Last week Mr Aliou Oumarou (Niger), Mr Axl Druart (Belgium) and Mr Ousman Conteh (The Gambia) attended an important road safety conference in Dakar. One of the outcomes of the forum was the importance of promoting networks and consortiums of youth organizations, especially student and road safety professionals in education, to promote road safety. Therefore the youth delegates expressed their desire to mobilize resources to form a strong African youth network in the future. Also they would like to organize an African Youth Forum to discuss their concrete participation to the proclaimed decade of action and beyond.
This article is prepared by Mr Ousman Conteh:
It will interest you that not one of the Millennium Development Goals mentions transport, yet the achievement of each and every one is dependent on reliable access to communities through transport. Whether it is the local transporter delivering construction materials to build a school in a rural area in The Gambia, Senegal, Niger or Mali or the humanitarian organisation who delivers aid to the most vulnerable people in West Africa, transport operations are the backbone to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Thus, this prompted the First Regional Road Safety Conference from The 4th-5th May 2010, Held in Dakar, Republic of Senegal under the theme: Clean, Safe and Healthy Transports Operations
The Forum was co-organized by LASER International and the Fleet Forum, under the patronage of the Ministry of Telecommunications, Tics, Earthly and Rail Transportations of Senegal. In partnership with the World Health Organization, the UNECA, the UEMOA, the American Center for Disease Control and in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Prevention of the Senegal, UNEP, United Nations Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC). With support of the partners of the private sector, Such as, TNT, North Star Alliance, SGS, SICTA Ivory Coast, the Autonomous Agency of the Road Works (AATR), the Executive Counsel of the Urban Transportations of Dakar (CETUD).
My participation was possible with support from Fleet Forum and Laser International after a consultation made by Mr Floor Lieshout, The Chief Executive Officer of YOURS, to represent National Youth Parliament and YOURS and also giving the opportunity to present on my Road Safety activities in The Gambia with special emphasis on the recent partnership being established between the National Youth Parliament and The Gambia Redcross Society on Road Safety.
My presentation highlighted our major key involvements in Road Safety Advocacy in the Gambia. Among other things we want to mobilize youth voices to engage in responsible road behavior (to avoid road crash injuries) and I mentioned our high level policy dialogue to influence some local road safety policies and legislation such as the Motor Traffic Act 2008, which prohibit the use of mobile phones while driving and compulsory use of seatbelt in The Gambia. Furthermore my presentation contained the outlines of our new partnership to develop global partnership in support of research on the impact of Road Accident in The Gambia, Training of Drivers on First Aid and The Establishment of Community First Aids Team to minimize post crash casualties and death in The Gambia. Last but least, I presented to the participants the activities of YOURS and our latest activities such as the upcoming World Crossing Campaign. This was further reiterated by Mr Axel Druart (fellow YOURS taskforce member) who also made presentation shortly after me on his activities and YOURS as well.
The Forum gathered closed to 150 participants from Africa and the rest of the World. Comprising representatives of the government, private sector, Youth, International Organisations, Road safety professional and experts amongst others. The forum is one of the major gathering of Road Safety professionals and expert in the African Continent after the Moscow Ministerial Conference and Land mark endorsement of the UN general Assembly resolution to endorsed Moscow Resolution and proclaimed the Decade Of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 in March 2010 in New York. The forum was in line with fostering partnership and share best practices that seeks to stabilized and reduced the impact of road traffic injuries in Africa and to reaffirm the engagement of the African States for the Decade of Action for the road safety in accordance with The Moscow Declaration and to use platform for information and exchanges of experiences, – showcase the good practices regarding transportations, – Give opportunity to public and private sector partnerships in support of Road Safety projects and programs in Africa
Our participation in the Forum does not only recognize the importance of young people as major victims of the road traffic injuries, but also as key actors in reversing the devastating impact of road accident, whose active involvement and participation is a significant step in reducing the negative impact of road crashes on the Continent.
The Forum witness key and best practices shared by Fleet Forum, North Star Alliance, Transaid, UNEP,GTKP, IT Mobile, Laser Europe, Responsible Young Drivers and acknowledge with valuable contribution by Northern Corridor TOTAL Group and World Bank in support of Road Safety.
One thing was certain from the Forum, there is a need for strong collaboration between the government and private sector as well as the civil society organisation. To encourage resources to support capacity development and data collection and research program and to influence positively the behavior of drivers through endorsement of quality training standards.
The forum recognized the importance of promoting networks and consortiums of youth organizations, especially student and road safety professionals in education, to promote road safety. Therefore we the youth delegates expressed our desire to mobilize resources to form a strong African youth network in the future. Furthermore we want to organize an African Youth Forum to discuss our concrete participation to the proclaimed decade of action and beyond.
