Introduction:

The African and Eastern Mediterranean regions are among the fastest urbanising regions in the world. Many cities across these regions are dynamic hubs, bustling with formal and informal activities and an array of transport options. However, road safety remains one of the biggest public health and safety challenges, with regional rates of 26.6 and 17.9 deaths per 100,000 population, respectively, in each region. This situation is particularly alarming for vulnerable groups due to their age, gender, disability or poverty.

Cities need to urgently accelerate their efforts on road safety. Priority is still focused on car-oriented transport policies that facilitate highway development, high speeds and urban sprawl.  This is exacerbated by the need for more data on road safety, poor enforcement mechanisms, limited resource allocation from the national to the local level, lack of relevant city policies and action plans, as well as outdated urban and transport planning regulations. While the emphasis of interventions often focuses on the national level, cities have a critical role in complementing these actions by reinforcing national policies and implementing projects on the ground.

Under the framework of UN-Habitat’s “Global Alliance of Cities for Road Safety” project funded by the United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF), UN-Habitat is launching its Road Safety Innovation Challenge “MyCityMyLife”, with the aim to support innovative project initiatives proposed by multi-stakeholder partnerships (cities, NGOs, innovators) with a clear impact on the road safety on the ground – and a high potential for replication. 

The proposed Call for Expression of Interest recognizes that there is a great commitment from cities to accelerate their implementation towards better road safety – in alignment with all five pillars of the Safe Systems Approach (Safe Road Infrastructure, Multimodal Transport & Land Use Planning, Safe Vehicles, Safe Road Use, Post Crash Response) as stated in the Global Plan for Action 2021-2030 , at a moment when there is no time for further delays.

Objectives:

The proposed collaboration under this call aims to enhance road safety in African and Eastern Mediterranean countries through the implementation of innovative pilot initiatives with the overall goal of reducing fatalities at the city and neighborhood levels, and with strong participation of vulnerable groups responding to local needs. Cities of interest are the following (but not limited to): Lusaka in Zambia; Kumasi in Ghana; Cape Town in South Africa; Hawassa in Ethiopia; Kampala in Uganda; Kigali in Rwanda; Kisumu, Mombasa and Nakuru in Kenya; Maputo and Quelimane in Mozambique; Monrovia in Liberia; Irbid in Jordan; Cairo and Sohag in Egypt; and Tyre in Lebanon). 

Expression of Interest:

The following activities shall be carried out by the selected partner in alignment with at least two or more pillars of the Safe Systems Approach:

• Co-plan and co-develop an innovative road safety initiative in a multi-stakeholder partnership and indicate its expected positive impact on road safety on the ground;
• Co-implement the proposed road safety initiative with a specific focus on the participation of groups living in vulnerable situations;
• Monitor the impact of the road safety initiative (i.e. increased road safety awareness, slower speeds, etc.)
• Develop at least one human impact story from the pilot (month 3 of the pilot)
• Submit an implementation report (month 6/Final month of the pilot)
• Provide evidence for improvements in the local context (after implementation report)
• Disseminate the project results through locally relevant Advocacy and Communication materials

Content of the EOI:

The EOI should contain, but not be limited to, the following:

1. Overall experience of the organization in the areas of Non-Motorized Transport, Road Safety, and Sustainable Mobility.
2. A short conceptual proposal on how the institution/organization plans to develop and implement this initiative, incl. the scope and nature of work. Please also highlight the innovation in the proposed initiative, as well as replication possibilities.
3. Plan of how your organisation will undertake a review of fatality/hot spot data for the project’s location and gather pre-post implementation feedback on the interventions as well as develop one human impact story of the pilot
4. The support/ contribution the organization is willing to make, including cash and in-kind; (contribution in terms of staff time, office space and equipment and other support in cash and in-kind should be expressed in monetary terms.)
5. Copies of statement of the annual budget and annual reports of the previous 2 years.
6. Copy of two latest audited reports, and
7. Governance and organizational structure; experience and qualifications of key professional staff and infrastructure facilities of the organization.

To help you with the submission of your application, you are encouraged to follow the template in the EOI document. The evaluation of the applications will follow the structure of that template.

Overall timeframe:

The work outlined in this EOI is scheduled to commence by 1 July 2024 and completed by 31 December 2024.

Budget:

UN-Habitat will contribute financial resources up to USD 15,000 (Fifteen Thousand United States Dollars) for a maximum of 3 Agreements of Cooperation. The EOI shall make reference to counter-part contributions (cash and in-kind) of the applying entity. 

Submission requirements and contact information:

Expression of Interest must be delivered by email no later than 30 April 2024 to unhabitat.ubss.eoi@un.org with the reference “EOI-MyCityMyLife-challenge-2024” in the subject of your email. Failure to indicate the reference may result in your proposal not being considered.

For any questions related to the application please write to:

Mr. Jordi Bosch Pla

Urban Basic Services Section – Urban Mobility

United Nations Human Settlements Programme

(UN-Habitat)

P.O. Box 30030 Nairobi, Kenya

jordi.boschpla@un.org

Other:

Please note that this EOI notice does not constitute a solicitation. UN-Habitat reserves the right to change or cancel this requirement at any time in the Expressions of Interest/or solicitation process. Submitting a reply to an EOI does not guarantee that a Cooperation Partner will be considered for receipt of the solicitation when issued and only Cooperation Partners who are deemed qualified by UN-Habitat upon completion of evaluation of submission, will receive the final solicitation document.