ΝΕΑ από την Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety

Ενεργό μέλος της  η   Ε.Υ.ΘΥ.Τ.Α -ΠΑΡΑΤΗΡΗΤΗΡΙΟ ΟΔΙΚΗΣ ΑΣΦΑΛΕΙΑΣ ΡΟΔΟΥ

The Alliance  Newsletter January 2024 edition In this issue: 1. Editorial 2. Meet the 2024 Incubator cohort 3. Member story: Building capacity through the Incubator 4. Session: NGOs and the Global Status Report 5. Session: Enabling Environment Assessment and Framework 6. Upcoming events

Building NGO capacity for impact    This month, the Alliance announced the third cohort of NGOs to take part in the Alliance Incubator, our flagship capacity building initiative. Capacity building is set out in our Strategic Plan as one of the three key ways that we achieve our impact goals. We believe that NGOs contribute most effectively to the 2030 target to halve road deaths and injuries when they advocate for specific, strategic, evidence-based solutions to save lives; build community demand; and hold governments accountable for safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable mobility.  To do this requires knowledge about the interventions that will save the most lives, backed with data. NGOs must be able to identify the right decision makers and influencers and understand the processes, challenges, and opportunities for policy implementation and advocacy, specific to their country. In this way, they can stand up for communities and speak out about the reality of people's unsafe daily journeys. The Alliance is helping NGOs to grow their knowledge and skills and find new and improved avenues to achieve their goals. We do this through the Incubator and other programs, and through tools and research, such as the Accountability Toolkit and the recent assessment of the enabling environment. We offer regular capacity building opportunities through online and in person events, including our session on the Global Status Report last week and the Global Meeting of Nongovernmental Organizations Advocating for Road Safety and Road Victims.    NGOs are known for their passion. Increasingly, they are also becoming known for their credibility and how they represent people and communities. This is happening because they have invested in their own capacity and grasped opportunities and tools that build their knowledge and skills.   2024 is set to be another big year for NGO advocacy, following the launch of the latest Global Status Report and in the lead up to the Fourth Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Morocco in February 2025. We need to be equipped. Read more HERE. ASIRT Kenya advocating for 30 km/h zones. Meet the 2024 Incubator cohort "Our Incubator project aims to accelerate the implementation of 30 km/h zones. This project not only enables us to make a difference with the tangible creation of these zones but also paves the way for more effective nationwide advocacy in the future,” says Javiera Vitar, Coordinator of Civic Education, Fundación Emilia, Chile. The Alliance recently announced its latest cohort of NGOs into the Alliance Incubator program (Incubator), supported by Michelin and the TotalEnergies Foundation program. The Incubator mobilizes and strengthens NGOs’ advocacy to drive implementation of interventions that have been proven to be effective in reducing road-related deaths. It is key to our mission to support NGOs in advocacy and accountability, aligning to the capacity building pillar in our Strategic Plan. This year’s cohort consists of 12 NGOs from ten countries across three continents: Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Using the Alliance Accountability Toolkit, six of the NGOs will be advocating for 30 km/h zones, including Vida Urgente, Brazil, aiming to establish a 30 km/h zone on two streets in Porto Alegre as a replicable model throughout the State of Rio Grande. ASIRT Kenya is leveraging a review of the National Traffic Act to advocate for development and implementation of regulations including 30 km/h limits around schools. Five NGOs will be advocating for traffic calming and lower speeds, such as MINU in Argentina, spearheading a project to construct traffic calming facilities in the vicinity around the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. In Mexico, Proyecto Céntrico’s advocacy will build a coalition of support to drive reform of the General Law of Mobility and Road Safety to include regulations for the safe use of motorcycles.  Read more about the 2024 Incubator cohort HERE and read the press release HERE. Read about how being a part of the Incubator program has strengthened URRENO and HOVITA’s advocacy for 30 km/h zones around schools BELOW. . URRENO in an activation session with school children as part of activities for traffic calming in school zones. Member story: Building capacity through the Incubator “Through the Incubator, we have built stronger partnerships and continuous engagement with key stakeholders such as the Kampala Capital City Authority, Ministry of Works and Transport, and Uganda Police, which are leading to tangible impacts of our advocacy efforts towards implementing 30 km/h zones,” says Fred Tumwine, Executive Director, URRENO, Uganda. In 2021, two Alliance member NGOs, the Uganda Road Accident Reduction Network Organization (URRENO) and Hope for Victims of Traffic Accidents (HOVITA), formed a coalition under the Alliance Incubator program with a goal to halve road crash deaths and injuries among Ugandan school children by 2030. Since their involvement in the Incubator, the coalition has garnered public support and decision maker attention. The government has agreed to appoint a consultant to review speed limits in urban areas across Uganda.  Since their participation in the Incubator, the NGOs have developed and secured international funding for a school zone safety improvement project. The Incubator has also improved their capacity to analyze and simplify complex data, making it more accessible to policymakers and improving their effectiveness in communicating the urgency of their cause to decision makers.  “Prior to the Incubator, we thought that sensitizing and training school children was enough, but this has not yielded much of a result. But with the Incubator, we have learnt that we can further empower school children to demand for their rights,” says Sam Bambanza, Executive Director of HOVITA. Read more about how the coalition has increased its capacity to engage more effectively with stakeholders, attract media, and unlock funding through the Incubator HERE. . Asociacion Madres del Dolor and Bien Argentino in a roundtable meeting with road safety authorities. NGOs and the Global Status Report “The bottom line is that the targets have not been met and that there is still a lot of work to do. People are still dying and there are still systems that are unsafe; there are still roads that are poorly designed and transport systems that are heavily skewed towards cars; and other evidence of the lack of safety. These are the key messages that we need to be focusing on,” says Nhan Tran, Head, Safety and Mobility, Department of the Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization, at our online session NGOs and the Global Status Report. The session enabled NGOs to increase their understanding of the Global Status Report data and build capacity, so they can be more effective in their advocacy to meet the 2030 targets. Nhan Tran shared key insights on how to interpret the report and use it for advocacy. He answered NGOs' questions, including how NGOs can explain the variance between country reported fatalities and WHO estimates when presenting it to decision makers. He also gave his perspective on ways that some countries have been able to achieve significant reductions in road fatalities in the past 10 years. Read more and find the session recording HERE. On 7 and 8 February 2024, we will be running workshops to help NGOs navigate the Global Status Report app. Find the registration links BELOW. RSA Tanzania engaging decision makers for 30 km/h implementation.

Enabling Environment Assessment and Framework “Leaders make more responsible decisions when they know they are being watched,” says Phillipa Tucker, Eastern and Central Europe Coordinator – European Disability Forum, at the Alliance's online session Enabling Environment and Framework: Strengthening Advocacy and Accountability, giving her perspective on what makes an effective environment for government engagement with NGOs. The session looked at the findings of Assessment of the Enabling Environment for Road Safety Civil Society Organizations in Three Sub-Saharan African Countries, a recent report by the Alliance, in partnership with local universities in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Zambia (Addis Ababa University School of Public Health, Makerere University School of Public Health, and Harvest University) and the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. The report provides a framework designed to initiate discussions between government and civil society working in road safety to identify and analyze barriers and enablers for both parties to address in collaborating more effectively. Panelists, from a spectrum of road safety and human rights organizations and a parliamentary group, provided further insights, drawing on their own experiences of the issues NGOs face in engaging with government. They highlighted strategies that NGOs can use for better engagement with government. NGOs participating in the session added perspectives from their own countries. Read more and find the session recording HERE.