes SDG targets based upon their ‘level of urgency’, ‘systemic impact’, and ‘policy gap‘	A general approach is introduced, no specific results

2.5. Research Question

We postulate that spatial accessibility to public services has profound implications for achieving the SDGs [2,48]. Existing projects and the literature indicate that vehicles can positively enhance spatial accessibility to public services [8,12,13,16]. However, there are no publications that (i) thoroughly identify public services that can be offered based on vehicles and (ii) clearly identify the SDG targets that are influenceable with vehicles. This information is critical for authorities to perform a cost–benefit analysis during project appraisal of public service infrastructure investments [3]. Consequently, we formulate the research question: “Which SDG targets can be addressed with vehicle-based services?” In broader terms, the result of our analysis transforms socioeconomic requirements into product-oriented, technical requirements (Figure 3). Similar to Lisowski et al. [20], we consider the transfer of SDG targets as a reference framework to a particular industry as highly relevant and, in the case of mobile public service interventions, unprecedented in the peer-reviewed literature.

To make our contribution more practical for authorities across sub-Saharan Africa and directly apply our analysis results, we aim to identify the VbS for each sub-Saharan country with the most significant upside potential. Based on available data on a country’s current SDG target level, we answer the question, which VbS yields the most significant potential to enhance the national SDG target values?

3. Materials and Methods

To identify all targets that can be enhanced with the application of vehicles, the analysis focuses on the relationship between physical components that are part of the vehicle system and the linguistic formulation of the SDG targets, similar to Thacker et al. [2]. Following this approach, we are able to categorize each target into directly influenced, indirectly influenced, or not influenced by vehicles. Hence, we propose the following process:

• To understand which services vehicles can offer, we define selection criteria for the SDG targets based on vehicle concept development theory.
• Next, we select SDG targets addressable by vehicle-based services based on the selection criteria.
• At the last step, we identify vehicle-based services across the sub-Saharan African region that yield the highest potential.

3.1. Criteria to Select SDG Targets

In Section 2.3, we outline four different vehicle types and their intended functions. These functions can be offered as a service to the customer [44,52,53]. Such services are tangible services for people and possessions or intangible services in the form of an information-based process [54]. For tangible services, the person or possession needs to access a physical location, the service factory, to receive the service [54]. Nevertheless, intangible services also require an information access point (i.e., a smartphone with an internet connection). In Figure 4, we categorize vehicle types according to the process-oriented service framework by Writz et al. [54]. Consequently, VbS aims to bridge the spatial distance between a customer/possession and the service factory.

Following this argumentation, we distinguish three types of physical service components that can be arranged on the vehicle platform to perform vehicle-based services. These components represent our selection criteria for the SDG target analysis.

• People: The vehicle has the capability to transport passengers. Public transport services (passenger = customer) or mobile health services (passenger = medical staff) represent examples involving passenger transport.
• Goods: The product is on- or off-loaded from the vehicle during service delivery and therefore represents a cargo item. This includes goods such as food, medical items, books, etc.
• Functions: The function of a physical product is part of the service value and is time-limited by the vehicle’s presence. Machines such as mobile cranes, portable borehole drills, or mobile generators represent use- or result-oriented services that are part of the vehicle’s superstructure and are not unloaded during service provision.

3.2. Criteria-Based Selection Process of SDG Targets

The United Nations Statistics Division provides metadata for all SDG targets, including definitions and calculation methodologies [55]. Based on this data and the definition of the selection criteria in the previous section, we conduct a qualitative analysis of each target’s formulation. We screen the formulation qualitatively and classify the target according to the following categories:

Direct influences on an SDG target include cases in which the target formulation contains the keyword access, which refers to a geographic impedance, and the formulation of the target includes a person, good, or function as part of the desired provision. For example, target 6.1 (“By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all”), contains the words access to and safe and affordable drinking water. Water is a physical good that must be accessed physically to consume it. Either the person or the water itself can be transported to enhance this target.

The influence on an SDG target is considered indirect if the target formulation does not contain any of the keywords (access, person, good, function), but peer-reviewed literature indicates their importance. In this case, one published source is sufficient to demonstrate the indirect influence on the target. Target 4.1 (“By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes”) underlines the necessity of students to receive basic education. According to the literature, schools must provide basic services, which include access to electricity, information, and communication technologies, learning materials, water, and hygiene goods [56,57]. These items qualify as goods and functions that can be delivered with vehicles. Thus, VbS have an indirect influence on target 4.1.

If there is no direct or indirect influence identified, the target cannot be addressed with VbS. Target 2.b (“Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round”) cannot be influenced by VbS. Such targets are excluded from further analysis.

The following procedure describes the criteria-based selection. We repeat the process for all 169 targets:

• Analyze SDG target for the need to access services:

  -

  Does the target formulation contain the term access in combination with a selection criteria as defined in Section 3.1 (person, good, or function)?

  *

  If “Yes”, classify the SDG target as directly influenced and proceed to the next target.

  *

  If “No”, does any peer-reviewed research indicate a possible vehicle-based service that influences the target?

  ·

  If “Yes”, classify the SDG target as indirectly influenced and proceed to the next target.

  ·

  If “No”, the target is considered as not influenced.

  -

  If influenced, assign the necessary service to “good,” “person,” and/or “function” according to the given definition.

• Repeat for all targets.

3.3. Potential Analysis for Sub-Saharan Africa

As the continuous monitoring of targets for individual countries is at the core of the international SDG agenda, disaggregated data for each SDG is available online for almost all countries [47]. We utilize this data to develop a VbS score on the country level. With this score, we can identify the VbS that hypothetically has the highest impact on the country’s overall SDG score. In the first step, we calculate the relative direct impact of VbS on a given target (i) for all 17 SDGs and all sub-Saharan African countries (j).

$$\mathrm{direct}\mathrm{VbS}\mathrm{impact}({\mathrm{SDG}}_{\mathrm{i},\mathrm{j}})=\frac{\mathrm{amount}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{directly}\mathrm{influenced}\left({\mathrm{SDG}}_{\mathrm{i},\mathrm{j}}\right)}{\mathrm{amount}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{targets}}$$

Each country’s national SDG scores are inverted to have the least performing ones with the highest absolute value. The obtained values are multiplied with the direct VbS impact to arrive at the direct VbS score. This consequently represents a country’s SDG with the lowest degree of fulfillment but with the highest potential for direct VbS interventions.

$$\mathrm{direct}\mathrm{VbS}\mathrm{score}\left({\mathrm{SDG}}_{\mathrm{i},\mathrm{j}}\right)=(100-({\mathrm{SDG}}_{\mathrm{i},\mathrm{j}} \mathrm{score})\ast \mathrm{direct}\mathrm{VbS}\mathrm{impact}({\mathrm{SDG}}_{\mathrm{i},\mathrm{j}})$$

We repeat this process for indirectly influenced targets and combine the results to achieve an overall VbS score.

$$\mathrm{VbS}\mathrm{score}\left({\mathrm{SDG}}_{\mathrm{i},\mathrm{j}}\right)=\mathrm{direct}\mathrm{VbS}\mathrm{score}\left({\mathrm{SDG}}_{\mathrm{i},\mathrm{j}}\right)+\mathrm{indirect}\mathrm{VbS}\mathrm{score}\left({\mathrm{SDG}}_{\mathrm{i},\mathrm{j}}\right)$$

4. Results

The performed analysis describes the relationship between VbS and targets. We present our results in four categories: (i) type of influence, (ii) the identified service components, (iii) possible vehicle-based service concepts, and (iv) the vehicle-based service potential for sub-Saharan Africa.

4.1. Type of Influence

Of 169 targets, 39 (23%) cannot be influenced by a VbS. The remaining targets describe an access problem that can be approached directly or indirectly by a VbS, as Figure 5 shows. The number of targets directly affected is 27 (16%), thus primarily posing a spatial access problem. These targets can be achieved by transporting people, goods, and/or functions (Section 3.1). Figure 5 shows that the SDGs with the most direct impact are SDG 2 (no hunger), SDG 3 (health and well-being), SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities).

Further, 103 (61%) of the SDG targets can be indirectly influenced by a VbS. They have the most significant indirect impact on SDG 3 (good health and well-being). In this case, ten of its targets can be addressed indirectly with VbS. It is vital to emphasize that in addition, targets of SDG 3, SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) can be improved.

The SDGs with no directly influenced targets are SDG 10 (reduce inequalities), SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), SDG 13 (climate action), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals).

4.2. Identified Service Components

The transport of goods can directly influence 86 (51%), whereas the transport of people enhances 59 (35%) of the targets. Functions made available to the customer by means of the vehicle account for 24 (14%) of all targets. For the case of indirectly influenced targets, goods represent 66 (39%), people 44 (26%), and functions 59 (35%) of all targets. Of the 130 indirectly and directly influenced targets, 25 are addressed through a single service component, 52 with two, and 53 with a combination of three components. The most needed goods to directly influence SDG targets are water (SDG 7) and medications (SDG 3).

4.3. Vehicle-Based Service Concepts

The VbS with the most relations to targets is ICT service, addressing all 17 SDGs and 63 (37%) of all targets (Figure 6). This service provides a digital access point based on vehicles that enable customers to obtain relevant information for private and commercial activities [58], improve education quality [59], and widen job opportunities [43]. In fact, access to communication technology services is a pivotal aspect of development and economic growth in any modern economy [60]. The specific components of this service can include electronic devices (e.g., computers) and internet access points.

Further, energy delivery addresses 16 SDGs and 59 (35%) of all targets. It contains means to offer electricity for commercial (e.g., farming) and private (i.e., study at night) activities as a service. Energy can both be delivered as a good, in cases of fuel or batteries, or as a function, for example, as on output of the vehicle’s battery. The importance of access to energy and the influence on SDGs has been repeatedly underlined in the literature [48].

Our analysis further finds that water delivery is relevant to achieve 16 SDGs and 54 (32%) of all targets. Similar to energy, drinking water can either be transported as a liquid good or additional functionality to drill boreholes or purify existing water sources can be mounted on the vehicle. This strong influence between access to clean water and the SDGs has been confirmed by the United Nations [15].

Offering Rural transport services with vehicles contributes to 10 SDGs and 35 (21%) of all targets. This VbS concept is straightforward and can be implemented with standard passenger vehicles such as cars or buses. The importance of accessible rural transport services has been highlighted in several publications [13,17,61].

4.4. Vehicle-Based Service Potential

The SDGs with the most significant potential for VbS interventions are depicted in Figure 7 for all sub-Saharan countries. SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), and SDG 10 (reduce inequalities) yield the highest potential for direct VbS impact. Combining the direct and indirect VbS impact scores, SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) are most prominent across sub-Saharan Africa. Although Figure 7 does not intend to place health as the main challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, many of its metrics (e.g., vaccination rates, child mortality, etc.) must be improved.

5. Discussion

The applied method and derived results are used to identify SDG targets that can be addressed with vehicle-based services (VbS). The focus of the work is the sub-Saharan African region, but the results can be extended globally. In particular, authorities in sub-Saharan Africa can utilize the results during a cost–benefit analysis as part of a public service infrastructure appraisal. The projected investments can be directly set in relation to the influenceable SDG targets. By including all possible VbS in our analysis, we extend the current state of the art that only focuses on stationary infrastructure projects [2,62]. Additionally, we perform a potential analysis across all sub-Saharan countries to identify VbS that yield the highest benefit. This is beyond the existing assessment focusing on healthcare interventions across the continent only [63].

5.1. Interpretation of the Results

We first introduce the vehicle-based service concept to map linguistically formulated objectives with physical service components that can be part of a vehicle concept design. This concept synthesizes existing frameworks in vehicle concept design optimization into three practical building blocks (passenger transport, goods delivery, and function deployment). Vehicle-based services increase spatial accessibility to public services by supplying customers with one or a combination of these building blocks. Compared to the Automotive Service System introduced by Grieger et al. [44], we focus on the physical component of the service and vehicle concept. Therefore, the VbS framework can be applied easily and outside the public service domain. Current state concept development tools similar to Nicoletti et al. [38] or Pizzinini et al. [39] can directly implement service components into the concept design.

The identified targets reflect the importance of spatial accessibility to public services for sustainable human development. Our rigorous analysis shows similar results for all infrastructure-related targets previously identified by Thacker et al. [2]. Most additionally influenceable targets mainly comprise access to skilled personnel in the healthcare and educational sectors. Here, the advantage of VbS systems is the option to temporarily distribute mostly scarce skilled personnel across geographies. In particular, mobile health units operating like this have proven to be a viable option [8,37,64]. Nevertheless, we agree with Thacker et al. [2] about the importance of stationary infrastructure services (healthcare, electricity, water, and roads) with implications for many targets.

While the formulated VbS were sufficient to illustrate their impact on the targets, enlarging this initial set to a more detailed list of viable service concepts could spark interest from service suppliers to offer VbS in addition to or as a substitute for their current stationery offering. Enabling service suppliers to make an informed decision requires more interdisciplinary research combining existing tools and methods to combine demand data with detailed vehicle cost models. Similar to Pizzinini et al. [46], there is a need for a design framework to start vehicle concept design from a service-dominant logic [38].

Our potential analysis shows two different results for direct and indirect VbS interventions (Figure 7). We assume the first assessment to approximately reflect each country’s overall social and economic development. Whereas basic SDG 1-related VbS yield the highest impact in countries such as DRC, Uganda, or the Central African Republic, more advanced interventions addressing SDG 10 (reduce inequalities) or SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) could have the most significant positive impact in South Africa, Nigeria, or Namibia. On the other hand, the assessment of indirect VbS underlines the general importance of healthcare, water, and electricity interventions. In line with the literature, these infrastructure services are today underdeveloped in most rural regions across the continent [2,63,65,66].

5.2. Interpretation of the Method

The VbS definition is a novel concept catering to the increasing importance of vehicles as service delivery platforms. Initial ideas about this concept have already been published by Pizzinini et al. [39,46]. In this paper, we extended this definition to operationalize it for this SDG analysis and interface with existing vehicle concept development methods [38,67].

Based on the physical service components, we screened all SDG targets in a two-step process. We follow the approach applied by several previous publications that have proven to produce valid results [2,20,48]. We take the fundamental assumption that if the SDG target is of a spatial nature as defined by Hansen et al. [21], the linguistic formulation of the target contains either the solution (access to medicine) or the problem (lack of drinking water). But there are differences across targets. The UN utilizes a tier system known as the classification system to categorize individual indicators into three levels. Tier 1 represents indicators that are clear in methodology and concept, with data regularly produced for more than 50% of countries. Tier 2 indicates indicators that are also methodologically and conceptually clear but lack regular data production. Tier 3 encompasses indicators for which no methodology is currently available and they are still in the process of development or testing. Each year, the tier classification is updated to assess progress towards the goal of exclusively having tier 1 indicators [68]. During our linguistic analysis, it has been seen that tier 2 and tier 3 targets contain less explicit information about physical service components or reference to spatial accessibility than tier 1 targets. Nevertheless, based on the secondary literature review for each non-direct target, our approach aims to triangulate categorization.

We illustrate the question of prioritization of VbS interventions with an example. According to our results, target 2.2 (By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons) can be addressed both with the delivery of food and medication. Which intervention should be preferred from a resource planner’s perspective? There is a high interdependency between all SDGs, and decisions on which intervention to prioritize above others leave many open questions [69]. We have addressed this issue by simply counting VbS-to-SDG relations and prioritizing the VbS with the highest count. Still, this approach might need to reflect the real implications sufficiently.

5.3. Agenda for Research

Overall, our presented research has several limitations. First, the conducted analysis on SDG targets was carried out rather qualitatively based on the service components essential for Vbs. Second, we have yet to execute a direct comparative analysis between stationary and mobile public services. The question remains, to what extent and in what context might mobile infrastructure be more viable from a socioeconomic perspective than fixed access points? This aspect of our work also refers to the last limitation, namely, the investment period considered. Further research should therefore shed more light on the actual quantification of the cost–benefit of VbS compared to stationary infrastructure. This analysis should also enable a more regional appraisal of such interventions. Whereas our analysis has a clear macroeconomic focus, a more regional assessment might produce more tangible results for fleet operators and public authorities.

The findings of this paper lay the groundwork for future research. The identified VbS-relevant SDG indicators qualitatively demonstrate which indicators can be influenced. To now establish a consistent measure of influence for all indicators, quantitative analyses per target are necessary. To do so, an extensive database of globally existing VbS systems marks the starting point. Based on this database, an economic assessment method shall be developed to compare the cost–benefit of stationary and mobile interventions for public services.

Further, digital communication technologies continue to decrease the importance of spatial access. Whereas mental treatment as part of healthcare infrastructure used to require the patient to travel to skilled medical personnel, online meetings are now used to perform such treatments. A further assessment of all SDG targets on the potential for such interventions would increase the focus on physical services that can not be substituted digitally.

5.4. Agenda for Practice

In order to achieve the SDGs, the United Nations emphasizes the importance of accurate, timely, relevant, accessible, and easily utilizable data [18]. This data is mainly obtained through private actors and private–public cooperation. In order to fully understand the impact of VbS on the SDGs, we require more data from practitioners already operating VbS systems in the field. Operators such as OX Delivery (Rwanda, agricultural goods transport) [16], Riders for Health (Uganda, medication delivery) [70], or PowWater (Kenya, water delivery) [71] generate valuable insights that might be translated into more sophisticated tools to enhance spatial accessibility for rural populations. Additionally, United Nations agencies such as the World Food Programme or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees maintain extensive vehicle fleets and respective operation data. Making such information open-source might unlock further research activities across academia.

With more empirical data on existing VbS projects, public authorities can include such interventions in scenario analysis and options appraisals [2]. In particular, including VbS systems during appraisals of large-scale infrastructure projects can increase the overall economic and social welfare of covered communities by immediately increasing spatial accessibility. It must be considered that linear stationary infrastructure, such as electricity, water, or to some extent, ICT, implies a marginal cost for every household connected to these public services [72]. For remote, scattered communities, the marginal cost makes a stationary connection economically unsustainable or requires a stepwise implementation over a specific time span. In particular, public authorities can temporarily implement VbS systems for such communities to increase access. Examples of organizations that might apply the results of this study to identify a set of viable VbS for their service portfolio range from international UN agencies (WHO, UNHCR, UNICEF, and UNIDO) to private development companies (GIZ, AFD, or SNL) but also financial institutions that allocate credits to countries in sub-Saharan Africa are able to relate VbS interventions to SDG target impact.

Nevertheless, as reported by Wildman et al. [15], VbS can act as a short-term intervention until stationary services are implemented. Considering a water delivery project in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya, the authors describe two main problems: (i) The case study in Kenya demonstrates that the price of delivered water can be three times higher than for the fuel needed to power a generator-driven borehole pump. (ii) These high service unit costs directly feed into the challenge of avoiding a population’s service dependency. There must be indicators regarding the optimal time frame to operate such a VbS. According to the authors, water delivery may seem like an easy solution; however, it should be considered a “last-resort option” due to its difficulties. This demonstrates a possible limitation of VbS apart from its usefulness during short-term emergency situations.

6. Conclusions

The importance of access to public services for human development is well reflected in the targets of the SDGs [2,73]. For this reason, the impact of VbS on the SDG targets has been studied in this research. The obtained results underline the possibility of positively influencing all 17 Goals with flexible services based on vehicles. Only 23% of all SDG targets can not be related to a spatial access problem and therefore be influenced by VbS. Nevertheless, only 16% of the SDG targets are directly influenced by VbS, meaning that the linguistic formulation of the target contains the physical service component explicitly. About 61% can be influenced indirectly. For these targets, the secondary peer-reviewed literature agrees that spatial access to certain goods, persons, or functions would enhance a community’s livelihood. We conducted a potential analysis across all sub-Saharan African countries to identify SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG 10 (reduce inequalities), and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) as the most promising directions for VbS interventions. Our work marks a starting point for further research into the capabilities of vehicle-based services to drive sustainable development in rural sub-Saharan Africa.