The Universal Postal Union, at its 25th Universal Postal Congress, will call on governments to support its Addressing Declaration and include the development of sound address infrastructure in national policies, in the interest of social and economic development.
Tanzania’s minister for lands, housing and human settlements development, Anna Tibaijuka, also special ambassador for the UPU’s “Addressing the world – An address for everyone” initiative, will formally invite member countries to support the Addressing Declaration on the afternoon of 9 October 2012 during a Congress plenary session.
The declaration aims to secure member countries’ commitment to designing efficient national address infrastructures that pave the way for more efficient mail processing and delivery as well as for the provision of other valuable public and private services.
A former executive director of UN-Habitat, Tibaijuka is convinced that sound addressing systems are part of well-designed urban development plans. “For the first time in history, half of the world’s population lives in towns and cities. Urban areas are growing faster in developing countries, mostly through informal settlements, and our responsibility as local, national or international leaders is to make sure nobody is left behind in this new urban era,” says Tibaijuka, whose own country has successfully implemented a national addressing and postcode project involving multiple stakeholders. “I am convinced that the implementation of address infrastructure will result in improved public services, such as sanitation, hygiene and water supply coverage, and many more fundamental services.”
In a white paper accompanying the declaration, the African Union’s Dr Elham Ibrahim, commissioner for infrastructure and energy, concurs: “Although addresses play an important role in Africa’s overall infrastructure, the continent is suffering from an ongoing lack of addressing. The increasing flow of people into cities puts greater pressure on the development and management of urban areas.” In Africa, only 22 per cent of the population receives mail directly at home, while the rest must collect mail at a post office box, which often has to be rented. For Posts, sound address infrastructure would facilitate mail delivery and help grow their business.
Public good
But addressing goes far beyond the postal sector and is essential for all of society, says UPU Director General Edouard Dayan. “A quality address infrastructure must be considered as an essential part of a country’s socio-economic infrastructure, for improving public services, but also facilitating business, trade and national development. In view of the vast benefits it provides, address infrastructure is a public good, and where addresses do not exist, governments should make every effort to work with regional, national and international stakeholders to expand the address network.”
Costa Rica, where physical addresses with a street name and house number barely existed in the early 2000s, estimated annual losses of 720 million dollars for the country’s economy and showed that poor addressing adversely affected society in various ways. Since developing a national addressing project, complete with technical standards, street signage, plot identification and postcodes, the country has improved emergency services, statistics, urban planning and zoning, the postal service and tourism.
Several stakeholders are interested in the value of addresses as part of a person’s identity. “The concept of legal identity, legal rights and voice are very much dependent on having an address,” says the United Nations Development Programme, in its contribution to the UPU publication. According to a report by the Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, four billion people are excluded from the rule of law and a large majority of these people cannot enjoy their full rights as citizens because they often lack an identity. Addresses could be part of a solution.
Many international organizations, including UNESCO, the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme support the UPU’s “Addressing the world – an address for everyone” initiative, recognizing the many benefits addressing can bring to education, road networks, health, telecommunications, and general social and economic development.