Deadline
  1. Introduction

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development. In line with the New Urban Agenda, among other things, UN-Habitat seeks to assist cities in improving access and mobility through improvements in public transport and in facilities for walking and cycling (Sustainable Urban Mobility). It does so by facilitating policy dialogue, through sharing good examples and by providing technical assistance for the development and implementation of field projects that demonstrate the principles of “Sustainable Mobility”. Emerging technologies are increasingly influencing how people travel in cities and how goods are moved from place to place. UN-Habitat also seeks to work in this area with a view to achieving improved accessibility for all, particularly the poor and vulnerable.   

UN-Habitat in collaboration with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy and UN Environment is working on the International Climate Initiative (IKI) supported project “Urban Pathways - Supporting Low Carbon Plans for Urban Basic Services in the context of the New Urban Agenda” that aims to provide knowledge, capacity and technical assistance to local governments in Kenya, India, Vietnam and Brazil to develop feasible low carbon urban development plans with a view to mobility, energy and solid waste sectors.

UN-Habitat is furthermore implementing the SOLUTIONSplus project that supports the implementation of electric mobility in different cities through capacity building but also technical support for implementation.  The project encompasses city level demonstrations to test different types of innovative and integrated e-mobility solutions, complemented by a comprehensive toolbox, capacity development and replication activities. Demonstration actions will be launched in Hanoi (Vietnam), Pasig (Philippines), Lalitpur/Kathmandu (Nepal), Kigali (Rwanda), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Quito (Ecuador), Montevideo (Uruguay), Madrid (Spain), Nanjing (China) and Hamburg (Germany). 

 

Proposed Project: Technical Advice on Gender-Sensitive Transport Systems in East Africa

Women and men have different mobility needs and patterns, which transport policies, planning approaches and projects need to acknowledge. There is need for urban centers in African countries to improve gender-sensitive transport services and infrastructure – not only to ensure accessibility to opportunities for all including women and girls, but also to improve safety for women.

Promoting gender-sensitive transport services ensures the growth of just, inclusive and sustainable cities. Public Transport is a highly gendered field and notoriously unsafe and unattractive for women and other vulnerable groups. Efforts are needed to increase the visibility of women’s needs in the male dominated field of public transportation in order to reflect a more equitable and sustainable public transport system. At the same time, there are few employment opportunities for women in the field of public and shared transport. Female workers and commuters in the transport industry are often faced with sexual harassment. While new mobility systems are emerging in East Africa, including electric and shared motorcycle and tuktuk services, little is done about encouraging women to join the sector as drivers. An increase of female drivers is expected to increase safety and comfort for female commuters. There is need to review curricula of driving schools to ensure gender-sensitivity in the theoretical and practical trainings while encouraging women to opt for employment in the transport sector.

UN-Habitat proposes to collaborate with a non-governmental expert organisation in the field of gender and mobility. The aim of such a collaboration is to provide technical advice on gender-sensitive transport systems with a focus on 2 & 3 wheelers in East Africa that also provide opportunities for employment for women. The collaboration would directly target UN-Habitat’s ongoing pilot projects in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania and culminate in a “Gender Checklist for Mobility Projects in East Africa”.

The identified NGO would be working alongside UN-Habitat’s Urban Mobility team and local partners in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania (local government, mobility start-up ecosystem, driving schools).

Specifically, such collaboration will entail:

1st Phase: Preparation

  • Review past mobility projects with a focus on 2 & 3 wheelers in the African region with a view to successes and failures in terms of impacting women’s mobility experience and livelihoods in the transport sector, focusing not only on the experience of the working-age adults, but also young women and senior women;

2nd Phase: Pilot in Rwanda

  • Collaborate with electric mobility start-ups and driving schools in Rwanda - and provide recommendations into development of curricula for driving schools to ensure that gender considerations are sufficiently integrated;
  • Support the development of an outreach campaign to encourage employment and participation of women in the transport industry, and stress the need to include the experiences and accessibility of young and senior women in the urban mobility system;
  • Develop recommendations for a feasible business model for women to become owners and drivers of electric motorcycles in Kigali.

3rd Phase: Replication in Tanzania and Kenya

  • Based on the lessons learnt from Rwanda, provide technical advice on electric mobility projects in Kenya and Tanzania as part of the SOLUTIONSplus and Urban Pathways projects.

4th Phase: Dissemination

  • Learning from the findings, develop a “Gender Checklist for Mobility Projects in East Africa”;
  • Organise a webinar to share findings and lessons learnt with other ongoing mobility initiatives in the African region.

 

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

  1. Overall Background of the NGO in the area of gender-sensitive urban mobility;
  2. A short conceptual proposal on how the NGOs views such a collaboration with the local partners and in taking forward the recommendations;
  3. The support/ contribution the organization is willing to make including, cash and in kind; (contribution in terms of available research, tools, office space and equipment and other support in cash and in-kind should be expressed in monetary terms);
  4. Detailed breakdown of cost by component;
  5. Governance and organizational structure; experience and qualifications of key professional staff and infrastructure facilities of the organization;
  6. Certified true copy of original Audited Account Statement for the last two years; and
  7. Annual report.

 

UN-Habitat Contribution

Upon selection UN-Habitat will enter into an Agreement of Cooperation with the selected entity. UN-Habitat will contribute an amount of US$10,000 for a period of 3 months.

 

  1. Overall Timeframe

The work outlined in this EOI is scheduled to commence in June 2021 and completed by 31 August 2021.

 

Submission Requirements and Guidelines

Expression of Interest must be delivered in electronic format no later than 16 June 2021 to the e-mail address given below:

  1. Contact Information

Stefanie Holzwarth

Urban Mobility

Urban Basic Services Section

United Nations Human Settlements Programme

(UN-Habitat)

P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya

Kindly send your Expression of Interest to Unhabitat.ubss.eoi@un.org, with copy to kennedy.kamau@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.