The #ArtforRoadSafety challenge kicks off this week, July 6 to 8, in Egypt featuring local artist Ahmed Fathy (Elna2ash). Art for Road Safety is the first challenge for safer mobility on the African continent. It will be held in Egypt, Uganda, and Senegal with the purpose to change behaviors and empower young people to raise awareness on road safety through artistic intervention.

Three African artists and influencers will share their talent by creating inspiring content on two road safety issues: observing speed limits and wearing a helmet. The artists selected are Egyptian graffiti artist Elna2Ash, Senegalese graffiti artist Zeinixx, and Ugandan dancer Robert Ssempijja.

The first week will focus on the graffiti art of Elna2ash. Elna2ash is an internationally celebrated artist. His work represents famous Egyptian figures through graffiti in the streets of Downtown Cairo. His message is ”Respect the speed limit and save lives”.

To participate in this week’s challenge, you will need to reinterpret Elna2ash’s graffiti by painting, drawing, or sketching it based on your interpretation. You can do this manually or digitally.

Follow these instructions to join: (1) Take a picture of your artwork or record a video of you creating it to post on your social media channels, (2) Post the artwork in your channels and tag the Coalition, (3) Use the hashtags #ArtforRoadSafety, #StreetsforLife, and #Love30

The next two weeks will feature different artists with different challenges to raise awareness on different road safety issues identified by our local artists. Make sure to follow the Coalition to stay updated on the #ArtforRoadSafety challenge.

“The process of empowerment is endless. We will keep saying that youth lives matter by all means and that no language is better than art to express ourselves and our demands. On the personal level, I was honored and enjoyed each and every step of this project” – Shehab Abou-Zeid, the NADA Foundation, Egypt 

WATCH CHALLENGE VIDEO

Last March 2021, the European Commission launched a call for application for young people to participate in the Youth Sounding Board for International Partnerships. The sounding board will advise the EU Commissioner for international Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, on the relevance and effectiveness of EU external actions when it comes to young people and youth involvement. 

The EU Youth Sounding Board
Youth empowerment is a top priority for the EU Commissioner and is crucial in establishing and maintaining international partnerships. The EU believes that young people must be involved in shaping and implementing its external actions.

The Youth Sounding Board for International Partnerships will be a space where young people can meaningfully be involved in EU external actions and international cooperation. The board will be composed of 25 members of youth aged 18 to 30 from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the European Union. 

Together, the board will create real, fundamental and long-lasting change in how the EU engages with youth in its development cooperation. The members will contribute to making EU actions more participatory, relevant and effective for young people.

The Youth Sounding Board will meet virtually through regular meetings every year. The current members will stay on the board for two years.

Claiming Our Space
From the Coalition, Omnia El Omrani (Egypt) and Deepanshu Gupta (India) will join the EU Youth Sounding Board. Omnia and Deepanshu will represent YOURS – Youth for Road Safety and the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety.

Omnia is a part of the Coalition’s Youth Advisory Board. She is a medical doctor and surgery resident at the Ain Shams University Hospital. She is also the Liaison Officer for Public Health Issues for the International Federation of Medical Student’s Association (IFMSA). Omnia represented young people during the 3^rdMinisterial Conference on Road Safety where she talked about the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety and the importance of meaningful youth involvement.

Deepanshu is a member of the Global Youth Coalition and currently serves as the vice president for Solve Foundation and is working with the Indian Road Safety Campaign (IRSC). He is in charge of major corporate collaborations, government relations and internal relations and is one of the key people who helped set up IRSC operations in 46 cities across India. Deepanshu has also been mentoring social startups to scale their reach.

Omnia and Deepanshu will support and help raise awareness on road safety and meaningful youth participation within the Youth Sounding Board. They also further the reach and push the Global Youth Statement forward. 

MORE ABOUT THE EU YOUTH SOUNDING BOARD 

Earlier this month, graduates from the Youth Stars programme in collaboration with iRap – International Road Assessment Programme and Star Rating for Schools. During the celebration event, our graduates reflected on their training experience on Star Rating for Schools! Check out our video!

The celebration event gathered the graduates of the Youth Stars programme to look back on their journey about learning and interacting with the Star Rating for Schools methodology and tools.

Master Trainers Alex Ayub, Minh Vo, Daniel Cano, and Shantel Jacobs shared their congratulations with the graduates reminding them that the Youth Stars Programme was just the beginning of their journey to help advocate for roads that do not kill our dreams.

Finally, road safety leaders Floor Lieshout from YOURS, Shane O’Connor from FedEx, and Rafaela Machado from iRap shared their calls to action for the graduates to keep pushing for safer roads in their regions and communities to make sure that no child or student dies needlessly on their way to school.

READ ABOUT THE CELEBRATION EVENT  

The Danish Road Safety Council launched a campaign that helps raise awareness of the importance of wearing a helmet. In the campaign, Rådet for Sikker Trafik shows how a Viking needed to wear a helmet to ride his horse for safety. A character went on to say “you can go looting and pillaging all you want, but you have to wear a helmet”. 

Euro Weekly News wrote an article called Real Vikings Wear Helmets is the slogan for a Danish bicycle safety campaign. We reproduced the article here: 

Rådet for Sikker Trafik pushes the point that in medieval times you wouldn’t hear a Viking say ‘it ruins my hair’ when he needed to wear a helmet on his horse. No excuses. He would just wear it for the sake of safety.

Whether you are a Viking on a journey or a cyclist who is going into traffic, it is good to wear a helmet says Rådet for Sikker Trafik in its new campaign ‘The helmet has always been a good idea’.

“There is a great deal of humor and irony in our new campaign,” Lisbeth Sahl, the senior project manager at Rådet for Sikker Trafik told the Copenhagen Post. 

“But behind it is also a message that the excuses we sometimes have for not wearing a bicycle helmet can be a bit silly when we look at how high the price can be if you fall and hit your head.”

The helmet gained popularity from 2015 until 2019, but this increase has stopped in recent years. A new bicycle helmet count shows that now 47 percent of the cyclists in Danish cities wear one.

From 2015-2019, the police have registered 633 cyclists who have either been seriously injured or who have lost their lives as a result of a head injury. In the capital, the most were registered: 249.

According to the campaign, one of the most common reasons for not wearing a helmet is that one has simply not gotten used to cycling with the helmet and therefore forgets it.

Others are vain or find helmets annoying or cumbersome to wear and some feel that they are so good at cycling that they do not need a helmet to protect them or completely drop it on short rides.

Rådet for Sikker Trafik gives four tips to encourage helmet wearing which are;

1. Buy a nice helmet that fits well
2. Hang it close to your outerwear or bike so you remember it
3. Hang it on the bike when you shop
4. Have a comb in your pocket to straighten your locks when you arrive

MORE ABOUT THE DANISH ROAD SAFETY COUNCIL

YOURS – Youth for Road Safety is looking for another member of the Supervisory Board to help support the strategic ambitions of the organization. The Supervisory Board works in collaboration with the YOURS team in accordance with our organizational principles, vision, and mission. 

About Our Work

YOURS is a global organization that acts to make the world’s roads safe for youth. We are experts in youth and road safety issues and advocate for sustainable mobility at the highest levels of decision-making. We believe in meaningful youth participation as a key strategy to change these statistics.

With strategic global advocacy and empowering youth locally, we will unlock a global revolution for road safety and make this generation the last one facing this massive public health threat.

We are a small team with big ideas and powerful allies. We are proud of our work and have loads of fun while doing it. 

Roles and Responsibilities of the Supervisory Board member

CLOSING DATE: DECEMBER 2021

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE POSITION

Paris, June 15, 2021 – The Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety, Youth for Road Safety (YOURS), and TotalEnergies Foundation are taking to social media to launch #ArtforRoadSafety, the first challenge for safer mobility on the African continent. Road safety is a critical issue for young people in Africa, where road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 29.

The #ArtforRoadSafety challenge is being held in Egypt, Uganda, and Senegal. Its purpose is to change behaviors and make young people realize that they too have an individual responsibility as road users.

The idea is that they then take ownership of this important cause and become local ambassadors themselves in the most creative and original way possible.

Three African artists and influencers will share their talent by creating inspiring content on two road safety issues: observing speed limits and wearing a helmet. The artists selected are Egyptian graffiti artist Elna2Ash, Senegalese graffiti artist Zeinixx, and Ugandan dancer Robert Ssempijja.

The #ArtforRoadSafety campaign has just kicked off on the Global Youth Coalition’s Instagram account (@ClaimingOurSpace) with a video presenting the three artists. From July 6, they will post their artistic content and then throw down the gauntlet to young people on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The challenge will run in the three countries from July 6 to 22.

“Who better than young people to convince other young people? This social media challenge gives them an opportunity to create inspiring and creative content for safer mobility and share it with their friends.” – Floor Lieshout, Executive Director of YOURS – Youth for Road Safety

“At TotalEnergies, safety is more than just a priority. It’s a value. Through the TotalEnergies Foundation global program of citizenship initiatives, TotalEnergies is pleased to support this innovative campaign being run by and for young people alongside socially engaged African artists.” – Manoelle Lepoutre, Senior Vice President, Civil Society Engagement for TotalEnergies Foundation

On the project, Elna2Ash said: “Road safety is a very personal subject for me because I lost a close friend to a road accident. My works are exhibited in a service station in Cairo to encourage young Egyptians to slow down.”

On his artistic intervention, Robert Ssempijja said: “My choreographies will be a great way to send a message to young Ugandans about wearing a helmet.”

On the impact of the project, Zeinixx said: “The good thing about a traveling exhibition is that it lets you reach out to different people and raise their awareness about speeding.”

DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE HERE
 

About the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety and YOURS

The Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety unites individual youth and organizations and is made up of more than 400 passionate young people from across the world who are taking action for safe mobility issues. It is underpinned by the principles of the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety. The Coalition connects road safety to key related topics such as health, sustainable cities, climate change, education, poverty, and equality. 

www.claimingourspace.org

YOURS is a global non-profit organization that is a direct follow-up of the United Nation’s first World Youth Assembly held in 2007. YOURS believes that young people have a right to be adequately informed, consulted, and empowered on road safety. Its mission is to act to make the world’s roads safer for young people everywhere. YOURS is a multi-award-winning organization, an official member of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration and has Consultative Status at UN ECOSOC. www.youthforroadsafety.org

About TotalEnergies Foundation
TotalEnergies Foundation covers the citizenship initiatives conducted every day worldwide by TotalEnergies, its affiliates and its corporate foundation. Through this program, TotalEnergies aims to contribute to the dynamism of its host communities and regions, with a special focus on young people. It is targeting four areas: youth inclusion and education; road safety; climate and environment; cultural dialogue and heritage. TotalEnergies Foundation is part of the Group’s societal engagement and supports its ambition to become the responsible energy major. https://www.foundation.total/en

To find out more about the #ArtforRoadSafety campaign, download the brochure in the press kit.

For media inquiries contact: 
Manpreet Darroch
Head of Communications
YOURS – Youth for Road Safety
manpreet@youthforroadsafety.org

TotalEnergies contacts
Media Relations: +33 1 47 44 46 99 l presse@totalEnergies.com l @TotalEnergies Press