The Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety opened Applications to the 3rd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety happening at Marrakesh, Morocco on February 2025 last Thursday, August 15.

From February 15-16, 2025, over 200 young leaders from around the world will gather in Marrakech, Morocco, to shape the future of global road safety. The Assembly is an official side event to the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety.

The Assembly is a unique opportunity for youth to come together in an interactive, groundbreaking and creative event, gathering youth voices and innovative ideas to influence global strategies. It will feature an inspiring and youthful programme that includes energetic keynote speeches, interactive workshops, artistic interventions, street activations with civil society partners, and opportunities to learn from and engage with top decision-makers in the field.

Through the Assembly, it is expected that youth voices will be elevated on the global stage, that youth actions will be catalysed through training and access to resources, and that individuals and groups working for safer roads and more sustainable transportation will have enhanced collaborations.

Before applying, young leaders are expected to meet all three criteria; (1) must be a member of the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety, must have completed the Global Youth Consultation, and must have completed the first two modules at the YOURS Academy. Only then will they be considered for the delegation spots.

The deadline for applications is on the 15th of September 2024 at 23:59 CEST.

15 August 2024 – YOURS – Youth for Road Safety, through the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety International Youth Day celebration, launched a new Advocacy and Campaigns Toolkit titled “Changing Lanes: Youth Driving the Movement 4 Safer Mobility”.

During the ‘Road Safety and Digital Advocacy’ Webinar, YOURS Advocacy Director Stefania Minniti discussed the importance and use of the new toolkit and gave a sneak peek at what youth leaders can find in the document. 

Stefania highlighted that the toolkit was made possible through efforts of youth leaders from the Youth Coalition leadership structure, as they worked to co-design the toolkit. “At YOURS, we have been working for a meaningful youth engagement approach for more than ten years, so we just [compiled] all the great information we have so far [for this toolkit]”

The toolkit presents a road map for young leaders that prepares them for their respective advocacy journeys at both the local and national levels, hopefully leading to their delegation to the 3rd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety happening in Marrakech, Morocco in February 2025. 

Young leaders will have access to strategic tools designed to equip them with the skills and knowledge to drive impactful advocacy change, sustain effective advocacy efforts, and lead transformative movements in their communities and beyond. 

During her presentation, Stefania also spotlighted the case studies featured in the Toolkit, which elaborated on different youth advocacy efforts worldwide. “You can find different tactics on how to develop good engagement campaigns at the community level and even digital skill sets on how to prepare and set up bilateral meetings”. 

Stefania also pointed out that the Advocacy and Campaigns toolkit is for all young people, regardless of where they are in their advocacy journey. 

We encourage you to use these advocacy and campaign tools as a practical guide to enhance your already existing advocacy skills, demonstrate new knowledge, understand how to gain public support, and mobilise your community.

The journey matters as much as the end goal. Remember, it is always about the end goal: contributing to saving lives and creating more sustainable mobility systems. Let’s keep on #ClaimingOurSpace on the way to the 4th Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in 2025 and beyond!

YOURS – Youth for Road Safety Capacity Development Manager Laura Daniela Gomez wins a grant from the Knight Emerging City Champions – a fellowship and micro-grant programme for young civic innovations with “bold ideas for developing engaged, inclusive, and equitable communities.”

The Grant will elevate new voices in city building and support projects that strengthen communities. Projects could include efforts to revitalise downtown and neighborhoods, improve public spaces where people can connect with places they live, and create more economic opportunities that attract and retain residents through more inclusive pathways to jobs and more.

According to the Knight Emerging City Champions website, “Emerging City Champions use their energy, ingenuity, and collaborative partnerships to create real community change. From beehives to jukeboxes, mentorship programs to art projects, block parties to shared meals, ECC participants strengthen mobility, improve public spaces, and enhance civic engagement in their city.”

Daniela has a lot of experience leading projects focused on creating safer cities, especially for cyclists. As a member of the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety, she has won Local Actions grants from 2021 – 2022 while also winning the Impact Generator Challenge as a delegate of the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety.

Daniela’s Project “Macon for everyone, Macon para todos”, comprises two interconnected components:  enhancing accessibility for all with a particular focus on children and families and fostering greater engagement of the Hispanic community in downtown Macon.

The cornerstone of these components will be the execution of engagement and arts related activities that will build interest towards the key milestone of the project: a Hispanic heritage Gathering.

“Through my project, I seek to work together with different stakeholders to ensure Downtown Macon is accessible for all, enjoyable for all and more attractive for the Hispanic community.” – Laura Daniela Gomez

YOURS – Youth for Road Safety is thrilled to share an exciting year summarised in the 2023 Annual Report.

By skimming through it, you will be able to discover the big milestones and changeswe experienced last year. Some of them include;  

1. An executive leadership transition after 16 years
2. The reunion of the most active young leaders of the Youth Coalition so they continue learning and defining their advocacy plans
3. The completion of a Youth Engagement and Infrastructure Change project in Belize
4. The efforts in strengthening and solidifying partnerships with other expert organisations and governments to continue pushing for meaningful youth participation, and
5. The implementation of 14 youth-led grassroots projects in 14 cities focused on Community Mobilisation and Awareness, Advocacy, Peer-to-Peer Engagement, and Infrastructure Change.

Despite the diversity of actions, the common denominator is that once youth are given the opportunity and support to make a difference, they will go above and beyond in the hopes of building a better transportation system for them to inherit. This is one of the many things YOURS is supporting, encouraging, and working better towards. 

Originally published by Transport Policy Matters 

The world today is home to the largest generation of young people in history, 1.8 billion. As we transition to a safe, sustainable transport system, it’s critical to ensure that policymaking is ‘future-proofed’. Youth For Road Safety (YOURS) reports on initiatives to empower young leaders to advocate for solutions to the leading cause of death for young people aged 15-29: road crash injuries.

By Leonie Gruber, Sana’ Khasawneh and Julie Smirnova

Youth engagement is an end in itself. It’s also a means to build a better world.  A recent ITF Report, Youth on the Move, emphasises the importance of bringing young voices into the planning and implementation of transport initiatives. Road traffic injuries are the eighth leading cause of death globally, and the leading cause of death for young people aged 15–29. Current trends suggest that by 2030 road traffic deaths will become the fifth leading cause of death unless urgent action is taken. To save lives, it is vital that countries take faster and more concerted action.

Young people are smart and creative. Including our voices not only brings the opportunity for fresh perspectives, but as youth often have a better understanding of the digital landscape, we are able to bring valuable insights into the integration of smart and efficient solutions.

Stop preaching; start reaching

YOURS envisions a world where not a single person dies or gets seriously injured due to a road traffic crash. In direct response to the impassioned appeals of youth delegates at the 2nd World Youth Assembly 2020, YOURS spearheaded the formation of the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. Today, the Youth Coalition brings together 2 200 members from 126 countries to fight for road safety and sustainable mobility. It offers youth aged 16 to 35 opportunities to learn from each other and lead local action programmes. In 2023, communities claimed their streets through programmes that addressed everything from tactical urbanism and road awareness to infrastructure interventions which resulted in the creation of school signs, enforcement of speed limits, and the maintenance of pedestrian crosswalks in ‘risky locations’.

YOURS also champions the adoption of the Policymakers Toolkit. The Toolkit equips governments to set up mechanisms to meaningfully engage youth in building a transport system that protects the people who use it. Through youth-led research, the Youth Coalition is building an evidence base to highlight that road safety is a cross-cutting issue with other topics such as health, inequality, climate action, sustainable cities and education.

The ITF 2024 Summit on “Greening Transport: Keeping Focus in Times of Crisis” is about moving forward, and that requires us to move in a different way. YOURS will take part in key plenary sessions to continue fostering meaningful youth participation. Besides that, we will showcase tools and artworks that reflect the demands and challenges faced by young people. We’ll show how these challenges can be overcome by including youth voices in policy-making processes. Political leaders must continue to understand youth needs, and youth choices in travel behaviour to plan inclusively.