Road Safety Cities Challenge - Call for Cities + Private Sector Partner

Introduction

Many cities across the world are dynamic hubs, bustling with formal and informal activities and an array of transport options. In a large number of those cities, residents walk, take minibuses or cycle to move around the city, as the most efficient and economic modes of transport. However, road safety has become one of the biggest public health and safety challenges cities currently face, due to rapid urbanisation and growing motorisation rates, especially in developing economies. Road Safety exposure is particularly alarming for vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, since safe and universally accessible infrastructure is not provided.

Priority on urban development 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resource allocation from the national to the local level, lack of relevant city policies and action plans, as well as outdated urban and transport planning regulations.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. Cities are responsible for prioritizing active mobility, upgrading public transport, introducing cleaner and safer vehicle technology, or building public support for road safety through awareness campaigns.

Under the framework of UN-Habitat’s “Global Alliance of Cities for Road Safety (ACROS)” project funded by the United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF), UN-Habitat is launching its second Road Safety Cities Challenge, with the aim to support six innovative project initiatives proposed by a joint partnership between a city and a private sector company, 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 2021-20301 , at a moment when there is no time for further delays. Additionally, it recognises the availability of innovative solutions that cities could implement together with the private sector.

In this context, UN-Habitat and ACROS will select up to six proposals and fund each one with a maximum of 40,000 USD for piloting the initiative for a period of six months.

Objective

The proposed collaboration under this call aims to enhance road safety in six different cities through the implementation of innovative solutions in clearly defined city locations. Piloted solutions must improve road safety conditions or support a systematic change to reduce the number of traffic incidents in the pilot locations, and provide evidence-based results that could potentially be scaled up in other locations.

Eligibility

The following eligibility criteria are mandatory and must be fully satisfied for a proposal to be considered for evaluation. Failure to comply with any of the requirements listed below will result in the automatic disqualification of the proposal and it will not proceed to the evaluation stage.

• Only proposals piloted in ACROS member cities are eligible to apply^.2
• Proposals consortium must be composed by a city and a private sector company.
• A Proposal must be submitted by the city, and it must include a Letter of Intent (LOI) signed between the city and the private sector company which confirms whom the city wishes to work with, demonstrating the intention of collaboration in the case of being selected.
• Any official department and public institution of a city is eligible for this call as long as it presents an LOI with the private sector partner.
• Private sector partners based both within and outside the piloting city are eligible to participate, as long as they provide a LOI signed with the city.
• Private sector partners can participate in only one proposal. Cities can coordinate with more than one private sector partner to submit different proposals.
• Proposals must be location-specific and able to provide evidence on short-term road safety improvements. They also must include an innovation component (see section 6)
• UN-Habitat will sign an Agreement of Cooperation (AOC) ONLY with the official city partner. The private sector partners will coordinate directly with the city to implement the pilot.
• The private sector partner company cannot be associated with alcohol, firearms, pornography, or tobacco industries
• Research and academia institutions, NGOs and non-profit organizations are not eligible for this call.
• Only applications written in English will be accepted

Countries of focus

Cities from all countries are encouraged to apply, but this year’s focus encourages specifically cities from the following countries: Brazil, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Budget and Duration

Proposals can be submitted for grants up to a maximum amount of 40,000 USD for a pilot of no more than 6 months. The application shall refer to the breakdown of costs by each partner using the budget template provided.

Funds will be released in two tranches, the first one upon signature of Agreement of Cooperation and the second after the submission of the final report.

What is expected from the proposals and what will not be funded

The selected pilots will ideally focus on one specific road safety challenge identified by the city. The grants will be given to proposals that demonstrate a strong engagement between the city and the private sector partner company and its potential scalability and sustainability after the end of the piloting phase.

Pilots will ideally be tested in a specific location (intersection, street, school, neighbourhood, etc) rather than have a wide city level approach. Pilots should have an innovative component that supports more traditional, standard solutions. Proposals that focus on zebra crossing paintings and standard signalisation won’t be selected.

Pilots will ideally test ready-to-implement solutions from a private sector partner in concrete locations with the support of the city. Monitoring and evaluation of the pilot should inform the city about the impact and success of the innovative solution and considered to be replicated on a larger scale at city level.

Pilots will be required to provide pre/post pilot road safety data for impact measurement. Solutions that do not allow such measurement will likely not be selected. Pilot proposals that already provide current road safety data measurement will be better evaluated than pilots that require collecting this data during the 6 months implementation.

Suggestions to apply

To help you with the application process, we highly encourage you to follow the tips below:

• Clear, concise applications will be evaluated better.
• Focus the pilot in one specific area and topic. Keep it simple and locally impactful.
• Define SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound)
• Proposals should clearly present current road safety data, define baseline data for the pilot and clearly define indicators of success based on this data
• Use Annex 1 and Annex 2 as templates to submit your application.
• Respect character limitations when indicated

Documents to be submitted in your proposal

• Annex 1 (Application Template) and Annex 2 (Budget)
• LOI that confirms the collaboration between the city and the private sector partner company

Private Sector Partner must provide:

• Certificate of incorporation
• Audit reports last two years
• Governance Structure
• Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH) Policy
• Procurement Policy
• Tax compliance Certificate

Evaluation Criteria

An international panel of experts will review the submissions following an established evaluation criteria framework. Proposals will be scored on their potential to reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries, innovation component, project design, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, applicant organisation capacity and overall impact.

Application Process, approval and funding

Expressions of Interest must be delivered by email no later than 4 December at 23:59 EAT to the following:

• Email to: unhabitat.ubss.eoi@un.org, and contact@acros-cities@org
• In copy: jordi.boschpla@un.org

The subject should have the following format: “CITYNAME – ACROS Road Safety Cities Challenge – Pilot Title”.

Pre-selected proposals will be contacted on 18 December 2026 with integrated feedback from the evaluators to refine the pilot proposal and next steps indication for formalise the agreement through the development of an Agreement of Cooperation (AOC) contract.

Submitting a reply to an EOI does not guarantee that funding will be provided. Only after an application is deemed qualified by UN-Habitat and upon signature of AOC, selected partners will receive funding according to the conditions clarified in the AOC.

Pilots are expected to be started by Q1 2027 and last six months.

Contact Information:

For any questions related to the application please write to: Jordi Bosch Pla (jordi.boschpla@un.org)