The United Nations has proclaimed the Decade of Sustainable Transport to accelerate a just, low-carbon, and inclusive transition in the transport sector. The Sustainable Transport Action Plan for the decade sets targets and indicators across domains including mobility, decarbonization, road safety, accessibility, resilience, and affordability. To track progress regionally and support member states in aligning national monitoring a Regional Transport Information System (RTIS) is required. This system will collect, harmonize, validate, and visualize transport data from multiple countries, enabling evidence-based policy dialogue and progress reporting against the Decade s goals. Currently, transport data across the region is fragmented, non-comparable, and often inaccessible. No central mechanism exists to aggregate indicators relevant to the UN Decade s targets (e.g., GHG emissions per passenger-km, share of active mobility, road fatalities, electric vehicle penetration).

The objective of this consultancy is to develop a comprehensive, actionable Feasibility Study and Implementation Roadmap for a Regional Transport Information System (RTIS) that enables member states and regional bodies to monitor, report, and benchmark progress on the Sustainable Transport Action Plan.

The consultant will design a study that provides a blueprint for building the RTIS, including technical and institutional aspects. The consultant shall specifically design:

A- Needs and Gap Assessment

• Map existing national transport data systems, indicators, and reporting cycles in the region.
• Identify gaps relative to the UN Decade s monitoring framework (e.g., missing disaggregation by gender/age, lack of emissions data).

B- Technical Architecture Design

• Propose a federated or centralized data model (including metadata standards, APIs, data sharing protocols).
• Define core indicators: minimum set for the Decade, plus optional expansion.
• Specify requirements for data validation, quality assurance, and interoperability with national systems.
• Recommend open-source or commercially available platforms (with cost-benefit comparison).

C- Institutional and Governance Framework

• Define roles and responsibilities: regional hub, national focal points, technical working group.
• Propose data ownership, access rights, confidentiality, and data sharing agreements.
• Outline a capacity-building plan for member states.

D- Implementation Roadmap

• Phased timeline with milestones, risks, and dependencies.
• Pilot testing approach (2 3 willing member states).
• Integration with existing UN frameworks (e.g., SDGs, Sendai Framework, Paris Agreement).

Desired Candidate Profile

Qualifications/special skills

• Master's degree in planning transport, data science, information systems, public policy, or related field is required. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
• At least 10 years of experience in transport data systems, regional integration projects, or M&E frameworks for sustainable transport is required.
• Understanding of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport and global transport indicators (e.g., SLoCaT, ITF, WHO road safety) is desirable.
• Excellent writing skills is required.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations secretariat and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA.
• Fluency in English and Arabic is required, as the report should be delivered in English or Arabic.
• Notes: Fluency equals a rating of fluent in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and knowledge of equals a rating of confident in two of the four areas.