YOURS – Youth for Road Safety with iRAP – International Road Assessment Programme and the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety continues with the Youth Stars Programme with its second session on project structure launched last Monday, March 3. The programme is training over thirty members of the Global Youth Coalition. 

Introduction to the Youth Stars Programme
When the Youth Stars Programme was initially released in 2019, it trained five young leaders to become Master Trainers capable of training fellow young people about the SR4S methodology and the star ratings tool. It utilizes the pedestrian component of Star Ratings to provide a measure of the contribution of road design to the risk of each pedestrian

Now the Master Trainers are training fellow youth leaders to use the Star Rating for Schools methodology and the Star Ratings tool.

The first session was launched a week before, on March 15. During the first session, Master Trainers Daniel Cano from Colombia and Minh Vo from Vietnam talked about what participants could expect from the Youth Stars Programme. Daniel and Minh also gave an overview of how the participants can use the Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) methodology and the Star Rating tool to improve the roads in their communities.

Project Management
The second session was led by Master Trainers Alex Ayub from Kenya and Shantel Jacobs from Belize. The session focused on the project structure behind SR4S. Alex, Shantel, and iRAP Global Project Coordinator, Rafaela Machado, gave participants some tips on how to ensure the success, continuity, and ease of starting a rating project through the SR4S methodology and the star rating tool.

Participants were also guided through the data collection process when rating roads. With the SR4S app, participants can establish a project that identifies the school zone to rate and eventually record the road features. Through this process, participants will be able to generate star ratings and upload the results.

Apart from the technical aspects of the SR4S methodology, the Master Trainers also discussed the importance of following ethical and legal procedures.  

“Let them [the community and authorities] know exactly what you are doing and let them know how it will help the community” – Alex Ayub, Master Trainer

The Youth Stars Programme, sponsored by FedEx, trains young leaders to use and apply the Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) methodology that was pioneered by iRAP. It runs for a total of four sessions, each held every Monday. 

READ ABOUT SESSION 1 HERE 

Last Monday, March 15, YOURS – Youth for Road Safety with iRAP – International Road Assessment Programme and the the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety launched the first session of the Youth Stars Programme. The session comes after the Coalition’s fourth capacity development series on an Introduction to Star Rating for Schools launched on Wednesday, February 24. 

The Star Rating for Schools Methodology
The Youth Stars Programme, sponsored by FedEx, trains young leaders to use and apply the Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) methodology that was pioneered by iRAP.

SR4S is an evidence-based tool for measuring, managing, and communicating the risk children are exposed to on their journey to school. The programme and the tool support quick interventions that save lives and prevent serious injuries for students everywhere.

SR4S uses and utilizes the iRAP Star Ratings to measure the risk children are exposed to on their journey to school. The Star Ratings are an internationally recognized measure of risks on roads with the least safe roads rated as one-star and the safest as five-star.

When the Youth Stars Programme was initially released in 2019, it trained five young leaders to become Master Trainers capable of training fellow young people about the SR4S methodology and the star ratings tool. It utilizes the pedestrian component of Star Ratings to provide a measure of the contribution of road design to the risk of each pedestrian.

In the second year of the programme, the Master Trainers will be training members of the Coalition to use the SR4S methodology and the Star Rating tool. The training will run for one month and will be split into four sessions; introduction, discussion of the project structure, data collection, and FAQs and cases. 

About the Youth Stars programme
The first session of the Youth Stars programme was led by Master Trainers Daniel Cano from Cambodia and Minh Vo from Vietnam. More than 30 participants joined the session where they were able to ask and interact with the Master Trainers and Star Rating for Schools Global Coordinator, Rafaela Machado.

The session talked about the SR4S programme as part of a larger project that would help build the foundation of other road infrastructure projects, plan road infrastructure assessments, conduct school safety assessments, and communicate results and scale up positive outcomes.

Other topics covered were the SR4S process, the road safety attributed recorded, key principles behind the methodology, and access to resources that would support the Youth Stars sessions. 

“My dream is for every school in the world to be star rated so that no child has to die needlessly on his or her way to school” – Shane O’Connor – FedEx (USA) 

The sessions run every Monday for the next few weeks. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT STAR RATING FOR SCHOOLS 

In 2019, YOURS – Youth for Road Safety and iRAP – International Road Assessment Programme launched the Youth Stars Programme, sponsored by FedEx. The three-year programme will see a group of 5 Master Trainers from around the world be trained on the principles of the new ‘Star Rating for Schools’ methodology pioneered by iRAP.iRAP has published the First Decade of Action and features the results of the Star Rating for Schools program led by iRAP and YOURS. We reproduced the article here.

One year on from the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, iRAP has captured its first Decade impact with an image-rich virtual story – “A World Free of High-Risk Roads: A Decade of Action to Save Lives”.

iRAP partnerships with Donors, Development Banks, Governments, Mobility Clubs, NGOs, Industry, and Research experts worldwide are now saving lives on a scale that matters. The elimination of high-risk roads and increased travel on 3-star and better roads is making a difference. Lives are being saved. Journeys are being made safer.

iRAP and its partners’ impact during the United Nations first Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 can be summarised with 20 key achievements in the charity’s 2020 Vision:

1. 1. Shared Innovation, shared success
   2. A charity to make safer roads accessible to the world
   3. A global commitment
   4. 2,600,000 km of the world’s roads assessed for safety
   5. Safety of the world’s roads revealed
   6. World-class software for all to use
   7. A free road safety toolkit
   8. The Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety
   9. iRAP Global Standard and 3-Star or Better Policy Targets
   10. Development Bank partnerships for safer roads investment
   11. Helped more than 100 countries make their roads safer
   12. Locally owned and led road assessment programmes
   13. Safer journeys to school and kids’ lives saved
   14. Improved safety in road designs
   15. USD$81.5 billion of road investment made safer
   16. 28,000 people trained across 121 countries
   17. Innovation partnerships bringing together world-leading expertise
   18. Innovation Workshops, Conferences, and Events share safer roads expertise
   19. 10-Step Plan for the future
   20. Prince Michael international recognition

iRAP CEO Rob McInerney said, “iRAP’s Decade of impact has been made possible thanks to the support of our major donor FIA Foundation, FedEx, the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) and our more than 15,000 partners across the world.”

Where to for the next Decade?

The Second Decade of Action 2021-2030 has reaffirmed the ambitious target of halving the raw number of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. iRAP will continue to play a key role in planning and supporting the next Decade of action alongside the UN Road Safety Collaboration and iRAP’s more than 15,000 partners and connections worldwide.

The Second Decade will continue to reinforce the 12 Global Road Safety Performance Targets, including Target 3 for all new roads to be 3-star or better for all road users and Target 4 for >75% of travel to be on the equivalent of 3-star or better roads for all by 2030.  The iRAP global Star Rating standard and supporting KPIs, Risk Mapping, fatality and injury estimations, investment plans and innovative tools like ViDA, Star Rating for Designs, Star Rating for Schools and AiRAP will empower partners to act and celebrate success.

“Achieving Targets 3 and 4 in the Decade ahead stands to save 450,000 lives a year,” Mr. McInerney said.

“We know road injury is preventable. We have the engineering know-how, a global road infrastructure safety standard for benchmarking, and free tools, training, and support to make the world’s roads safer. To assess risk, build safety into road designs, and reduce danger for pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists, and vehicle occupants. From world-class highways to toll concessions, rural roads, and city streets where our children walk to school and live.

“In simple terms, we will work with our global partners to make sure new roads are safe and high-risk existing roads are financed and improved on a scale that matters. We will save lives,” he said.

LEARN MORE ABOUT IRAP 

The Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety launched Local Actions last January 22 and invited its members to develop original, impactful, and innovative projects to addressed the most urgent needs and commitments outlined in the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety.  After a rigorous process, twelve projects were selected to be funded. Learn more about the winning projects here: 

Akash Upase, India

Akash is a youth worker leading Community Connect at the Blue Ribbon Movement. His project, Community Connect, is a leadership program that will build active citizenship in youth by solving local civic issues. The program intends to engage with different stakeholders to build better infrastructure for the city.

Alex Ayub, Kenya

Alex currently works with the Kenya Red Cross Society – National Youth as a Programmes Coordinator. He is also a lawyer by profession. His project, Safe School Zones, aims to provide evidence-based data to inform decision-makers on areas of improvement around learning institutions. It further provides a platform for school communities to promote safe road usage.

Aldo González Barrera, Mexico

Aldo is an urban planner and pedestrian activist. He has worked as an urban and architectural designer. His project, Retorno Seguro a Clases (Safe back to School Challenge), will address the challenges for youth activists and the issue of dangerous school zones in Mexico. The project will hep guarantee a safe return to schools in a post-pandemic world.

Bernardo Pietrobelli, Brazil 

Bernardo is a Master’s student in Economics and a volunteer for Fundação Thiago Gonzaga – Vida Urgente. His project, COLETI.VU, is designed to put together a group of young people advocating for increased social participation in the city administration on road safety. It will allow youth to monitor public mobility policies and propose projects and actions aimed at young people.

Laura Daniela Gómez, Colombia

Daniela is currently enrolled in post-graduate studies in Public Management. Her project, Youth influencing bike policy change in Bogotá, will strengthen the capacities of members of the Local Bicycle Board Members and provide them with tools to advocate for better bicycle policies to decision-makers. 

Kenneth Mulinde, Uganda

Kenneth is a multimedia producer. He works with Action Aid International Uganda and Youth Arts Movement Uganda. His project, Safe Ride, is a participatory project that uses “Artivism” to mobilize and organize vulnerable road users and motorists in Uganda through campaigns and workshops. 

Linda Nekesa Masibo, Belgium

Linda is a masters student at Hasselt University in Belgium studying transportation sciences specializing in road safety in the Global South. Her project, #MovingSafe2HasseltUniversity, is an online road safety education and awareness campaign for international students outside the European Union. 

Nkumbuye Ami, Rwanda

Amie is a medical Doctor at Kabutare District Hospital. He is the founder and president of Vision Zero Youth Council Rwanda chapter. His project, Traffic Care Youth Initiative, focuses on community awareness through teaching sessions on road safety. A radio talk show campaign will also be done to spread road safety messages in Rwanda and other parts of Africa.

Olivia Nalwadda, Uganda

Olivia is a young female on a mission to recourse the traffic experiences of children and youth in Uganda and Africa at large. Her project, Together for Safer School Journeys (TOSS-365), aims to foster youth leadership in advocating for safer school journeys. The project will be implemented in Eastern Uganda in close collaboration with stakeholders and cultural and religious leaders.

Providence Klugan, Ghana

Providence is an accountant for the international NGO, Amend Road Safety. His project, Kids’ Road Safety Panel (KRSP), is about educating children from two schools with high-risk road traffic. A panel of dedicated and committed young people will be created to educate the community on road safety.

Sana’a Khasawneh, Jordan

Sana’a is an architect. She recently graduated from USJ with a master’s degree in Road Safety Management. Her project, UP TO ZER0, aims to make Jordanian youth more aware about road safety and Vision Zero. It will encourage young people to be more involved in road safety efforts.The project establishes Jordan’s chapter of the Vision Zero Youth Council.

Titis Efrindu Bawono, Indonesia

Titis is currently a transportation planner for urban mobility arrangement. His project, Safer Street Participatory Design with Youth, involves youth learning and practicing road safety risk assessment at surrounding areas. The approach aims to raise collective awareness on road safety issues.

“We received 39 youth-led projects from all over the world. It was a tough process to come up with a shortlist; I was amazed by the young leader’s creativity and the quality of projects. It is exciting to start working with the 12 winning leaders; I am convinced and excited that they will deliver impactful and sustainable actions for their communities to reduce road traffic injuries and promote a sustainable mobility system. Although we have chosen 12 winners, I want to let the others know that the Coalition is still here to support your efforts through our numerous tools, activities and events!” – Selection committee

Congratulations to all the winners! 

READ MORE ABOUT THE WINNING PROJECTS HERE

The Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety launched its fourth Capacity Development Session on an introduction to the Star Rating for Schools Program last week, February 24. The session was led by International Road Assessment Program – iRAP Star Rating for Schools Global Program Coordinator, Rafaela Machado, and YOURS Master Trainers; Alex Ayub from Kenya, Daniel Cano from Columbia, Minh Vo from Vietnam, and Shantel Jacobs from Belize.

Roads that do not kill our dreams
Every day more than 1000 young people die on the world’s roads, many of them are walking to school and killed while trying to get an education. This is unacceptable. To help reduce the number of road-related deaths and injuries, especially among students, YOURS – Youth for Road Safety teamed up with iRAP – International Road Assessment Program to develop the Youth Stars programme.

The Program, launched in 2019, trains young road safety leaders to assess and rate zones or roads around schools, universities, and other educational institutions. The SR4S program uses a central web application that collects and evaluates the data to give the user possible countermeasures to take depending on the roads they will use in their journey.

iRAP believes that improving the world’s roads to a 3-star or better standard is a key way to achieve SDG Target 3.6 – halving the number of road-related deaths and injuries by the year 2030.

Star ratings are based on road inspection data and provide simple and objective measures of the level of safety which is “built-in” to the road for vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. A road can be ranked from 1-star (lowest quality) to 5-star (highest quality).

Star rating for schools program
Rafaela talked about the program itself, the system, and web application to help in the process of data collection while the master trainers gave participating Coalition members basic details about what the star rating program does to improve road safety.

The discussion and the session were facilitated by Daniel. Shantel discussed the important road safety attributes that the program takes into consideration, Alex presented the Star Rating for School Methodology, and Minh elaborated on how the SR4S software can be used to improve the world’s roads.  

“This function will allow you to estimate the number of stars and risks and allow you to find which appropriate countermeasure [you can use] for your location” – Minh Vo 

Apart from talking about the program, the master trainers also shared their experience about what it was like learning about the SR4S program as Master Trainers.

Next steps
With the information presented during the session, participants were able to understand how infrastructure affects road safety, champion 3-star or more roads through advocacy, gain knowledge on practical safety measures, and understand how to call for roads that do not kill our dreams.

After the session, the Coalition offered a longer and more in-depth discussion on the star rating for schools program run by the master trainers. The session will empower members and help them understand and implement star rating for schools in their communities.

These opportunities are open for members of the Coalition only. So if you want to get the opportunity to join, sign up today! 

JOIN THE COALITION