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A team of Faculty Members of the ��ɫ��Ƶ (UEW) has won a research grant worth 500,000 Swedish Krona (approximately €48,838.57 Euro) from Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) under the Mobility and Access in African Cities (MAC) programme.   

The research grant winning team comprised Senior Lecturer and Head, Department of Geography Education, Dr. Enoch F. Sam (Project Lead/Principal Investigator); the Dean, Faculty of Educational Studies, Prof. Samuel Hayford; and Senior Lecturer, Department of Geography Education, Dr. (Mrs.) Esther Yeboah Danso-Wiredu.  

The project team is also made up of three other researchers from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. They are Dr. Michael Munene, Dr. Edwin Oyaro Ondieki and Dr. Elizabeth Kanini Wamuchiru. 

The grant was awarded to support the project “Towards a disability-inclusive urban transport system in Accra and Nairobi: a policy-practice agenda”. The project aims at a comparative analysis of the daily mobility patterns, needs, experiences and challenges of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in accessing urban transport systems in Accra, Ghana and Nairobi, Kenya. 

The one-year project also intends to explore the implications of these mobility challenges for their social inclusion and ability to function independently in society. 

The project is one of the six selected projects for funding in 2021 under the MAC programme. The MAC programme, launched by VREF in 2019, intends to increase the knowledge and capacity base on equitable and sustainable mobility and access in cities in sub-Saharan Africa to contribute to medium and long-term structural innovation and change.

It also seeks to contribute to forming a new generation of highly skilled sub-Saharan African university researchers and teachers, as well as to engage professionals, policymakers and actors within civil society who are committed to achieving goals of sustainable and equitable urban mobility and access. 

The programme encompasses six themes that have relevance for achieving sustainable and equitable urban mobility and access in sub-Saharan Africa. The themes are “User Needs and Practices, Equity Issues; Governance, Politics, Institutions and Finance; Emerging Business Models and Service Options; Safety, Health and the Urban Environment; System Design and Modal Integration; and Analytical Tools”.