Global Newsletter – December 2020

Dear Friends and Supporters,

This past year has taught us many valuable lessons, but the greatest lesson of 2020 is learning that when something is preventable, when we can save a life, we need to act—and act quickly.

When we can help, we should and we’ve been identifying areas that have been devastated by the pandemic. Early December, through Protec, we sent 20,000 masks to frontline workers at Unity Health Care, the largest network of community healthcare centers in Washington, D.C. serving low-income and immigrant communities.

We’re working to empower important members of the community creating an alliance of road safety leaders. By hosting a 2-day training session, factory supervisors were trained on the challenges of road safety in Cambodia, as well as, analyzing key policies that would improve commuting conditions for their workers.

Children are some of the most vulnerable road users especially in the area immediately surrounding their schools. Students in Thailand are finally getting the break they need with the new road modifications we’ve implemented with Toll Group.

Where helmet-wearing rates are as low as 23%, students in Dak Lak and Bac Giang Province risk their lives, even brain injury, as they travel on Vietnam’s roads. We officially launched the SAFE STEPS KIDS – Road Safety program with kickoff events providing students safe equipment and proper road traffic education.

Our Vietnamese Government partners received the Prince Michael Road Safety Award for the Slow Zones, Safe Zones program. In addition, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organization (VUFO) awarded and recognized our longstanding work and contributions to road safety for the people in Vietnam. With each award we receive, we hope that leaders recognize this as a proven track record that our programs work. Our programs are blueprints designed to improve the quality of life for those who are most marginalized in society.

Southeast Asia Globe did a feature story in their Public Health section, which highlights AIP Foundation’s accomplishments including our most recent Helmet Quality Research in Vietnam. While it outlines the challenges ahead, we use this as motivation to continue fighting for vulnerable road users.

In saying farewell to 2020, I want to say thank you. Despite trying times, with your support, we were fortunate to end the year on a positive note. We’re excited to take on 2021 saving lives, stronger than ever, because of you.

Please read on.

Kind regards,

Mirjam Sidik
CEO, AIP Foundation

Table of Contents

Global

Vietnam

Cambodia

Thailand

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Global

Social enterprise in Vietnam donates 20,000 medical masks to support Washington, D.C. communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. — December 14, 2020

	Dr. Robert Zarr is a pediatrician who has provided medical care to low-income and immigrant communities at Unity Health Care for 20 years.

Protec, a Vietnamese social enterprise and producer of personal protective equipment, donated 20,000 medical masks to provide life-saving support to healthcare workers and residents in Washington, D.C.

The donation of the 20,000 masks have been directed to healthcare workers and patients at Unity Health Care, the largest network of community healthcare centers in the District. The arrival of the medical masks has been viewed as a blessing for frontline workers, arriving soon after weeks of continued rise in cases in Washington, D.C. In response to the growth of new cases, Mayor Muriel Bowser enacted new COVID-19 restrictions on November 25th to promote distancing measures and keep residents safe in the capital city.

Dr. Robert Zarr, a pediatrician who has been providing medical care to low-income and immigrant communities at Unity Health Care, shared, “In my 20 years as a doctor here, I have never seen a more dire situation, both for medical staff and for patients. Having masks readily available helps immediately decrease transmission of this deadly virus within our clinic walls, but it also gives us a sense of security that we all are doing our part to reduce the risk of infection. My colleagues and I are grateful for this practical and generous gesture of goodwill.”

Read the full press release on the donation here.

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Tackling road safety from the ground up

GENEVA, Switzerland – December 14-18, 2020

In light of the pandemic, the FIA held its 2020 Annual General Assembly as a hybrid physical/online meeting, hosted from Geneva, Switzerland. The FIA is the federation of the world’s leading motoring organizations bringing together 245 international motoring and sporting organizations from 146 countries on five continents. Addressing the Assembly, FIA President Jean Todt said, “This health emergency has reminded us of the reality that we had for the most part forgotten: our vulnerability and the fragility of the human condition. This pushes us to work even more closely together to help each other overcome the difficulties 2020 has imposed on us.”

AA Vietnam, a member of the FIA, founded by AIP Foundation’s President, Greig Craft, presented its new project at the FIA Asia-Pacific Region meeting during the Annual General Assembly week. With funding support from the FIA, the Automobile Association Vietnam (AA Vietnam) will work with the government and road engineers to implement school zone road modifications in Gia Lai, Vietnam. The selected target school, Ia Nhin Primary School, is located on a national road with a high volume of traffic from every type of road user including pedestrians, cyclists, and two-wheelers to buses and container trucks.

More than half (60%) of the student population ride to school on bicycles with another 30% as passengers on their parent’s motorcycle and the remaining 10% walk. With a variety of transportation and movement around the school, drop-off and pick-up times are often chaotic with traffic congestion and disorder due to inadequate infrastructure and a dedicated school zone. Around Ia Nhin Primary School, there are no clear footpaths, crossings, warning signs or lights, road markings, nor traffic calming measures. While the speed limit in the area is 50 km/h, well over the international recommended speed limit for school zones, speeding is common.

According to an SR4S assessment using the assessment using the star rating app, an evidence-based tool for measuring, managing, and communicating the risk children are exposed to on a journey to school, the school is currently rated only 2 stars (out of 5). Road modification design work will start in January 2021 with an expectation to upgrade the star rating.

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Vietnam

Vietnamese Government wins Prince Michael Road Safety Award for AIP Foundation’s Slow Zones, Safe Zones program

HANOI, Vietnam—December 15, 2020

Students run around playing games in a designated safe area at one of the Slow Zones, Safe Zones program’s project schools.

Vietnam’s National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) and the Student Affairs Department of the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) received the prestigious 2020 Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in recognition of their efforts to protect children through safer school zones through their support for the pilot Slow Zones, Safe Zones program, implemented by AIP Foundation.

From 2018 to 2020, the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) and Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) of Vietnam played a critical role in supporting a pilot program focused on reducing speeds in school zones in Pleiku City, Gia Lai Province, Vietnam. The program, implemented in partnership with AIP Foundation and Gia Lai local governments, managed by the Global Road Safety Partnership and funded by Fondation Botnar, has delivered comprehensive safety interventions and secured a legislative decision that reduces school zone speed limits to 30 km/h in Pleiku City.

To ensure safer roads in school zones, the Slow Zones, Safe Zones program uses a multi-pronged approach with several objectives. These included the construction of tailored school-zone modifications, public awareness campaigns, law enforcement initiatives, the development and testing of a nationally-applicable road safety e-curriculum, and legislative advocacy.

As a result of these targeted efforts, it was found that while some vehicles had driven as fast as 80 km/h at target schools prior to the pilot—significantly exceeding the internationally recommended speed of 30 km/h in school zones—maximum speeds at both target schools were reduced by as much as 21 km/h.

In recognition of the life-saving impact of investing in school zone safety, on August 12, 2020, the Gia Lai provincial government passed Decision No. 1656/UBND-NCDC, which calls for Pleiku City authorities to allocate funding for school zone road modifications and further reduce speeds.

Another component of the Slow Zones, Safe Zones program features an app-compatible traffic safety e-curriculum, with key inputs from the NTSC and MOET. The 10-module online learning platform focuses on life-saving lessons across a diversity of transport modes including walking, bicycles, cars, buses, trains, and boats, which demonstrate strong potential for national application. The Student Affairs Department of the MOET has expressed their interest in seeking approval to implement the e-curriculum nationwide following positive assessment results revealing its significant efficacy and impact.

The two-year Slow Zones, Safe Zones speed reduction program is supported by Fondation Botnar, the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), Nissan Motor Corporation, Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), and Kova Paint Company.

To read the Royal Award announcement, please click here.

To read more about the Slow Zones, Safe Zones program, please click here.

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International road safety charity receives award for its longstanding work in Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam–December 21, 2020

Deputy CEO of AIP Foundation, Mrs. Hoang Na Huong happily accepting the certificate and award from the ceremony.

At Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, Vietnam Union of Friendship Organization (VUFO) held an award ceremony to celebrate the work of 50 foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) with AIP Foundation being recognized for its longstanding work and contributions to road safety for the people in Vietnam. Deputy CEO of AIP Foundation, Mrs. Hoang Na Huong, accepted the Certificate of Merit and award on behalf of the organization.

The ceremony focused on the achievements and contributions of foreign NGOs and proposed directions to cooperate with foreign NGOs in the future with the hopes of increasing aid. President of Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, Nguyen Phuong Nga, Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations Vice President and General Secretary, Phan Anh Son, the International Non-Governmental Organizations’ Working Committee Vice-Director evaluated and celebrated the collective work that was implemented this past year.

Representatives from agencies of Working Group of the Committee for Foreign Non-Governmental Organizations Affairs, leaders of the Committees and units of the VUFO and representatives of international non-governmental organizations were in attendance.

To read more about VUFO’s event, please click here.

To view more photos from the event, please click here.

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Prudential Vietnam pushes for stronger road safety measures for students in local provinces

DAK LAK AND BAC GIANG PROVINCE, Vietnam—December 22, 2020

A student shares a smile of pure happiness as she and her classmates receive high-quality helmets to keep them safe.

Where helmet-wearing rates are as low as 23%, students in Dak Lak and Bac Giang Province risk their lives, even brain injury, as they travel on Vietnam’s roads. Prudential Vietnam officially launched the SAFE STEPS KIDS – Road Safety (SSK-RS) program, organized by AIP Foundation, mitigating the risks students experience every single day by providing students safe equipment and proper road traffic education.

The program will run from 2020 to 2021 in Bac Giang and Dak Lak Provinces with four main components, including: 1) comprehensive road safety education for students, 2) providing high-quality helmets for students, 3) school zone modifications to improve road safety conditions, and 4) implementing communication campaigns to raise public awareness. The SSK-RS program will benefit 2,700 elementary students, more than 100 teachers, 5,400 parents. In addition, an extensive communication campaign will reach out to more than a million people with easy-to-understand educational messages on road safety.

The SSK-RS program is a part of the SAFE STEPS Kids program, developed by the Prudence Foundation, in partnership with Cartoon Network and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC). The program aims to equip millions of children across Asia with actionable information designed to save lives in the event of emergencies or disaster situations. To date, the program has been deployed in a number of countries in Asia, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. This is the first year that SAFE STEPS Kids is implemented in Vietnam.

To see more photos from the Dak Lak event, please click here.

To see more photos from the Bac Giang event, please click here.

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Cambodia

Factory leaders to become road safety trainers and role models

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—November 25-26, 30 and December 1, 2020

Senior Program Manager of AIP Foundation, Mrs. Chanpha Khun, discusses the challenges in road safety that Cambodia currently faces and how it impacts factory workers commutes.

AIP Foundation led a 2-day road safety training session for supervisors from three different factories, where all three factories happen to be located in high-risk commuting areas. Participating supervisors will disseminate tools and resources from trainings to their peers and staff as part of the Commuting Safety for Cambodian Workers (CSCW) program, supported by USAID and Solidarity Centre.

Helmets are proven to be the most effective measure to reduce injury or fatality in the event of a crash, while implementing a speed limit may reduce the risk of traffic deaths and injuries. Supervisors were trained on the challenges of road safety in Cambodia, as well as, analyzing key policies that would improve commuting safety for their workers. The primary focus for this round of training was to refresh and emphasize the need for proper helmet use and speed limits.

Further training on the road safety policy, reviewed and adopted by six factories, began in December.

To view more photos from the event, please click here.

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Thailand

Toll Group’s road modifications create safer environment for children in Thailand

BANG SAO THONG DISTRICT, Thailand–December 15 & 16, 2020

Toll Group, AIP Foundation, and students from Wat Sao Thong Nok School happily pose for a photo following the celebratory event.

Children are some of the most vulnerable road users. Their daily commute to and from school can be very risky, especially in the area immediately surrounding their schools. Through the Hauling Safety program, supported by Toll Group, AIP Foundation implemented road modifications at two program schools in Bang Sao Thong District, Thailand.

"As a logistics company, we are familiar with the challenges and dangers on the road. We believe that simple steps, like increasing road safety awareness among children and their families and creating safer environments around schools, will have a long-term impact on the communities – preventing injuries and saving lives,” shared Mr. Dean Jones, Toll Group’s Regional General Manager, South East Asia.

Wat Sao Thong Nok School and Anubankehabangplee School are located in high-traffic areas with poor road infrastructure, contributing to a higher risk for their students and teachers. These evidence-based changes become critical in reducing the challenges children face daily. Modifications included the newly enhanced pedestrian crossings, rumble strips and clear markings to guide traffic, as well as road safety education and awareness sessions to make sure that children and their families know how to be safe on the roads.

Mrs. Sumalee Pratoomnun, Senior Project Officer of AIP Foundation stated, “At AIP Foundation, we value our partnerships with companies like Toll Group, who support us to protect vulnerable road users. Road modifications are a key intervention to deliver a safer environment for these communities. The Hauling Safety program will make children at these two schools safer for a long time to come.”

An event to celebrate the finalization of the road modifications was held at each of the schools. A large number of Toll employees attended the event and participated in the activities along with Mrs. Pranom Saelee, District Mayor of Bang Sao Thong District.

For more photos from the event, please click here.

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