Reporting back from Washington – Second Global Meeting of NGOs

Reporting back from Washington – Second Global Meeting of NGOs

by | Nov 9, 2023 | News & Blog

With great pleasure we report back from the Second Global Meeting of NGO´s Advocating for Road Safety. On 14 and 15 March 2011 more than 80 NGOs gathered in Washington DC, USA at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). In a nutshell, the participants shared knowledge, experiences and approaches to advocating for road safety and road crash victims. Talked about creating a global alliance of NGOs for road safety and road victims, strengthen their capacities for engaging with the media and were encouraged to deliver a contribution to the launch and implementation of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

It needs no mention that for YOURS it was important that there were also youth participants in this meeting and it is with much delight to mention that Axel Druart (RYD), Marlies den Ouden (TeamAlert), Aliou Oumarou (FONDEÏ MA BORI) and Ana Maria Dall´Agnese (Vida Urgente) had the opportunity to represent the youth and their organizations.

On the first day there were several Spotlight presentations on advocacy work from different perspectives and countries. This section was followed up by Johanna Birckmayer, Director at Tobacco-Free Kids. It was interesting to learn about a different sector advocating for another public health issue. To close the morning session Laura Sminkey, Communication Officer at WHO, presented the draft of Advocating for Road Safety and Road Victims: A guide for NGOs. After some discussion and suggestions it was endorsed as a useful tool.  After lunch the participants discussed ways how to implement the guide and how to prepare for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The last two hours were dedicated for a training session on: working the media.

On the second day it was a real pleasure for YOURS to chair the morning session. Margie Peden kicked off the day by presenting the global impact of road traffic injuries and what works to prevent them. From this clear presentation from a global level, it was time to discuss the ´Trends, challenges and opportunities´ from a regional perspective. All participants broke up into 4 regions and could meet one hour expressing their needs and solutions and reported back in plenary their lively discussions. In the afternoon Jeffrey Witte from Amend presented the concept for a Global Alliance of NGOs and again there was an opportunity to break up into 4 working groups to discuss such a concept (needs, expected results, next steps, etc.). Overall the idea of an Alliance was welcomed and there was a general consensus to move forward on this.

In conclusion it were two very inspirational and learning-full days. It was great to see and feel such a great energy and to see old and to make new friends in our working field. YOURS can´t wait for the next Global NGO Meeting, perhaps organized by the newly formed Alliance?

Spotlight On: Tune into Traffic – United Kingdom

Spotlight On: Tune into Traffic – United Kingdom

by | Nov 9, 2023 | News & Blog

This month we put the Spotlight on Tune into Traffic, a campaign that began life as a direct result of the 2007 World Youth Assembly for road safety. The campaign is based in the United Kingdom and is headed by Manpreet Darroch who is also YOURS’ Communication Officer.

 

Tune into traffic is a British road safety campaign that took the momentum from the World Youth Assembly 2007 and harnessed it into a focussed campaign aimed at young people aged 11-25 in the UK.

After the World Youth Assembly, Director Manpreet Darroch initiated Tune into Traffic with the help of mainstream television programme via Channel 4 Battlefront.The result of this collaboration was a 30 minute documentary focusing on Manpreet’s campaign journey and how he went about creating a campaign.

Tune into Traffic is a campaign based in the UK that is spreading the message of road safety to young people. The campaign aims to equip young people with the skills and knowledge needed to be wiser, more aware and ultimately safer on Britain’s and the world’s roads.

In promoting this message with young people, he discovered that social media and a strong internet presence is one of the most effective ways to target young people through a hard hitting viral video. The campaign currently focusses on the dangers of listening to music while crossing the road. In his research, Manpreet found that a large proportion of young people in the UK admit to being distracted by their mp3 players while on the road.

Manpreet said, ‘This is a postmodern issue, in the UK mp3 players and iPods have become a commodity but they also bring dangers if they distract young people when crossing the road’.

The Tune into Traffic website features case studies of young people affected by this distractions issue. By utilizing online media, digital communication and face-to-face school workshops, Tune into Traffic has reached a considerable amount of young people in the United Kingdom.

Example of the media used by this campaign include ‘guerrilla’ style stickers, posters, leaflets as well as online viral videos and digital social media outreach.

Manpreet Darroch, through illustrating social media’s potential and the promotion of simple road safety medias now heads up YOURS’ Communication portals. In 2010, Tune into Traffic and YOURS collaborated to create the YOURS’ first ever advocacy campaign; The World Crossing Campaign.

Tune into Traffic, through its various media illustrates how young people can create lasting impact with little to no budget but armed with the empowerment of global road safety knowledge. YOURS and Tune into Traffic continue to work closely together.

Check out our New Facebook Organization Page!

Check out our New Facebook Organization Page!

by | Nov 9, 2023 | News & Blog

YOURS is proud to announce the launch of its new organization page on Facebook. The page enables YOURS to be found on the social networking site aswell as providing a platform for supporters to show their direct support for YOURS on the site.

As well as showing direct support for YOURS through the popular social networking site, YOURS is able to track where its support comes from over facebook. YOURS recommends that NGOs and youth groups create pages like this one to offer them a platform online.

Our page joins the likes of The Decade of Action for Road Safety, FIA Foundation, Makes Roads Safer and others.

If you are a member of Facebook, you can go ahead and ‘like’ our organization page. The page will include regular updates reflected on the YOURS website and feature work of our most recent campaigns, workshops and resources.

Check out our page here.

World Health Organization Issue Mobile Phone Report

World Health Organization Issue Mobile Phone Report

by | Nov 9, 2023 | News & Blog

With new technologies making way into everyday life for many people in many parts of the world, serious distractions can prove deadly on the road. The World Health Organization have issued this report focusing on the dangers of mobile phone usage while driving.


From WHO.ORG

Distracted driving is a serious and growing threat to road safety. With more and more people owning mobile phones, and the rapid introduction of new “in-vehicle” communication systems, this problem is likely to escalate globally in the coming years. This Report focuses on the use of mobile phones while driving as one example of the broader problem of driver distraction.

It is now evident that if you are using a mobile phone while driving you are approximately four times more likely to be involved in a crash than a driver who is not using a phone. This risk appears to be similar for both hand-held and hands-free phones, because it is the cognitive distraction that is an issue, not only the physical distraction associated with holding the phone. Text messaging appears to have an even more severe impact on driving behaviour and crash risk.

The Report concludes with some of the countermeasures that could be put in place to tackle this emerging problem. These include:

  • setting up data collection systems to assess the magnitude of the problem;
  • adopting and enforcing legislation;
  • encouraging policies to address mobile phone use among employers with large fleets; and
  • running campaigns to increase public awareness about the risks of the behaviour.

Read the Full Report Here

YOURS UK Delegation: Tune into Traffic also focuses on the issues of new technologies and have formed this viral video to draw highlight to not being distracted by MP3 players.

Regional Youth Assembly for Road Safety in Oman a great success!

Regional Youth Assembly for Road Safety in Oman a great success!

by | Nov 9, 2023 | News & Blog

It is with great pleasure that YOURS reports back on the First Regional Youth Assembly for Road Safety in the Middle-East. The Assembly was hosted by Oman and organized by the Omani Youth Ambassadors for Road Safety with the support and oversight of YOURS-Youth for Road Safety and the Global Road Safety Partnership with the Middle East and North Africa Road Safety Partnership (MENARSP). Under the theme ‘Connectivity and Moving Forward’.

The three-day assembly was a great success and endorsed the empowerment of youth in the region. 36 Young people from 24 countries gathered in Muscat to talk about youth and road safety issues in their region.

The main outcomes of the Assembly were that the participants:

  • learnt how to advocate for Youth and Road Safety issues
  • shared their road safety knowledge and experiences from other countries
  • acknowledged the importance of capacity development and identified their current skills and capacities and how they can be improved
  • listened and worked on research methods for their road safety projects
  • agreed to form a regional network that will feed into the global youth network of YOURS
  • adopted the Muscat Youth Declaration for Road Safety, including 11 recommendations

Before the official Assembly started, the participants spent two days in the Wahibi Sands together. Under the guidance of Anthony Lewis, a road safety consultant of the UK Army, the youth were trained on several road safety issues during several workshops. On top of that, working together in the desert as a team, the participants became friends and got to know each other. Different cultures and languages were saw a common goal and united into one team for road safety.

During the Assembly the participants were divided several times into five main groups for discussions and workshops under the lead of YOURS and GRSP facilitators. Among the issues that were highlighted during these sessions were ‘Youth Advocacy for Road Safety´, the importance of ´Networking and Sharing´ and ´Capacity Development´.

The delegates stressed the importance of common solidarity and connectivity with each other. They discussed how one can benefit from the experiences of others in relation to reducing road traffic injuries. The participants emphasised on how communities can contribute together to avoid past mistakes through the modernisation of information and data available, and also via raising awareness among youngsters through modern means such as Facebook, modern media, visual and audio media.

Participants also talked about the importance of having different views from various cultures, and the power of youth and their real power and ability on influencing and inspiring any nation to change. They also discussed the ways to increase awareness and knowledge among youths. They assured that effective communication can be achieved only if it was built on potent schemes for the future.

After five days of hard work, deliberations and networking the Regional Youth Assembly for Road Safety came to an end with an announcement of the 11 recommendations of the assembly and the adoption of the Muscat Youth Declaration on Road Safety. Young delegates from the Asian Co-operation Dialogue (ACD) countries and the Middle East and North Africa region, with the participation of observers from five other countries, strongly recommend the empowerment of youth of in the region.

In order to make road safety a reality, young people must be part of the solution and not only part of the problem. All those who participated in this Assembly are to be given the status of Road Safety Youth Ambassadors.

The assembly resolved that the road safety youth ambassadors of the region will collaborate and unite to reduce human toll resulting from road traffic injuries. They also concluded to work together to formulate programmes to improve and increase advocacy for youth and road safety issues, develop youth capacities and skills to plan effective road safety initiatives and facilitate sharing of knowledge and experience.

The delegates determined that the Regional Youth Road Safety Assembly will meet annually and the Regional Youth Council for Road Safety will work closely with the global youth movement for road safety; YOURS –Youth for Road Safety.

In addition, the Assembly endorsed the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. “The Road Safety Youth Ambassadors are to be actively involved in their countries in planning the launch of the Decade on May 11, 2011 and also in implementing initiatives that will contribute to the objectives of the Decade of Action.”

YOURS was proud and humbled to be part of this Regional Youth Assembly for Road Safety in Oman. Floor Lieshout said, “ Together we ensured that this region now has a great starting point for young people that want to be part of the change they want to see in road safety. It is important that all this energy, good intentions and momentum are channelled into one direction that is aligned with the global youth movement for road safety. I think we can conclude that we have succeeded in this.”

Finally YOURS would like to thank all participants and co-organizers for making this assembly a successful one, great things are ahead of us.

WCC Update: Gambia Road Safety Initiative a Massive Success

WCC Update: Gambia Road Safety Initiative a Massive Success

by | Nov 9, 2023 | News & Blog

YOURS’ first global advocacy campaign The World Crossing Campaign (WCC) funded its winning entry Mr Siaka. K. Dibba who subsequently implemented an impressive road safety event in the Gambia. The event materialized as a strong collaboration between the Gambia Red Cross Society Youth Commission and The National Youth Parliament of the Gambia.

YOURS is proud to provide its readers with the report from the initiative it funded through the auspices of the World Crossing Campaign. The event was organized with the funds provided by YOURS and we were incredibly impressed at the scope and reach that this fund enabled.

The theme of the event was entitled, ‘Changing Minds, Saving Lives’ and YOURS recently featured an article that detailed the aims and objctives of this ambitious project. Now, after its completion the following key milestones were reached: 

  • Media Campaign (Press Briefing, newspaper publications and TV interview)
  • Capacity Enhancement Programme
  • Assembly Speeches
  • Radio Talk Show
  • School Outreach Programmes 

The first presentation ‘Reason for over representation of young people in road traffic injuries’ was facilitated by the WHO Gambia’s Health Promotion Officer-Mr. Momodou Gassama. His deliberations covered areas such as:

  • Faces behind the figures;
  • Number of young people dying because of road traffic injuries; 
  • Profile of road users and how to prevent road traffic deaths/crashes among young
  • people.

This session was interactive and gave the participants the opportunity to share experiences on accidents they witnessed.

Conclusion

Road traffic injuries aside from being a major health hazard leading to a high rate of morbidity, disability and death, have great social impact on the victims, their families and the nation. Preventing road accidents and injuries should be an important area that calls for the attention of policy makers, as it is not only crucial to the health, social and transportation sectors but it is also cost-effective.
The training was generally interesting, participatory, and successful. Participants expressed their gratitude and appreciation in the training strategy and acknowledged that it has taken them to another level as their capacities are built on issue that were not known to them before. They further pledged that they will make best use of the opportunity given to them and disseminate the information to their colleagues and the public.

The school outreach activities and radio programs also created an impact as students promised to take their rightful positions to sensitize their peers as well the drivers on their way to or from school.

YOURS Comments

YOURS emphatically congratuates the implementation of this project and commends the work of Mr Siaka. K. Dibba who was the driving force behind this project. YOURS also encourages more of these types of projects especially during the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. In the coming years, YOURS will continue to support such projects which will develop the capacity of young people around the world, especially in low and middle income countries.

The full report can be read in the attachments of this news story.