Skip to main content

Building capacity on data in African nations, Tanzania and Senegal

Improving road safety is a key development priority for Africa
May 21, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Improving road safety is a key development priority for Africa

Despite comparatively low motorisation levels, the continent witnesses the world’s highest rate of road traffic fatalities, with approximately 26.6 deaths/100,000 population (WHO 2018). The importance and need for better road safety data has been highlighted in 3262 United Nations, African Union and other multilateral resolutions. The latest Road Safety Resolution approved by the UN General Assembly in April 2018, specifically recognises the importance of capacity building in this field. In recent discussions surrounding the creation of an African Road Safety Observatory, African governments further recognised that coordinated efforts are necessary to address the significant need for better data.
 

About LEARN

 

LEARN is a joint initiative of the 1201 IRF Geneva and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety made possible thanks to the support of the FIA Road Safety Grant Programme. The joint effort aims at enhancing the knowledge, skills and actions of a selected group of road safety professionals and stakeholders via hands-on training in two African countries: Tanzania and Senegal. While building their data-related knowledge and skills during a three-day workshop to be hosted both in Tanzania and in Senegal, participants will familiarise themselves with a range of data tools and techniques that can help improve the quality of their work.

Over the past two years, the Global Alliance has conducted a series of capacity building initiatives specifically tailored to
NGOs working in road safety around the world. The action plans developed by the NGOs attending the training have led to measurable impacts including national legislation change in Tunisia and the Philippines. On the other side, the IRF has been delivering training on data over the past two decades. The effectiveness of this training is reflected and measured with the increased quality and quantity of data harvest annually via the IRF World Road Statistics questionnaire.

“The project will demonstrate the added value of working together, in a systemic way and with the support of data. We aim at building a model of working that can be replicated in other African countries and elsewhere,” said Susanna Zammataro, IRF director general. “Tanzania and Senegal were deliberately chosen as they are representative of two different cultural and linguistic regions. Training resources in French are currently limited, and we believe this project will further enable scaling up road safety activities and reach in Francophone Africa as well,” she continued.

For more information contact: <%$Linker:

2

External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external [email protected] false https://www.irfnet.ch/ false false%>

 

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The IRF is committed to Africa’s Transport Agenda
    March 13, 2014
    Regional Congress to take place June 4-6 in Abuja, Nigeria The 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition created opportunities for stakeholder discussions around global as well as regional agendas. More than 50 participants representing heads of government agencies, development partners, academia, and contractors took part in an interactive roundtable discussion on the supply and provision of transport infrastructure on the African continent. Topics ranging from safety to the qualifications needed for th
  • IRF releases policy guidelines on safety in road work zones
    April 9, 2018
    The International Road Federation (IRF Global) has published policy guidelines in an effort to draw attention to the urgent need for coordinated efforts to foster a safety culture on road construction sites. Accidents on road construction sites are responsible for hundreds of thousands of injuries and thousands of deaths worldwide. Work zones present an increased risk for workers who build, repair and maintain roads, bridges and tunnels, as well as for a variety of road users, including pedestrians, bicy
  • A future UK government should focus more on potholes and road safety
    April 10, 2015
    With a national UK election looming next month, a future government must make road safety a top priority, said the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). Half of motorists in a recent survey of 2,156 people, and conducted IAM in March, said the current administration has not given the issue as much attention as is needed. The number one issue that the government should be focussing on, according to 70% of respondents, is the reduction of the number of potholes. The backlog of repairs now tops more
  • Armenia’s road safety problem is critical
    March 9, 2018
    Armenia is facing a crisis in road safety, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The rate of road traffic fatalities in Armenia is 18.3/100,000 population according to the WHO 2015 Global Status Report on Road Safety. This is the highest rate in any Eastern European or Caucasus country, and costs an estimated 4.62% of GDP/year. Establishing partnerships with local authorities is a vital step towards improving road safety, saving lives and developing the economy. EASST partner Poghos Shahinyan,