2025

Announcing the Launch of Three African Research Programs on Mobility & Access in African Cities (ARP-MAC)

The Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) is excited to announce the establishment of three African Research Programs (ARP-MACs) within its “Mobility & Access in African Cities” (MAC) program.

This announcement follows a competitive call for applications issued in 2023, inviting researchers from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to propose three-year African Research Programs (ARP-MACs) for carrying out state-of-the-art research in thematic areas relevant for achieving sustainable mobility and access in African cities. By ARP-MACs are meant cohesive research programs, under which multiple research projects are implemented in multi-university consortiums, often in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. 

The thematic areas of the call focused on approaches to enhancing equitable and reliable access to livelihoods and essential services; understanding governance and planning dynamics of urban mobility; and exploring new service options within informal transport. 

Three proposed programs have been approved by VREF’s Board. Each ARP-MAC is expected to be operational under the three-year period 2024-2026. The three consortiums are now set to begin their operations, in which they will not only advance research but also foster interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement with multiple stakeholders.

VREF is proud to publicly present these three ARP-MACs and looks forward to following and supporting their exciting work! 

Consortium leaders, Dr. Gladys Nyachieo, Dr. Josephine Malonza and Dr. Gift Dumedah.

Governing Urban Mobility: Making and Implementing Decisions in Transport in Sub-Saharan Africa (MID-UTA)
Consortium leader: Dr. Gladys Nyachieo. Host institution: Multimedia University of Kenya.
Main partner organizations: University of Cape Coast (Ghana), Kyambogo University (Uganda), Redeemer’s University (Nigeria), University of Birmingham (UK), and World Health Organization (Switzerland) 

Popular-to-Popular Transport Integration in Sub Saharan Africa: Case of Rwanda and Ghana (POINT)
Consortium leader: Dr. Josephine Malonza. Host institution University of Rwanda
Main partner organizations: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana), University of Oxford (UK), and Aalto University (Finland)

Equitable Transport Access and Mobility in African Cities (ETAMAC)
Consortium leader: Dr. Gift Dumedah. Host institution: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana)
Main partner organizations: University of Pretoria (South Africa), University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), University of Tara (Togo), University of Education, Winneba (Ghana), and University of Alabama (USA

READ MORE ABOUT THE MAC ARP:s

2022 projects (implemented 2023)

• A comparative study of Governance Process in Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning in Kenya and Malawi, led by Gladys M.M. Nyachieo, Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology, Multi Media University of Kenya, Kenya.

• Assessing stakeholder perspectives for efficient allocation of paratransit towards mitigating unequal access to opportunities in sub-Saharan African Cities, led by Gift Dumedah, Regional Transport Research and Education Centre Kumasi (TRECK), KNUST, Ghana.

• Inclusive Mobility Planning for Children with Disabilities in Ibadan (Nigeria) and Kampala (Uganda), led by Adedotun Joshua Adewumi, Dept of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

• Co-design laboratories for public transport information in African cities, led by Christo Venter, Centre for Transport Development, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

• Removing barriers to disability-inclusive urban transport system (policies and regulations) in Accra and Nairobi (SITUATE-2), led by Enoch F. Sam, Dept of Geography Education, Faculty of Social Sciences Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.

• Exploring strategies for enhancing poor women’s mobility and access to boda boda (Motorcycle) taxi services in Nairobi and Dar-salaam, led by Violet K Wawire, Kenyatta University, School of Education, Nairobi, Kenya.

• Modelling paratransit in low data environments in Africa, led by Mark Zuidgeest, Centre for Transport Studies, Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

• Comparative Study of Water and Road Traffic Crashes in Selected Cities in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, led by Samuel Odewumi, Dept of Transport Policy and Planning, School of Transport and Logistics, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, Nigeria.

2021 projects

• Towards the empowered commuter: Exploring information behavior in informal public transport users in Uganda and South Africa, led by Christo Venter, Centre for Transport Development, U. of Pretoria, South Africa.
  
• A comparative Study of Police Harassment of informal public transport operators in 2 African cities, led by Ayobami Abayomi Popoola,SARChI Chair for Inclusive Cities, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa.
  
• Mapping unequal accessibility to socioeconomic and cultural opportunities in informal urban settlements across two Sub-Sahara African Cities, led by Gift Dumedah, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Kumasi, Ghana.
  
• Characterizing user needs and practices in secondary cities: insights into the role of bicycles in mitigating mobility exclusion in Malawi and Kenya, led by Mulugeta F. Dinbabo, Institute for Social Development (ISD), U. of the Western Cape, Cape Town, Sth Africa.
  
• Platform politics and Silicon Savannahs (PP&SS) 2.0: Mobility apps and fintech, led by Rike Sitas, African Centre for Cities and University of the Western Cape, Centre for Humanities Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
  
• Meeting the Mobility Needs of the Elderly in Selected Cities in Nigeria and Uganda, led by Chinebuli Uzondu, Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Nigeria.
  
• Whose city is it anyway? Interrogation of socially just public transport principle in urban mobility plans/Projects of secondary cities in Kenya (NAKURU City) and Zambia, led by Catherine Waithera Gateri, Kenyatta University, Kenya.
  
• A comparative Assessment of the Quality of Walking and Cycling Infrastructure in Nakuru (Kenya) and Jinja (Uganda), led by Gladys M. M. Nyachieo, Sociology Multimedia University of Kenya.

2020 projects

• Towards a disability-inclusive urban transport system in Accra and Nairobi: a policy practice agenda (SITUATE), led by Enoch F. Sam, Faculty of Social Sciences Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.
  
• Platform politics and Silicon Savannahs: How new digital technologies shape mobility governance in African cities, led by Rike Sitas, African Centre for Cities and University of the Western Cape, Centre for Humanities Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
  
• Institutional transformations for sustainable urban mobilities: An exploration of changes in Addis Ababa and Kampala, led by Njogu Morgan, PhD, Post doctoral Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
  
• Transport planning based on the principles of justice in Africa: piloting a proof of concept in Kigali and Blantyre, led by Alphonse Nkurunziza,CoE in Transport Planning, Engineering & Logistics, College of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda.
  
• Negotiating the control over transportation at the urban margins: dynamics in governance coproduction in informal mobility in Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) and Douala (Cameroon), led by Vivien Meli Meli, University of Dschang-Cameroon, Cameroon.
  
• Mainstreaming Inclusivity in Urban Mobility Rel. Projects in the Cities of Lusaka & Nairobi, led by Wilma S. Sichombo Nchito, University of Zambia, Zambia

2019 projects

• Towards comparative, historically informed research on contemporary African urban transport issues: A proposal for a research network, led by Njogu Morgan, PhD, Post doctoral Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
  
• The capabilities approach as a needs assessment framework for vulnerable non-motorised transport users in African Cities, led by Professor Mark Zuidgeest, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
  
• Micro-dynamics and Macro-processes: a Maputo-Johannesburg comparative study of intrahousehold decision-making and state-investment in transit, led by Associate Professor Sarah Charlton, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Exploring the Potential of Minibus Electrification in Three African Cities, led by Edna Odhiambo, Lecturer, School of Law, University of Nairobi, Kenya.
  
• Comparative Analysis of Combined Effects of Transport and Urban Morphology on Public Health in Two African Capitals, led by Dr. Charles Anum Adams, Professor, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana.
  
• Urban Spaces Design, Mobility and Transport Safety of Children: A Comparative Study of Nairobi and Kumasi Cities, led by Dr. Anne Wairimu Kamau, Research Fellow, Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi, Kenya.

• Wheels of Change: Establishing best practices in the urban motorcycle taxi sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, led by Associate Professor Patrick Hayombe, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, Kenya.
  
• Comparative Analysis of the E-Hailing Mobility Services in Selected Cities In West, East and Southern Africa, led by Professor Samuel Gbadebo Odewumi, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria

Other Projects

• Pedestrian-safe public transport systems: Infrastructure, operations, vehicles, policies, and legislation led by the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, with Prof. Geetam Tiwari as Project Leader
• Public transport advocacy in African cities led by the Columbia University, New York, with Associate Research Scholar Jacqueline Klopp as Project Leader

Completed Projects

• The African Centre of Excellence for Studies in Public and Non-motorised Transport (ACET)established in 2008 and led by the Centre for Transport Studies at the University of Cape Town, with Professor Roger Behrens as Project Leader. Other core partners include the Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam, and the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi.

Special Projects -2006

• In search of a mechanism for institutional co-ordination in the planning process: a strategy for improved public transportation in sub-Saharan Africa
• Project leader: Ahmad KANYAMA
  Host organisation: Royal Institute of Technology, Dept of Urban Studies, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Stockholm, Sweden
  Abstract: SP-2006-01 AbstractPdf, 224.3 kB. (Pdf, 224.3 kB)
  Bio and Key Ref.: SP-2006-01 Bio and Key ReferencesPdf, 92.9 kB. (Pdf, 92.9 kB)

• Land, urban form and ecological footprint of transport: application of geo-information to measure transport related urban sustainability in developing countries with a case study of Ahmedabad, India
• Project leader: Mark ZUIDGEEST
  Host organisation: ITC International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, Enschede, The Netherlands
  Web-site: www.itc.nl/PGM
  Abstract: SP-2006-09 AbstractPdf, 358.2 kB. (Pdf, 358.2 kB)
  Bio, Key Ref. and List of Publications: SP-2006-09 Bio- KeyRef-list of PublicationsPdf, 156.1 kB. (Pdf, 156.1 kB)

• Transport modelling for Nairobi Metropolitan Area
• Project leader: Elliott SCLAR
  Host organisation: The Trustees of Columbia University, New York, USA
  Web-site: www.earth.columbia.edu/csud
  Abstract: SP-2006-39 AbstractPdf, 386.3 kB. (Pdf, 386.3 kB)
  Bio and Key Ref.: SP-2006-39 Bio and Key ReferencesPdf, 130.9 kB. (Pdf, 130.9 kB)

Special Projects-2004

• Urban form, public transport and participatory planning: A Case Study of Dar-es-Salaam ,Tanzania
  Project leader: Annika CARLSSON-KANYAMA
  Host organisation: Dept of Industrial Ecology, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

Special Projects-2002

• Causes of road traffic crashes in an urban setting in Kenya: implications for urban transport development
  Project leader: Wilson ODERO
  Host organisation: School of Public Health, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya
• Institutional and Technical Constraints in Planning for Sustainable Urban Transportation: A Case Study of Dar es Salaam ,Tanzania
  Project leader: Annika CARLSSON-KANYAMA
  Host organisation: Environmental Strategies Research Group, ESRG, FOI, Stockholm, Sweden