81323076-Knowledge Transfer, Capacity Development and Up-Scaling of Gender-responsive, Green Urban Mobility Solutions

Project Description

India"s rapid urbanisation, economic growth and expanding metropolitan regions have intensified the demand for safe, efficient and inclusive mobility systems. While the country has invested significantly in public transport, expanding metro rail, improving bus networks and promoting sustainable mobility, these systems often remain insufficiently integrated with walking, cycling and intermediate modes. As a result, many groups continue to experience barriers in accessing essential services, employment and education. Women, girls and marginalised communities face the most pronounced challenges. Their mobility patterns, care-related trips, time constraints and safety concerns are frequently overlooked in traditional transport planning. Weak first/last-mile connectivity, limited lighting and pedestrian infrastructure, and inadequate gender-responsive services restrict their independent and affordable travel options. These limitations not only undermine safety and social inclusion but also contribute to declining public transport ridership and increased reliance on private vehicles. The "Enabling Accessible, Sustainable and Equitable (EASE) Mobility for All / Gender in Green Mobility" project responds to these systemic gaps. Anchored within the German Development Cooperation framework and implemented with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the project aims to strengthen data-driven, user-centred and gender-responsive mobility planning across India. It builds on learning and institutional relationships from previous GIZ programmes such as SMART-SUT, SUM-ACA and E-Mobility, ensuring continuity and deeper sectoral anchoring. The project is built around three interconnected outputs: 1. Improved gender-disaggregated mobility data through enhanced data governance, modern data sources and specialised urban mobility data hubs in partner cities. 2. Gender-responsive planning instruments and co-created demonstration concepts, ensuring women and marginalised groups meaningfully shape public mobility services. 3. Strengthened institutional capacities across national, state and city levels through training, toolkits and knowledge-sharing to enable replication and scale. A multi-level capacity development approach guides implementation: practitioners and decision-makers are trained at the individual level; planning procedures and governance structures are strengthened at the organisational level; and societal awareness of inclusive, sustainable mobility is supported at the social level. The project works closely with government institutions, public transport agencies, academic partners, civil society organisations and private-sector actors. In three selected cities, the project engages directly with vulnerable groups and uses their lived experiences to inform inclusive mobility design. By improving data systems, planning practices and governance frameworks, and documenting and disseminating learnings, the project aims to achieve broader scaling, enabling other Indian cities to adopt more accessible, sustainable and equitable mobility solutions for all. Description of work & services to be provided The contractor will support the implementation of the "EASE / Gender in Green Mobility" project through three interlinked work packages (WP1, WP2 and WP3), each contributing to the three outputs and to the project"s overall objective of establishing inclusive, gender-responsive and low-emission mobility systems in India. Under Work Package 1 (Urban Mobility Data Hubs), the contractor will - on demand of the GIZ team - support to strengthen the generation, management and application of gender-disaggregated and accessibility-relevant mobility data in the partner cities. This can include developing methodologies for collecting high-quality spatial, socio-demographic and behavioural data that reflect the differentiated mobility routines of women, girls and marginalised groups, the integration of new and emerging data sources such as anonymised mobile network data, GPS traces, smart-card usage and AI-enabled video analytics, ensuring cities can undertake gender-sensitive demand modelling and forecasting, analytical briefs and practical use-cases. Within Work Package 2 (Gender-Responsive Planning Tools and Demonstration Projects), the contractor will on demand of the GIZ team support the development, validation and institutionalisation of inclusive planning instruments that account for the mobility needs of women, girls and vulnerable groups. This can involve assisting the GIZ team in conceptualising demonstration projects in the selected cities and preparing readiness assessments that map local constraints, opportunities and potential intervention strategies. Based on demonstration projects locally implemented by the GIZ teamhe contractor will prepare gender-responsive planning tools and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for local transport administrations and operators, ensuring compliance with national policies and international standards such as UNCRPD and relevant ISO norms. WP2 also requires the contractor to support piloting and usability testing of selected instruments and to document learning for future adoption. The physical implementation of demonstration measures will be undertaken exclusively by GIZ. Under Work Package 3 (Capacity Development, Knowledge Transfer and Up-Scaling), the contractor will design and institutionalise training formats and knowledge products that enable a wider scaling of inclusive mobility practices across India. This includes conducting capacity needs assessments for target groups, reviewing existing national and international training modules and developing new competency-based curricula for planners, engineers, public transport authorities, civil society groups and women"s organisations. The contractor will deliver training programmes and Training-of-Trainers (ToTs) in cooperation with NIUA, State Training Institutes and MoHUA"s urban