1. Project Introduction — Background & Problem Statement
1.1 Background
Urban mobility systems in low- and middle-income countries are under increasing pressure due to rapid urbanization, population growth, and limited infrastructure investment. Africa's urban population is projected to triple between 2020 and 2050, with most growth occurring in cities that lack formal transport planning capacity. (UN DESA, 2019) This rapid growth has intensified demand for daily mobility while exposing structural weaknesses in safety, accessibility, and governance.
Liberia reflects — and in some cases exceeds — these regional trends. In Monrovia, walking and informal transport modes such as motorcycles and shared taxis account for the majority of daily trips, yet these users operate in environments with limited sidewalks, poor road markings, and weak traffic calming measures. Despite these challenges, urban mobility planning in Liberia remains largely reactive and project-driven, with limited integration of safety, equity, and sustainability principles.
1.2 Problem Statement
Although mobility is essential for economic participation, access to services, and social inclusion, urban transport systems in Monrovia continue to produce disproportionate safety and equity burdens — particularly for vulnerable road users. Pedestrians and motorcyclists account for a significant share of road traffic casualties, consistent with global evidence showing that vulnerable road users represent over 50% of road traffic deaths worldwide. (WHO, 2023)
A fundamental problem is the lack of reliable, disaggregated urban mobility data. Road crash data in Liberia are fragmented across police records, hospitals, and community reports — often underreporting non-fatal injuries and pedestrian incidents. Without robust data, policymakers struggle to identify high-risk corridors, prioritize investments, or evaluate the impact of interventions.
Equally problematic is the systemic prioritization of motorized traffic over safe access. In Monrovia, accounting for over 50% of the country's traffic crashes, major corridors lack continuous sidewalks, safe crossings, and speed management measures — exposing pedestrians, especially women, children, persons with disabilities, and low-income residents, to daily risk.
Without targeted, data-driven research that integrates safety, equity, and sustainability, urban mobility interventions in Monrovia risk remaining fragmented and ineffective. There is an urgent need for locally led research that generates actionable evidence and contributes African perspectives to the global knowledge base.
2. Project Objectives
2.1 Overall Objective
To generate locally grounded, policy-relevant research that advances sustainable, safe, and equitable urban mobility in low-income cities — using Monrovia, Liberia as a primary case study and contributing African-led evidence to the global urban mobility knowledge base.
2.2 Specific Objectives
- Analyse current urban mobility patterns, risks, and inequities affecting vulnerable road users — including pedestrians, motorcyclists, women, children, and persons with disabilities — in Monrovia.
- Identify structural, behavioural, and institutional drivers of unsafe and inequitable mobility outcomes in Liberia's urban transport system.
- Assess how data-driven planning tools — including GIS hotspot mapping, exposure analysis, and accessibility assessments — can improve urban transport decision-making in resource-constrained contexts.
- Co-develop evidence-based policy and planning recommendations with local stakeholders — including government agencies, civil society, transport operators, and community representatives.
- Produce African-led research outputs — including peer-reviewed publications, policy briefs, and practitioner toolkits — aligned with VREF's dissemination priorities and contributing to the global urban mobility knowledge base.
- Build local research and analytical capacity through graduate researcher development, capacity training, and knowledge exchange with academic and policy partners.
3. Project Approach & Methodology
The VREF project adopts a mixed-methods, transdisciplinary research approach — combining quantitative mobility data, qualitative community insights, and institutional analysis to generate a comprehensive and actionable evidence base. Five core methodological components structure the research design:
Key Interventions
Urban Mobility Risk & Vulnerable Road User Exposure Analysis
Systematic analysis of urban mobility patterns and crash risks facing pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists, women, children, and persons with disabilities in Monrovia — using crash data, traffic counts, GIS hotspot mapping, and pedestrian flow observations to quantify exposure and identify priority intervention corridors.
Equity & Access Assessment in Transport Systems
Assessment of how Monrovia's urban transport system distributes mobility access, safety burdens, and infrastructure investment across income groups, gender, age, and disability status — identifying the structural and governance factors that produce inequitable mobility outcomes for the city's most vulnerable residents.
Policy Briefs & Planning Tools for Sustainable Mobility
Co-development of practical, evidence-based policy briefs and planning toolkits with local stakeholders — covering walking infrastructure, cycling safety, informal transport management, pedestrian crossing design, and data-driven enforcement prioritization — tailored for use by Liberian government agencies and municipal planners.
Knowledge Exchange with Academic & Policy Partners
Structured knowledge exchange with VREF, international academic partners, and African research networks — contributing peer-reviewed publications, presentations at global conferences, and African-led research perspectives to the international urban mobility knowledge base, while building RSAI's analytical capacity and research profile.
Expected Research Outputs
The VREF project will produce the following tangible research outputs, each designed to serve a specific audience and purpose:
4. Project Organization & Staffing
The project is led by Road Safety Action International (RSAI) in collaboration with academic and policy partners, aligned with VREF's emphasis on research excellence, capacity building, and Global South leadership.
| Position | Capacity & Role |
|---|---|
| Principal Investigator (PI) | Urban transport and road safety researcher; leads overall research design, quality assurance, and academic output production |
| Co-Investigator(s) | Specialists in mobility planning, public health, and data analytics; lead specific research components and support cross-disciplinary integration |
| Research Associates | Lead data collection, GIS mapping, and qualitative research fieldwork — including crash data compilation, traffic counts, focus groups, and key informant interviews |
| Policy & Stakeholder Engagement Lead | Interface with government agencies, municipal authorities, civil society, and communities — coordinating validation workshops and policy brief dissemination |
| Graduate Researchers / Fellows | Support data collection and analysis; receive structured research training and mentoring — building the next generation of African urban mobility researchers |
| Academic & Policy Partners | International and regional academic institutions and policy networks — providing peer review, collaborative publishing, and knowledge exchange aligned with VREF standards |
| M&E Officer | Track research milestones, monitor output quality, and report to VREF and other stakeholders on project progress and outcomes |
5. Project Schedule
Project Duration: 12 months — aligned with VREF call guidelines and structured across five phases:
6. Indicative Budget
The project budget is structured around six core expenditure categories. A detailed budget will be aligned with specific VREF call guidelines:
| Budget Category | Description | Indicative Share |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel & Research Staff | PI, Co-Investigators, Research Associates, Graduate Fellows, M&E Officer | 35% |
| Field Data Collection | Traffic counts, crash data compilation, focus groups, interviews, community surveys | 20% |
| Data Analysis & Tools | GIS software, statistical analysis tools, data processing, hotspot mapping | 15% |
| Stakeholder Engagement | Validation workshops, co-creation sessions, community consultations | 10% |
| Dissemination & Publications | Policy briefs, toolkits, journal submissions, conference presentations, final report | 10% |
| Administration & Overheads | Project management, institutional overheads, compliance, and financial reporting | 10% |
| Total | 100% | |
7. Project Log Frame — Outputs, Outcomes & Impact
| Level | Statement | Indicators | Means of Verification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impact | Improved safety, equity, and sustainability of urban mobility in Monrovia and comparable low-income cities; reduced road fatalities and inequitable mobility burdens; African cities better represented in global urban mobility research | Policy changes informed by research findings; % reduction in pedestrian crash risk in corridors where recommendations are implemented; African-led publications in international journals | Government policy documents; crash databases; journal publication records; VREF impact assessments |
| Outcome 1 | Evidence-informed urban transport and road safety policies in Liberia, grounded in locally generated data and analysis | Number of policy briefs adopted or cited in government planning; number of planning decisions informed by research findings | Government policy records; planning documents citing research; stakeholder feedback |
| Outcome 2 | Strengthened local research and planning capacity in urban mobility and road safety at RSAI and partner institutions | Number of research staff and graduate fellows trained; publications produced; institutional research capacity assessment scores | Training records; publication records; institutional capacity assessments |
| Outcome 3 | Increased visibility of African cities — particularly Monrovia — in global urban mobility research and policy discourse | Number of peer-reviewed publications featuring Monrovia data; conference presentations; citations of RSAI research outputs | Journal publication records; conference proceedings; citation tracking |
| Output 1 | Urban Mobility Risk and Equity Assessment Report for Monrovia produced and published | Report completed, peer-reviewed, and disseminated to government and partners | Published report; distribution records; stakeholder acknowledgement |
| Output 2 | Peer-reviewed journal articles submitted and published | Number of articles submitted and accepted for publication | Journal submission and acceptance records; published article links |
| Output 3 | Policy briefs and practitioner planning toolkits produced and disseminated | Number of policy briefs and toolkits produced; agencies and practitioners receiving materials | Publication records; distribution logs; stakeholder feedback |
| Output 4 | Stakeholder validation workshops and dissemination events conducted | Number of workshops held; participants engaged; feedback incorporated into outputs | Event reports; attendance records; feedback documentation |
| Activity 1 | Inception planning, partnership establishment, and ethics approval | Ethics approval obtained; partnerships confirmed; research instruments finalized | Ethics committee records; partnership agreements; inception report |
| Activity 2 | Conduct crash data compilation, traffic counts, and field observations | Data collected from all sources; field observations completed at target corridors | Data collection reports; field observation logs; database records |
| Activity 3 | Conduct qualitative research — focus groups and key informant interviews | Focus groups and interviews completed with target participants | Interview and focus group transcripts; qualitative analysis reports |
| Activity 4 | Conduct GIS analysis, hotspot mapping, and equity assessment | GIS outputs produced; hotspot maps and equity analysis completed | GIS map files; spatial analysis reports; assessment documentation |
| Activity 5 | Convene stakeholder validation workshops and co-develop recommendations | Workshops held; policy recommendations co-developed with stakeholders | Workshop reports; co-development records; recommendation documents |
| Activity 6 | Produce and disseminate research outputs — report, briefs, toolkits, publications | All outputs produced, published, and disseminated per schedule | Publication records; dissemination event reports; VREF final report |
8. Conclusion
Every data point collected in Monrovia's streets is evidence that could redesign them to be safer.
Every policy brief co-developed with a government agency is a research finding turned into a decision.
Every graduate fellow trained is an African researcher who will carry this work forward.
The VREF project is RSAI's commitment to being more than a road safety practitioner —
it is a commitment to being a knowledge producer whose evidence shapes the policies and planning decisions
that determine whether Monrovia's streets are safe, equitable, and sustainable
for every person who walks, cycles, or travels through them.
Partner With Us
We welcome partnerships with institutions committed to evidence-based, African-led urban mobility research:
Together, we can ensure that Monrovia's story — and the stories of cities like it across Africa — shapes the future of global urban mobility thinking, not just reflects it.