Grants for Safe Road Users, Safe Vehicles, and Safe Roads

Applications addressing national level road safety policy change and/or its implementation on road user behavioural risk factors, vehicle safety, or Safe System-aligned road infrastructure will be accepted from the following focus countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Uganda, and Vietnam.
A small number of applications from non focus countries may be considered, limited to LMICs in Latin America, Africa, or Asia. Evaluation of these applications will prioritize proposals that demonstrate a strong likelihood of achieving near term policy change or removing critical barriers to policy implementation.

Governmental and non-governmental organizations can apply for grants within the following parameters:

• Governmental organizations (ministries, agencies, departments, and other executive government authorities) with relevant authority over road safety policy and/or its implementation. Road police and military agencies are not eligible to apply. From the time of proposal acceptance, the management of government grants will be undertaken by GRSP’s partner organization Vital Strategies (US non-profit organization).
• Non-governmental organizations (including but not limited to civil society organizations and educational institutions) with relevant experience supporting policy change and/or its implementation.

Additionally,

• Applicants must be registered legal entities in the country of project delivery, capable of entering into contractual arrangements, receiving foreign funds, and assuming legal and financial obligations. In countries where a specific non-government organization registration is legally required, applicants must obtain valid registration prior to applying and must include official documentation to support their eligibility.
• Applicants must ensure that their proposals comply with any legally binding conditions on how foreign funded projects may be designed, approved, and implemented in the country of project delivery.
• Applicants cannot be recipients of financial support from alcohol, firearms, pornography, or tobacco industries.
• The Road Safety Grants Programme does not fund individuals.
• Government entities are especially encouraged to apply.
• If you are a current GRSP grantee organization, please discuss the development of a Full Proposal with your focal person in GRSP.

Proposals should adopt a Safe System approach as a guiding framework aimed at eliminating fatal and serious injuries for all road users. The core principles of this approach are:

• Death and injury are unacceptable: Fatal and serious injuries are preventable and never an acceptable cost of road use.
• Humans make mistakes: People make mistakes and the road system must account for this and protect road users.
• Humans are vulnerable: The human body has a limited tolerance to crash forces before death or serious injury occurs.
• Shared responsibility: System designers, vehicle manufacturers, and road users all share the responsibility for keeping roads safe.
• Proactive safety: Address risks before crashes happen instead of only reacting after tragedies.
• Redundancy: Use multiple layers of protection so if one fails, another prevents severe harm.

Proposals must focus on policy change or policy implementation that will lead to substantial reductions in road traffic injuries and deaths. The Road Safety Grants Programme supports organizations advocating for the passage and implementation of comprehensive policies (legislation, regulations, standards, etc.) to address road user behavioural risk factors, vehicle safety and safe roads.

Round 26 of the Road Safety Grants Programme covers the following key focus areas. Specific priorities for the Programme’s focus countries are listed in Annex 1 of the Call for Proposals.

Safe Road Users – Key Behavioural Risk Factors

• Speed: A speed limit law with maximum speed limits based on global best practices and the power of local authorities to reduce speed limits to ensure safe speeds locally. Speed is a priority risk factor in the Programme due to the dominant role of speed in the likelihood and severity of crashes.
• Helmets: A helmet law that applies to all drivers and passengers, on all roads and all engine types, and requires the helmet to be fastened and which makes reference to a particular helmet standard.
• Drink driving: A national drink-driving law based on Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.05 g/dL or lower for the general population and a BAC of 0.02 g/dL or lower for novice drivers.
• Occupant restraints : A seat-belt law that applies to all private vehicle occupants in front and rear seats. A child restraint law with a supporting standard based on child age, weight or height and a law that applies age and height restrictions to a child sitting in the front seat.

Safe Vehicles

• Aligning national vehicle safety legislation with the recommended minimum UN Vehicle Regulations and working towards ensuring that the following safety regulations are applied and complied with for light-duty vehicles:
• Occupant protection in front collisions – United Nations Regulation (UN Reg) 94
• Occupant protection in lateral collisions – UN Reg 95
• Side pole impact protection – UN Reg 135
• Seat belts and seat belt anchorages – UN Reg 16 & 14
• Child Restraint Systems – UN Reg 44 and 129
• ISOFIX anchorages – UN Reg 145
• Electronic stability control (ESC) – UN Reg 140/Global Technical Regulation (GTR) 8
• Pedestrian protection – UN Reg 127/GTR 9
• Advanced Emergency Braking Systems (AEB) – UN Reg 152
• Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA)
• Mandatory vehicle safety labelling
• Strengthening consumer demand for safe vehicles including mandatory vehicle safety labelling.
• Strengthening vehicle safety regulations for powered two-wheelers (of all engine capacity) and work towards ensuring that motorcycle anti-lock braking system (ABS) regulation (UN Reg 78/GTR 3) is applied.
• Establishing safety requirements for imported used vehicles.

Safe Roads (new in Round 26)

Projects must support policy reforms (e.g., standards, manuals and guidelines that govern how road infrastructure is planned, designed and operated), and/or institutional reforms that embed Safe System principles into the obligations of national and subnational road infrastructure managing authorities. Applicants submitting proposals in this domain must demonstrate proven technical capability.

Where prototyping or testing of safe infrastructure treatments is proposed, this will only be supported where it contributes directly to the policy change needed to permit, regulate, standardize, or adopt the proposed reform.

Safe Roads Topic Areas:

1. Safe Speed and Urban Street Design

Strengthening standards and design practices to support safe operating speeds through self-explaining road design and traffic calming measures, including:

• Lane widths, number of lanes, and geometry;
• Vertical deflection and horizontal geometry tools such as speed humps, raised crossings, rightsized corner radii, chicanes, curb extensions, and others;
• Location criteria and distance between pedestrian crossings;
• Safe intersections; and
• Safe crossings.

2. Vulnerable Road Users and Sustainable Transport

Promote evidence-based policies, guidelines, and street design standards that encourage a shift from individual motorized transportation to active and collective modes through:

• Safe infrastructure for pedestrians, including universally accessible sidewalks, frequent, safe at-grade crossings, refuge islands, among other elements, and mechanisms to support implementation;
• Cycling facilities such as cycle tracks and cycle streets, to ensure network connectivity and expansion; and
• Public transport infrastructure policy including design standards for on-street infrastructure and policy instruments to ensure network expansion.

3. Infrastructure Safety Management

Strengthen the integration of road safety into the planning, design, operation, and maintenance of road infrastructure through:

• Mandating or establishing policies for Road Safety Audits, inspections, or assessments of road infrastructure;
• Establishing national road safety auditor certification and licensing programmes; and
• Developing and implementing corridor and regional safety management plans.

Policy Implementation

The Road Safety Grants Programme also supports organizations implementing policies through activities such as:

• Supporting the adoption and implementation of effective regulations, such as safe speed limits, helmet standards, vehicle safety standards, or safe infrastructure design codes;
• Supporting governments to develop a policy implementation plan, including establishing multi-sectoral coordinating committee, advocating for a funding mechanism to ensure effective implementation, and developing a detailed action plan;
• Increasing public and consumer demand for safe speed limits, safe vehicles, and helmets that meet a specified standard; and
• Targeted strategic communications and media advocacy activities that directly support the adoption and implementation of road safety policies.

The Road Safety Grants Programme does not fund education programmes (school-based or otherwise).  The Programme does not fund basic research or academic studies.  Nor does it fund the purchase of equipment or the funding of physical road infrastructure.

Systematic surveys of compliance of road safety policies as well as projects to strengthen health data collection are being undertaken separately with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies and are not funded through the Road Safety Grants Programme.

Priority will be given to proposals that are locally led and strengthen national institutional and technical capacity. Proposals that rely predominantly on external international consultants to undertake core project activities are generally not encouraged unless a clear justification and strong capacity-building component are demonstrated.

Proposals can be submitted for grants up to a maximum amount of 120,000 Swiss Francs (CHF) for a project of no more than 24 months.  However, the final amount of funding will depend on several factors, including consideration of a proposed scope of work vis-a-vis the capacity of your organization.

Application Process

• Organizations are invited to submit their grant applications through our online system at https://grsp.flexigrant.com/. Applicants who are not current grantees must submit a concept note, while existing grantees may submit full proposals. All existing grantees must first consult their respective GRSP focal persons before submitting a grant application. The deadline for submission of the grant application is 27 August 2026 at 14:00 Central European Time (CET) (to see what time that is in your country, please check timeanddate.com).
• Applicant organizations may submit more than one concept note or full proposal. However, duplicate proposals will be deemed ineligible.
• An international panel of experts and members of an advisory working group will review concept notes and full proposals. They will be scored on their potential to reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries, project design, and applicant organization capacity.
• Applicants will be informed about the outcome of their applications by 15 October 2026.

Points to consider:

• Only applications written in English will be accepted.
• For instructions on submitting a concept note or full proposal, please go to the following link: https://www.grsproadsafety.org/round-26-now-open/

For more information on GRSP and the Road Safety Grants Programme please visit:

Global Road Safety Partnership:
https://www.grsproadsafety.org/

Road Safety Grants Programme:
https://www.grsproadsafety.org/programmes/grants-programme/