New York, USA – Last week, June 30, delegates from the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety flew to represent young people worldwide during the High-Level Meeting on Road Safety. Estiara Ellizar (Indonesia), Jacob Smith (USA), Simon Patrick Obi (Nigeria), and Yasmine Al Moghrabi (Lebanon) along with our team led an official side event during the Meeting that called on local and global leaders to meaningfully engage with youth when it comes to all stages of decision-making in road safety and sustainable mobility.

Art, road safety, and meaningful youth engagement 
“Stop Blaming Us & Start Engaging Us,” this was the call our young delegates elevated during the High-Level Meeting, highlighted during our official side event. We worked closely with Lisa Russell, Founder of Create2030, to ensure that the event was informative and empowering as well as creatively delivered through dance, music, and other artistic interpretations. 

Lisa shared how art can be used to draw attention and raise awareness around the road safety and youth agenda. “Artists have a role and place in this movement and a lot of times we have challenges that have been similar to what young people face in this environment of feeling like a lot of our participation is tokenized but are we really involved in the conversation?” 

The event was officially opened by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director of Social Determinants of Health of WHO Etienne Krug, and United Nations Special Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake. 

Each of our speakers spoke about why it’s so important to have young people working with all stakeholders to address the biggest killer of youth; road traffic crashes. In his speech, Etienne shared the unacceptable reality youth have to live with. 

“It’s true, you guys have inherited a dirty, unsafe, unsustainable transport system – and you are blamed for it. You’re blamed because you are dying on the roads and of course, this is unacceptable.” – Etienne Krug 

Supporting the need to protect and engage youth, Jayathma emphasizes that youth have started and continue to rise up to the world’s challenges ‘with or without the world noticing.’ 

Start engaging us
The event continued with an intergenerational dialogue between representatives of the Youth Coalition Yasmine Al Moghrabi and Simon Patrick Obi with Vice Minister of Planning and Regulation Of the Ministry of Public Work, Dominican Republic H.E. Angel Salvador Tejeda and Lord Mayor of Kampala City, Uganda H.E. Erias Lukwago. The dialogue was moderated by Professor Adnan Hyder from George Washington University. 

The panelists spoke about their thoughts on youth engagement, shedding light on how different sectors and generations understand youth and road safety. Despite differences in perspectives brought on by the respective status quos of the different countries, the similarity is reflected in the fact that youth are the victims and that the system needs to be adjusted to meet the needs of youth and to involve them. 

New York, USA – Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety Youth Leadership Board Member Estiara Ellizar and North America Regional Leader Jacob Smith joined a multi-stakeholder panel for the High-Level Meeting on Road Safety to represent the demands of young people to decision-makers for road safety. The panel was held on July 1, the second day of the High-Level Meeting, at the United Nations Headquarters. 

The panel discussion revolved around mobilizing all stakeholders to accelerate the implementation of the Global Plan and achieve a 50% reduction in road-related deaths and injuries. 

Jacob represented YOURS – Youth for Road Safety, posing a question for all stakeholders present on behalf of young people around the world. During his intervention, Jacob asked leaders about including young people in actions to address road safety and other development issues. 

Estiara was one of the panelists of the session. She joined the Minister of Equipment and Transport from Mauritania H.E. Mr. Mokhtar Ahmed El Yedali, Executive Director of FIA Foundation Mr. Saul Billingsley, and President of the Foundation of Gonzalo Rodriguez in Uruguay Ms. Fernanda Rodriguez. 

Talking about addressing the biggest killer of youth, Estiara calls on local and global leaders to make the right decision and have youth represented in all stages of policymaking and decision-making that have to do with road safety and sustainable mobility. 

“Will you make the right decision today to ensure that youth are meaningfully engaged and represented in all decision-making processes that affect road safety or will you explain to your children, to your grandchildren in 2030 that you failed to seize the opportunity to stop the number one killer on the roads?” 

The sessions continued with other stakeholders. Other topics were around incorporating road safety into sustainable development politically and sustained domestic investment and international financing for capacity building and development assistance in evidence-based road safety interventions.

READ ABOUT OUR OFFICIAL HLM SIDE EVENT 

London, United Kingdom – Last Tuesday, June 21, our youth leader Oliva Nalwadda from Uganda joined a road safety panel during the FIA Foundation Forum to talk about meaningful youth participation. She delivered a powerful message calling on leaders to stop blaming youth and to start protecting and engaging them.

What is meaningful youth participation?
For her intervention, Oliva was asked about how governments and donors should engage with young people in their respective capacities. To which, Oliva threw a few questions back, asking the audience and the rest of the panelists about what it means to meaningfully engage with young people.

“What is meaningful youth engagement? Is it allocating 3% of your budget to youth initiatives? Is it having a youth leadership board within the structure of the organization? Is it too complex for us to achieve?” 

Oliva doubles down by explaining how young people make up the biggest percentage of the world’s population and yet the biggest majority of the world’s leaders are made up of older generations. “Our fear is so often that when we are not part of the decision-making procedure, we are forgotten”.

Answering the question, Oliva explained that meaningfully engaging with youth means including them as equal partners in addressing road safety and sustainable mobility issues.

Young people are ready
After talking about meaningful youth engagement, Oliva emphasized to the panel and the rest of the audience that young people are ready and are already taking action for road safety. She shared that young people are already leading projects, engaging with stakeholders, organizing themselves into coalitions, and more. 

She calls on decision-makers and leaders to start implementing the commitments they made to involve and engage young people. Oliva tells leaders to work with youth saying “We are willing to work with you so work with us. We are asking for a chance.” 

Led by FIA Foundation’s Avi Silverman, Oliva joined Etienne Krug from the World Health Organization, Jennifer Homendy from the National Transportation Safety Board, Nneka Henry from the United Nations Road Safety Fund, Jean Todt from the UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, and David Ward from Towards Zero Foundation in the panel.

MORE ABOUT FIA FOUNDATION 

“For many years, youth have always been seen as problematic road users. Today, we will prove that we can be part of the solution and our voices should be taken into consideration by the political leaders at the decision-making table. We’re ready to #ClaimingOurSpace!” – Estiara Ellizar, Youth Leadership Board member. Our youth representatives are going to be joining the High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Road Safety this coming 30th June.

We are bringing youth voices to the highest echelons of leadership to show local and global leaders that young people are ready to take action and that it is time they were included in all levels of decision-making when it comes to road safety and sustainable mobility. 

The high-level meeting consists of an opening statement, a plenary segment, multi-stakeholder thematic panels, and a closing statement. It will view the global agenda through a road safety lens, assessing the progress made in attaining road safety-related SDG targets.

The Meeting will be a time for Members States and all involved partners to mobilize political leadership to address road safety needs around the world. Attendees and representatives will also address different road safety gaps and challenges, promote multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration, and assess the progress made in implementing the Global Plan for the Decade of Action at national and municipal levels. 

During the Meeting, our youth leaders will take part in two-part in two key events; host a global art exhibit inspired by the #ClaimingOurSpace Campaign and lead an official side event that will promote meaningful youth participation as a standard at all stages and levels of road safety and sustainable mobility policymaking processes. 

The meeting will be an opportunity for our youth to elevate their demands for decision-makers and policymakers for improved road safety and safe and sustainable modes of transport.

Through the exhibit, our leaders will highlight the road safety realities young people face and will show leaders and other stakeholders how youth are addressing these issues in an effort to protect themselves and their peers. The exhibit will feature six different art pieces from our local artists. 

The side event titled “Stop Blaming Us, Start Engaging Us” will be led by our very own Jacob Smith. Through the event, our youth leaders will; (1) promote the importance and necessity of an intergenerational dialogue between youth, government authorities, and multilateral organizations, (2) launch a Policymakers toolkit for meaningful youth participation in road safety, and (3) disseminate and promote the endorsement of the Policymakers toolkit with all stakeholders. 

The HLM will approve a concise and action-oriented political declaration agreed in advance by consensus through intergovernmental negotiations, to be submitted by the President of the General Assembly for adoption by the UN General Assembly. The Governments of Côte d’Ivoire and the Russian Federation have been tasked with leading these negotiations. 

MORE ABOUT THE HLM

Our Junior Project Manager, Sana’a Khasawneh, joined the Road Safety Pioneers (RSP) NGO in an online session called “moving from paper plans to effective actions”. The session gathered different leaders from the road safety field so that they can discuss the challenges different countries face in implementing the road safety plan while also finding solutions to address the challenges identified. The session was held last Thursday, June 16.

Session: moving paper to action
This RSP webinar is the first of a two-part session. The second one will be held next Thursday, June 23 at 12 pm CEST. Each of the two will discuss ways on how to implement the Global Plan for Road Safety while also touching on the best practices from different organizations represented by the speakers. 

This first session featured four different speakers, including Sana’a. The others were Nneka Henry from the UN Road Safety Fund, Dr. Hafez Alavi from HA Consulting, and Dr. Alina Burlacu from the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF). It was led by Ali Zayerzadeh, the CEO of the RSP. 

The speakers talked about the different initiatives they are leading to realize the targets in the Global Plan. Dr. Hafez, for example, focused on the work they are doing for sustainable transport. He explained how modes of transport like cycling would have positive impacts on the economy, environment, public health, and transport and safety. 

In her speech, Dr. Alina shared how important it is to fund road safety initiatives in support of the Plan. She shared the different projects the GRSF has invested in to create safer road safety facilities around the world. She added that, at present, the World Bank Transport has 163 projects totaling $31 billion. 

Taking action
During her intervention, Sana’a focused on the actions youth are taking to address road safety issues in their countries and communities. She emphasized that it was high-time youth are involved in efforts to address their biggest killer; road crashes. “Youth are an asset”. 

She shared how we at YOURS are empowering young people through the Global Youth Coalition, providing them with the tools, resources, and opportunities they need to lead positive change in their communities. Through our youth leaders, we are slowly inching toward the achievement of the goal to reduce the number of road-related deaths and injuries worldwide. 

Learn more about the youth movement in road safety by checking out the Youth Coalition. 

GLOBAL YOUTH COALITION FOR ROAD SAFETY

Marking another local milestone, one of the Global Youth Coalition’s Youth Leadership Board members Laura Daniela Gómez joins the Congreso Gallego de Seguridad y Educación Viaria or the Galician Congress of Road Safety and Education to represent the Youth Coalition last 19 May. Dani talked about the programs and projects of the Youth Coalition, emphasizing how they empower young people around the world. 

Galician Congress of Road Safety and Education
The Congress featured different forums on mobility, road culture, and public spaces. It also invited different representatives within the road safety sector to provide and discuss multiple perspectives to analyze ways to approach public actions and how to contribute to the development of urban spaces. 

The Congress ran from the 19th to the 20th of May and was held at the Pazo da Cultura in A Coruña, Spain. 

The Congress gathered local and international experts who spoke within the structures of four themes throughout the event. The themes include; a new model of public space, vehicles for personal mobility and road safety, new methodologies of education for good mobility, and international cooperation. 

Youth intervention 
Dani joined a panel called international cooperation where she helped cover topics around the experiences and international best practices on road safety and youth engagement.

She talked about how organizations like YOURS – Youth for Road Safety, the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety, and Despacio are supporting the youth movement by providing young people with all the resources they need to create positive change around road safety, sustainable mobility, and youth engagement. 

Dani elaborated on the Youth Coalition’s Local Actions initiative where she shared her experience of implementing three projects in the same number of years to promote and institutionalize safe cycling in Bogota, Colombia. She shared how she was able to access funds, partnerships, mentorship, and other opportunities that helped her impact local perception of more sustainable modes of transport. 

Participants of the Congress were also given the opportunity to interact with the speakers through tools like Mentimeter. During this section, the road safety knowledge of the participants was tested and discussed. 

Dani ended the session by calling on the participants to join the road safety movement by signing up for the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. “Let’s claim our space!”

JOIN THE GLOBAL YOUTH COALITION