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Global Newsletter: Working towards Global Goals 2030 |
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Dear Friends and Supporters, AIP Foundation recently returned from Stockholm, Sweden for the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, themed Achieving Global Goals 2030, where we met with met with delegates from around the world to discuss our shared responsibility to achieve global road safety targets, including promoting safe and healthy journeys for children and youth in the coming years. We sent one of our very own team members to represent Vietnam in a global youth taskforce at the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, where she joined 200 youth leaders from around the world as part of a youth movement for safer mobility. As we looked towards the future of road safety with global road safety practitioners and advocates, we also took a moment to celebrate our past twenty years in this field, with the release of our 2019 Annual Report: 20th year edition. We returned from this global meeting excited to celebrate the progress we have collectively made across the world to contribute to safer environments. However, it was also clear that in moving forward, the future of road safety will depend on our ability to advocate and work towards strong and focused leadership in all levels of society and across governments worldwide. Through AIP Foundation’s work, we are continuously reminded that progressing towards safer roads and environments will require persistent cooperation and engagement with our partners and stakeholders. We highlight the urgent need for safety interventions when we work with local governments to identify schools in need of road modifications and quality helmets. We sit down with road safety authorities to ensure nationwide action plans have thoughtful enforcement measures. We invite government representatives to our program events to demonstrate the positive impact we can make when we invest in the well-being of our communities. In this global movement towards a world without road crash injuries and fatalities, we must continuously hold ourselves and our governments accountable for taking actionable steps and assessing our progress. Let us all remember that 2030 is not too far away. What can we accomplish in the coming decade? How can we communicate the needs of our communities to ensure that our governments recognize safer environments and roads as a universal right for all citizens? We look forward to seeing we and our partners can achieve in these next few years to build a safer environment for our future generations. For more information on our activities, achievements, and related road crash intervention news, please read on. Kind regards, Mirjam Sidik
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Table of Contents |
Promoting Global Road Safety Goals 2030 in Sweden |
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Our Road Safety Snapshots |
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Related News |
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Employment Opportunities
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Promoting Global Road Safety Goals 2030 in Sweden |
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Photo of the Month: Stockholm Declaration invites the United Nations to adopt next decade's target for road safety, 50% by 2030
The 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, held in Stockholm, Sweden, on 19-20 February 2020, opened by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, brought together more than 80 ministers and heads of delegation, over 1700 delegates, from 140 countries. The Stockholm Declaration, a resolution that outlines commitment from heads of governments and leadership, emphasizes shared responsibility towards the fulfillment of the global road safety agenda, and invitation for the United Nations General Assembly for endorsement, has set a target to reduce road deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030. The Stockholm Declaration calls for a default 30km/h speed limits on urban streets, the prioritization of the Safe System design to enable safe walking and cycling, a stronger focus on safe infrastructure on highways, and better integration of traffic safety within the Sustainable Development Goals, including the UN’s strategy for children and adolescents, was adopted by the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. The Declaration sets a target to reduce road deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030 on the way to Vision Zero by 2050. The Stockholm Declaration will now go forward to the United Nations, where an intergovernmental negotiation will result in a Resolution to be debated in April. |
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Advocating for safe and healthy journeys for children and youth
During “This Is My Street: Safe and Healthy Journeys for Children & Youth,” an official pre-conference event coordinated by the Child Health Initiative before the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, Ms. Mirjam Sidik, AIP Foundation CEO, was invited to speak alongside practitioners on strategies and the positive impact of transforming schools and urban streets into safer environments. Ms. Sidik spoke about speed reduction in Vietnam through the Slow Zones, Safe Zones, and Walk This Way programs, implemented by AIP Foundation, which contributed to major legislative milestones in October 2019 when the government announced the removal of fixed speed limits, demonstrating a critical shift towards dynamic speed limits and more adaptable speed limit regulation in Vietnam. Other panelists also shared key findings and lessons from their work in creating safer road environments in their respective countries and regions, including their experiences securing speed reduction laws in Zambia, promoting Vision Zero for Youth in Mexico City, and pursuing urban design change in Moldova. The session concluded with a conversation on translating the Stockholm Declaration into an action plan through the Child Health Initiative’s Manifesto 2030 on Safe and Healthy Streets for Children, Youth and Climate, which supports key action points of the Stockholm Declaration and emphasizes combining global advocacy with practical action to reduce road risks for children and youth. Representatives of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Fondation Botnar, Bernard van Leer Foundation, International Affairs from City of Fortaleza, Brazil, World Resources Institute, iRAP, and FIA Foundation offered their perspectives on future actions. The manifesto outlines specific “call-to-action” criteria and campaign goals, including: every child and adolescent can expect a safe and healthy journey to school, streets where children mix with traffic have a default speed of no more than 30 km/hour, every urban street has a viable footpath and protected at-grade crossings, every city has set an ambitious target for protected cycle lanes, and a global adolescent summit to prioritize SDG action on adolescent health and rights. |
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AIP Foundation joins youth leaders around the world in #claimingourspace for safer mobility
The 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, an entirely youth-driven convention organized by a Global Youth Taskforce of young leaders brought together 200 youth leaders from 75 countries to Stockholm, Sweden. The assembly, co-coordinated by the global NGO YOURS - Youth for Road Safety and the World Health Organization, gathered youth leaders for a day of action-packed discussions, in which they explored cross-cultural solutions and made official declarations to stand up for the road safety of their own and future generations. Ms. Minh Vo, AIP Foundation, Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant was invited to represent Vietnam as a participant and youth road safety advocate. Issues of road crash prevention and safe mobility are far from a foreign concept for Ms. Vo, who has lived and grown up in Vietnam her entire life. In Vietnam, rapid motorization over the past decade has produced a surge in road crash injuries and fatalities, creating tremendous economic and social consequences. According to the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018, the World Health Organization estimates that road crashes result in nearly 25,000 deaths in Vietnam. Road crashes remain one of the leading causes of death for children aged 5-14 years in Vietnam, with 2,150 children in Vietnam dying in road crashes each year, as reported in the Global Burden of Disease Study for 2017. "However, not many people know about these facts," said Ms. Vo. "There is still poor traffic culture and low awareness of road safety despite the good progress made towards road infrastructures, vehicles and road safety policies. More efforts should be made to stop people with a great number of youth dying and getting injured on the road." Minh Vo first began working with AIP Foundation as an intern, developing a foundational understanding of the road safety sector and the importance of road safety interventions for improving the health outcomes of broad communities. After graduating from university, Ms. Vo joined the AIP Foundation team in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as a Program Assistant, before transitioning to her current role as a Monitoring and Evaluations Assistant, in which she supports data collection and analysis for interventions in Vietnam and AIP Foundation's other program countries. Ms. Vo described, "My contributions include managing data collected across our programs in Asia that target issues ranging from helmet safety, distracted driving, speeding, and most importantly, all contribute to halving road deaths and injuries as the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.6." As part of Ms. Vo's acceptance to the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, she was also invited to attend the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, hosted by the Government of Sweden and the World Health Organization (WHO). The ministerial conference brought together leaders, stakeholders, and delegates to Sweden to share successes and lessons learned from implementing the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020. Participants also charted future strategic directions for global road safety and defined plans for accelerating action on strategies towards 2030. Reflecting on her participation in the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety and the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, Ms. Vo described, "I believe this is the greatest privilege I had ever had. This is a good opportunity for me to become familiar with new information, technologies, and trends in road safety around the world to better my work. It is also a unique opportunity for me to raise my voice as one of Vietnam's youth who is passionate about road safety, and to demonstrate the energy of Vietnamese youth and commitment in solving road safety issues." |
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Road safety leaders prioritize protection of children and adolescents in global agenda
Leaders in road safety, youth advocacy, health promotion, and transport joined together at the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety for a panel discussion on integrating road safety into the health agenda for children and young people worldwide. Out of overall development assistance for health, only 2.2% is spent on adolescents, and of that amount, only 0.3% targets road injury. Panelists included Mr. Greig Craft, President of AIP Foundation, Mr. Basanta Kumar Nembang from the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure at Transport in Nepal, Ms. Olivia Nalwadda from YOURS - Youth for Road Safety in Uganda, and Mr. Stefan Swartling Peterson from the Health Division of UNICEF. Mr. Saul Billingsley, Executive Director of the FIA Foundation moderated the discussion and Ms. Margie Peden, Head of the Global Injury Programme at the George Institute for Global Health, provided introductory remarks. The panelists discussed proven solutions for promoting the road safety of children and adolescents, demonstrating the links between road safety and other health and development challenges for children and adolescents. Participants also discussed the importance of building bridges between the road safety sector with the community of adolescent health practitioners and experts, before identifying various key priorities for the next decade. Panel participants also had the opportunity to share their visions for creating greater opportunities for engaging young people to take ownership of road safety issues and agendas and advocate for solutions. Speakers also shared their perspective on the intersection of road safety issues with many other priority areas for youth health and well-being, including air quality, mental health, obesity, prevention of violence, education, and climate change. |
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#CommitToAct, AIP Foundation Thailand collects over 2,000 pledges calling for government action
As part of the People’s Declaration, a global effort by the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety to demand that governments commit to putting people first in road safety and act to save lives on the road, AIP Foundation Thailand Chairperson Ratana Winther joined NGO members of the Alliance across Asia to push governments to #CommitToAct for safer roads in 2019 and 2020. In Thailand, AIP Foundation organized the collection of 2,381 signatures, most of which were collected in-person at road crash prevention awareness events. Over 60,000 signatures have been collected across 93 countries calling for their governments to take action and commit to improving road safety conditions in their respective countries. The results of the pledge collection were presented at the ministerial conference in Sweden, with signatures to continue to be collected through the UN General Assembly. In addition to public support for the People’s Declaration, more than 50 delegates from Thailand attended the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm, Sweden from 19-20 February 2020. Thailand's Prime Minister Mr. Prayut Chan-o-cha met with Swedish Minister for Infrastructure, Mr. Tomas Eneroth, to express Thailand's support and commitment to the Stockholm Declaration, which was officially published at the ministerial conference and sets the global target to reduce deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030. You can read and sign the full People’s Declaration here. |
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Vietnam reports on drink-driving actions and progress at 3rd Global Ministerial Conference in Sweden
At the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference for a session on addressing implementation gaps in road safety, panelist Dr. Khuat Viet Hung, Executive Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee of Vietnam, shed light on the progress that Vietnam has made on drunk driving through comprehensive traffic legislation and enforcement. According to the National Traffic Safety Committee in Vietnam, in the first two months of 2020, Vietnam recorded 2,300 road crashes nationwide, with 1,125 deaths and 1,780 injuries. The numbers demonstrate a 16% decrease in overall road crashes, 18% decrease in road crash injuries, and 17% decrease in road crash fatalities from the same period last year. The government largely attributes the recent progress to its recent enactment and enforcement of the Law on Preventing Alcohol’s Harmful Effects, which came into effect on January 1, 2020. The new law establishes a blanket ban on driving after drinking for users of all vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, and bicycles, and issues higher fines and license suspensions. The National Assembly of Vietnam had earlier passed the landmark bill in June 2019 with the approval of 408 of 450 delegates, demonstrating a shift in the government’s stance towards drunk driving nationwide. According to Vietnam’s National Traffic Safety Committee, road crashes were the cause of more than 8,200 fatalities in 2018. Common causes of road crashes in Vietnam were identified as speeding, driving in the wrong lane, making changes in direction while failing to observe traffic, and drunk driving. Dr. Hung joined the panel with representatives of international organization, academia, and national-level transport and traffic authorities, including moderator Mr. Meleckidzedeck Khayesi, Technical Officer, World Health Organization; Mr. Fred Wegman, Professor Emeritus, Traffic Safety, Delft University of Technology; Ms. Kirstie Hewlett, Deputy Chief Executive, Ministry of Transport of New Zealand; and Ms. Susanna Zammataro, Director-General of the International Road Federation. The panelists discussed challenges and strategies for overcoming implementation failure in road safety, emphasizing the importance of viewing policy implementation as a rigorous science, requiring the training and education of road safety practitioners across sectors. |
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On 20 Years of Achievements, celebrating AIP Foundation's last decade with our 2019 Annual Report, officially released in Sweden
In AIP Foundation’s newly released 2019 Annual Report, we highlight key achievements since our founding in 1999. Through the years, we have cooperated with governments, corporations, foundations, and international organizations to implement life-saving interventions and protect vulnerable road users. Along the way, we have created invaluable partnerships, received numerous awards, and prevented millions of deaths and injuries through our work. Informed by our years of experience in the road safety sector and guided by the vision of a safer future, we continued to educate, advocate, and contribute to life-saving initiatives. Greig Craft, AIP Foundation President, shared, "As we continue to contribute to reducing the global burden of road injuries, we must leverage a multi-sector, collaborative, and holistic approach to redefine what is meant by the words, “road safety.” Our roads are not safe until everyone--regardless of their geographic location or income bracket, has access to resources and opportunities to use the road safely. I am motivated by the potential for greater collaboration and innovation across sectors to achieve a true 'zero tolerance' policy for these preventable tragedies." Our Annual Report was distributed at the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm, Sweden, on 19-20 February 2020. Read our 2019 Annual Report here. |
Our Road Safety Snapshots |
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Valentine's Day brings together parents in Thailand to commit to safer road behaviors for their children
In order to promote parents' understanding of road crash risk factors, criteria for safe school zones, and how to be "model parents" and road safety advocates by teaching their children safe road behaviors, AIP Foundation organized a Valentine's Day workshop for parents of students at Wat Thammakod School, Sathing Mo Sub-district, Singhanakhon District, Songkhla Province. Parents had the opportunity to learn more about speed limits, rules, and regulations in school zone areas, as well as their duty as parents to play a greater role to ensure their children are safe during their commutes to school by wearing helmets whenever riding on motorcycles. Parents were encouraged to share with one another how they will talk about road safety with their children, creating a culture of collaborative learning and education on road safety in the community. Representatives from Singhanakhon Police Station and Chevron were also in attendance to support and help facilitate the workshop. The parent workshop was part of the Street Wise program, supported by Chevron Thailand, which encourages awareness-raising in schools and communities to promote safer journeys to school for students in Songkhla Province, Thailand. |
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Celebrating eight years of partnership with Johnson & Johnson to promote safer students in Vietnam through
Helmets for Kids
Since 2012, AIP Foundation and Johnson & Johnson have partnered together to promote child helmet use and deliver student road safety education at schools in target provinces throughout Vietnam through the Helmets for Kids program. In 2019, AIP Foundation celebrated its eighth year in partnership with Johnson & Johnson and several milestones and achievements through the Helmets for Kids program. During the 2019 program year, Helmets for Kids reached a total 25,890 students, 25,890 parents, and 1,499 teachers across program schools in Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen, Quang Nam, and Gia Lia provinces, with the successful distribution of 5,966 quality helmets to vulnerable students in need. The program also marked an expansion of its outreach and activities to ethnic minorities. Through the program, students and teachers at target schools engaged in workshops, trainings, and educational materials on key road safety topics and safer road behaviors which emphasized the importance of helmet use to prevent road crash injuries or fatalities. With the support of parents, teachers, key government partners, representatives of Johnson & Johnson Vietnam, and members of the media, Helmets for Kids successfully launched helmet handover ceremonies for 20 program schools in 2019, promoting community awareness of the life-saving importance of increasing child helmet use. Across Thai Nguyen, Yen Bai, and Gia Lai province, filmed video observations before and after helmet distributions found that average helmet use rates among students had increased from 44% to 90% across the 20 schools. Over the course of the year, students also engaged in extracurricular activities designed to reinforce their knowledge and understanding of safe road behaviors and the importance of helmet use from past program activities and trainings. These interventions have demonstrated their life-saving impact. In Thai Nguyen province, a grade 5 student from a Helmets for Kids program school had been traveling on her way home from school, when a motorcycle suddenly crashed into the student’s bicycle and caused her head to hit the ground. Though the young student was hospitalized due to leg injuries, the helmet she had received through Helmets for Kids had protected her from a potentially severe head injury. With the support of Johnson & Johnson, the student was one of several program school students in 2019 whose damaged helmets were replaced by new quality helmets. From 2020-2021, AIP Foundation will continue to implement the Helmets for Kids program to work with vulnerable program schools and communities. In the next few months, with the support of key partners, the program will work to develop road safety school action plans in partnership with target schools, collect parent commitment letters to encourage families’ pledges to their child’s safety, document cases of crashes involving students to assess program impact on safety, and host program review workshops to improve activity design and implementation. |
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Street Wise launches road safety parade and educational activities at schools in Thailand
With the aim of enforcing safer journeys for students to and from school, Street Wise in Thailand launched various road crash prevention education and awareness-raising activities at program schools across Songkhla Province in Thailand, including Wat Premsatta School, Ban Hua Khao School, Wat Bor Sub School, and Ban Khao Daeng School. At one school, students and teachers participated in a road safety parade on February 25, following extracurricular activities where students learned how to stay safe on the road, including the proper steps to wear a helmet correctly and reading street signs to ensure their safe crossing. Students at Wichianchom School prepared campaign signboards for the parade and walked 1 kilometer around the school in the neighboring community, with the support and guidance of their principal and teachers. The road safety parade marked a collective school-wide effort to bring the importance of student and child road safety to light. At four other program schools in the province, Street Wise also coordinated a series of children and road safety activities, reaching 749 students. For the road safety events, students participated in risky road simulation exercises offered by facilitators from Honda Road Simulation. The simulation exercises were designed to help the children learn how to stay safe on the road, how to wear a helmet properly, and how to cross the road safely. Representatives from the Songkhla Provincial Land Transport Office offered bicycle training to the students and other stakeholders were also present to support the children in their learning during the educational activities, including representatives from the provincial Land Transport Office, Police Station, and provincial Public Health Office. The road safety parade and school-based educational activities are a part of the Street Wise program, supported by Chevron Thailand. |
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Building a culture of road safety leadership with Cambodian educators
Cambodia's nationwide road crash surveillance system, the Road Crash and Victim Information System (RCVIS), found in 2018 that 45% of Cambodian road crash victims are between the ages of 15 to 29. The troubling statistic points to the vulnerability of youth as victims of road crash injuries and fatalities and their status as a high-priority target group for road crash prevention policies and programs. In order to educate and empower university students to become passionate road safety advocates with the skills and knowledge to inspire their peers on the importance of road safety, AIP Foundation led a three-day Training of Trainers (ToT) program in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to educate university educators on the importance of improving the driving behaviors of youth. The training workshop leverages a peer-to-peer education model, training educators to serve as positive road safety role models on their campuses and in their communities, thereby enabling them to train their students and other peers on safe road behaviors. The ToT program and its focus on youth empowerment is a key component of the Safety Delivered program implemented by AIP Foundation and supported by The UPS Foundation. Educators who participated in the workshop received a training manual, program guide, and toolkit, learning how to run educational activities and awareness campaigns in order to positively influence their students. The training was well-received within the community, with support from H.E Min Meanvy, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and Secretary General of the National Road Safety Committee; H.E Him Yan, Deputy General of National Police; and H.E Yuk Gnoy, Secretary General of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. The training enabled participants to learn "through doing," by practicing what makes a road safety ambassador engaging and effective. The workshop also provided an opportunity for participants to learn about other participants' exposure to road crash traumas, as well as deepen their knowledge about the reality of risks on the roads through creative games and exercises. On the second day, participants engaged in role plays, fake scenarios, and quizzes, under the theme of building a culture where road safety is a shared responsibility for the entire community. Educators also discussed common risk factors of young people that can increase the threat of a road crash, including speeding, distracted driving, non-helmet use, and impairment due to the consumption of alcohol or drugs. Through group collaboration, participants explored strategies to avoid crashes and developed a personal plan to manage risky situations they might encounter on roads. In order to become official "trainers", educators also practiced acting as facilitators, to effectively promote conversations about road safety and inform their peers about safe road behaviors. On the final day, participants were required to complete assessments to receive their certificates of completion. |
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Safety roadshow in Thailand distributes quality helmets and knowledge
A total 400 students were given quality helmets and helmet use training through an educational roadshow at Wichakorn School in Din Daeng District, Bangkok, Thailand through the Safety Delivered program. AIP Foundation engaged and trained students on various aspects of helmet safety, including proper helmet size and fit, and further reinforced students’ understanding of the importance of helmet use and of safe road behavior through interactive road safety games. Teachers and the school principal presided over the event, which was also joined by Ms. Tubtim Anyarin Terathananpat, a famous Thai actress, model, TV host, and figure skater. At the event, Ms. Terathananpat encouraged young children to wear helmets during their trip between homes and schools. Safety Delivered is supported by The UPS Foundation and implemented by AIP Foundation in Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The program aims to reduce road crash injuries and fatalities among vulnerable motorcyclists by working with young drivers to improve their driving behaviors and by increasing child helmet use. |
Related News |
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‘Star Rating for Schools’ Application Launches to Improve Child Pedestrian Safety in School Zones
A global road safety application was showcased ahead of Third Global Ministerial Meeting on Road Safety with the aim of measuring, managing and communicating the risk children are exposed to on a journey to school. SR4S Director, Julio Urzua, iRAP said: “Today’s launch is the culmination of seven years of research, development and pilot studies around the world, where the application has already proven itself impactful in delivering improvements towards road safety. With the support of our NGO Lead Partners, we are ready to roll out SR4S in more than 1,000 schools around the world and anticipate a larger global demand for this life-saving tool. With the support of current and new donors we want to ensure the benefits of the SR4S app can be felt by as many children as possible.” Read more from our partner iRAP about their latest launch of the Star Rating for Schools Application here. |
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iRAP launches Vaccines for Roads V, a road safety resource and data tool shining light on global road injury types and victim impact stories
Every day, 56 people are left quadriplegic, 161 are rendered amputees, 914 are ‘degloved’, 932 suffer severe acquired brain injuries and 20,865 suffer limb fractures. In total 102,835 predominately young people suffer life changing injuries or death. USD$6 billion of new costs are added to health, insurance and welfare costs, every, single, day. iRAP’s Big Data Tool, vaccinesforroads.org, shines a light on the true human impact of road trauma with estimates of the actual injury types and real victim impact stories. Read more from our partner iRAP about their latest launch of their road safety resource here. |
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Read A future for the world's children? A WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission, on overcoming challenges in global child health
The health and wellbeing of children now and in the future depends on overcoming new challenges that are escalating at such speed as to threaten the progress and successes of the past two decades in child health. The climate emergency is rapidly undermining the future survival of all species, and the likelihood of a world in which all children enjoy their right to health appears increasingly out of reach. A second existential threat that is more insidious has emerged: predatory commercial exploitation that is encouraging harmful and addictive activities that are extremely deleterious to young people’s health. The WHO–UNICEF–Lancet Commission lays the foundations for a new global movement for child health that addresses these two crises and presents high-level recommendations that position children at the centre of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Read more here at The Lancet. |
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Bloomberg Philanthropies announces commitment of $240 million and a six-year plan to save 600,000 lives on the roads
Bloomberg Philanthropies commits an additional $240 million to prevent global road traffic deaths and sets out a six-year plan to save 600,000 more lives and prevent up to 22 million injuries. The Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety has saved an estimated 312,000 lives and prevented up to 11.5 million injuries since 2007. Their reinvestment also includes a new awards competition to shine a light on low- and middle-income countries that have made exemplary progress in road safety. Read more here at Bloomberg Philanthropies. |
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