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Global Youth Coalition welcomes Total Foundation as Programme Partner

by Youth For Road Safety | Jan 6, 2024 | News & Blog

We are delighted to announce that Total Foundation has partnered with YOURS to support the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety as a programme partner.

YOURS is the initiator and the main organizer of the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. This partnership over 3 years will invest in the Coalition’s work to empower youth. The partnership will support young people to take meaningful action for safer mobility globally and unite to fight the biggest killer of youth worldwide; road traffic crashes.

Youth Advisory Board member to the Coalition, Ms Omnia El Omrani said,

“The Coalition is a powerful platform for young leaders to come together to build their skills and take meaningful action in their own communities. It is a great follow up to the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety where 160+ young leaders from 74 countries gathered to unite for action on road safety. We are already engaging youth in many activities including capacity development sessions, expert webinars, youth consultations and forthcoming local actions”.

Talking about the partnership, Floor Lieshout, Executive Director of YOURS said,

“It is a pleasure to announce a new three-year partnership with Total Foundation. Building on a successful collaboration for the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, we are now starting a new adventure. We welcome the Total Foundation as a Programme Partner to the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. This will give us the opportunity to invest and support youth leaders from around the world; providing them with resources, develop their advocacy capacities and foster partnerships on a global and local level”.

Illustrating its long-term commitment and focus on youth and road safety Manoelle Lepoutre, Senior Vice President of Civil and Social Engagement, said

“Total Foundation is stepping up alongside young people to support them in helping make real change in society. That is why, we are happy to partner with YOURS to support the Global Coalition of Youth for Road Safety, which is led by young leaders with an international dimension on a cause that is close to our hearts.”

GLOBAL YOUTH COALITION

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About the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety
The Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety unites individual youth and organizations and is made up of more than 200 passionate young people from across the world who are taking action on 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

About YOURS – Youth for Road Safety
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. It’s mission is to act to make the world’s roads safer for young people everywhere.

YOURS believes that, to achieve SDG Target 3.6 under the New Decade of Action, youth need to lead the road safety revolution.

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 TOTAL Foundation
Total Foundation covers the citizenship initiatives conducted every day worldwide by Total, its affiliates and its corporate foundation. Through this program, Total 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. Every employee also has the opportunity to take up to three paid workdays a year to devote to these public interest projects. Total Foundation is part of the Group’s societal engagement and supports its ambition to become the responsible energy major.

https://www.foundation.total/en

For Media Inquiries Contact:
Manpreet Darroch
Head of Communications
YOURS – Youth for Road Safety
manpreet@youthforroadsafety.org

Driving a Global Agenda: Youth and Road Safety – A FIA High-Level Panel article

by Youth For Road Safety | Jan 6, 2024 | News & Blog

The FIA High-Level Panel (HLP) for Road Safety brings together leading advocates for road traffic injury prevention from the private and public sectors, with the aim of increasing political commitment and funding. In its most recent newsletter article, Jayathma Wickramanayake – United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi – Secretary-General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement and our Executive Director, Floor Lieshout linked up to discuss youth and road safety issues: driving a global agenda.

We reproduce the article here.

Why is it important to involve youth on the topic of road safety?

Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake:
We’ve all known that since the past decade, road crashes have been taking the lives of 1.35 million people every year, many of them are actually the lives of our young people.

Approximately, over 1,000 young people were dying every day because of road traffic crashes, which made road crashes one of the leading cause of death for young people aged 5-29.

As seen from the statistics, road safety is a topic that significantly affects the livelihood of young people in the world. Therefore, ensuring meaningful inclusion of youth in the policy process and decision-making are key to building sustainable road safety strategies that could truly protect the lives on the roads, be it at the local, regional, and global level.

Additionally, young people in all their diversity must be included in the dialogue to improve road safety. We need to acknowledge that youth don’t only identify by their age, young people also identify with intersectional identities. The voices of young people of color, young peoplewith disability, indigenous youth, LGBTQI youth, who often face more challenges in accessingpublic spaces and infrastructure, need to be represented in the road safety dialogue so that decision-makers can hear directly from youth about the unique challenges that they are facing on the road, often on the way to school, university, work, or merely on the way to meet their peers.

Mr. Ahmad Alhendawi:
Young people around the world have the ability to be powerful advocates and champions for causes that directly affect them. Road crashes are a leading cause of death and injury among youth, and if we are going to make progress in reducing the number of incidents globally, we need to involve young people in being part of the solution.

This means educating young people about the risks associated with driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or riding without a helmet or seatbelt. But it also means empowering young people with the knowledge and tools to make better decisions on the road and engaging them in the design of road safety solutions that can have a meaningful impact for society as a whole.

Mr. Floor Lieshout:
In addition to what has already been said, enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, young people have a right to be adequately informed, consulted and to be part of the decisions that impact their lives. This is particularly evident in Article 12. Youth have a right to fight the largest public health threat facing their lives and be part of the decision-making processes in road safety.

Youth are the main victims of road crashes and meaningfully involving them bene ts all parts of society. Through meaningful youth participation in road safety, we can empower young people to become the change agents of their communities. Who is better positioned to lead the charge for road safety from the grassroots up?

Involving youth in all phases of the process (ideation, development, implementation and evaluation), will lead to better decisions and better, more responsive policies that reflect the realities they face. It also promotes ownership, leadership and sustainability among young people themselves.

Finally, I would like to point out that there is a major difference in involving youth and ‘meaningfully’ involving youth. If we are serious about introducing meaningful youth participation in road safety on a large scale, we cannot cut corners. No more youth as decoration, or young people being manipulated for political agendas. Participating youth always need to be well informed, be taken seriously, brought to the table as equal players and have a real sense of ownership in the decisions that affect their life.

Have you noticed an evolution of the conception and involvement of youth from the international community?

Mr. Ahmad Alhendawi:
More and more young people are speaking out around issues that affect their health and well-being, and playing an active role in shaping the world around them.

The rise of youth-led movements and activist coalitions that give voice to the ideas, concerns and perspectives of young people is an encouraging trend globally. We see this every day in Scouting where

54 million girls and boys are acting as global citizens to improve the sustainability of their communities. These movements are powerful because they put pressure on our leaders and institutions to take action where it is needed most, whether that’s designing safer public transport systems, or enacting better road safety policies and regulations. They also give young people an opportunity to speak directly to other young people which can create transformative change and greater awareness about the urgent need to address global issues such as road safety.

Mr. Floor Lieshout :
We have seen some evolution already, but unfortunately, we still hear leaders ‘blaming’ youth for dying on the world’s roads. This is completely unacceptable because it leads to an ‘it is their own fault’ attitude and ‘we need to educate the youth’ approach, instead of taking responsibility and identifying what is wrong with the system. A system that should protect them. So the first step is to stop blaming and start protecting. To be successful in eliminating road deaths, policy-makers must commit to Safe System principles: humans make errors, including youth. Now let’s design and build a system that will protect youth from death and serious injuries when they do.

The good news is that a few governments have already approached us to work with them on a national Youth Empowerment Programme. We feel there is great momentum for the cause, and various leaders take this very seriously. We have gained a lot of moral support from the international community. From (inter)governmental organisation, large private sector companies and civil society. However, real change occurs when we see it in our streets. When it trickles down from high-level policy-making tables and the results are seen on the streets and neighbourhoods around us; where youth are safe to commute.

Unfortunately, meaningful youth participation is not specifcally mentioned in the Safe System approach. We believe it is the missing ingredient that will create a revolution. Ten years ago, young people were not as aware of the climate crisis as they are today (there is little chance of reaching our climate goals if we do not invest in safe and sustainable transport). Now we see millions of youth marching the streets for a healthier planet. That is leading to real change. Challenging the status quo. Making the leaders feel uncomfortable, so they must take action. Voting new leaders in, with more progressive ideas. That is the power of youth, a new generation claiming their space.

This is something we will be putting forward to the international community. Having meaningful youth participation in Safe System strategies by design, instead of bolting it on.

Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake:
At the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety that took place in Sweden last February, young people from around the world united their voices to advocate against the threats of road traffic injuries. Too often, young people are framed as the problem when it comes to road safety, while in reality, the young people of the world have always had to deal with roads and infrastructure that are neither safe nor friendly for youth.

The outcome of the Global Youth Statement that was launched last February reflects the voices of over 1,500 young people who participated in the youth consultation process.

Through this, young people have demonstrated that they are not only looking to be involved as beneficiaries but as equal partners who are capable of creating tangible recommendations that should be taken into account.

Most importantly young people also showed that they are done waiting for the lack of action from decision-makers. As youth in the international community, they are ready to claim youth’s rightful space at the decision-making table and they are not coming with empty hands.

Young people are ready to co-create solutions and policy, now it’s time for the decision-makers to respond to this demand for meaningful youth engagement.

What are the developments after the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety (Stockholm 19-20 February 2020) ?

Mr. Floor Lieshout:
We cannot ignore that COVID-19 had a massive impact on the momentum that we gained in Stockholm. The reactions the young people received were overwhelmingly positive. Looking in the rear-view mirror, we must simply be thankful that the Ministerial Conference and the World Youth Assembly for Road Safety were able to happen before the world shut down and changed so drastically. After, we quickly assessed the situation and changed our plans where needed (safety first!). Less focusing on what we cannot do, but getting creative and quickly adapting to a new reality. Now we need to build back better.

The 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety and World Youth Assembly acted as a catalyst to unite young, future leaders from across the world to engage with decision-makers on safe mobility issues and its connected SDGs. The youth demands are well documented in the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety.

From this catalyst emerged an empowered network of passionate youth, with a combined purpose to make the world’s roads safer for everyone. We are building a bridge between youth and decision-makers through intergenerational talks and also between different fields and expertise since the issues and solutions are often interconnected.

To facilitate and coordinate our action, we launched in July the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. At this stage, we are promoting the Coalition and its work: www.claimingourspace.org. We want to quickly grow, engage and equip every member of the coalition from across the world with the resources, knowledge and power to lead local action in their communities. Under our tagline: #claimingourspace, young change-agents will continue to make waves that will aim to make this the last generation facing an unsafe mobility system that kills youth on an unprecedented scale.

Furthermore, I am very excited about a new decade of action for road safety. And with the support of many, we will lead a powerful youth movement into the new decade full of action and together halve road deaths and serious injuries by 2030.

Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake:
Following the Conference in Stockholm, we’ve seen that there is clear demand for better multi-stakeholder & cross-sectoral partnerships if we want to achieve our goals for road safety. The responsibility of road safety is a shared responsibility of both road users and infrastructure designers, and the only way to move forward is to collaborate.

Some of the important demands that came out of the Conference is the need for better commitment from the international community to share data, evidence, and best practices that could be reflected on a global vehicle safety standard, road laws and regulations, and also sustainable transport system. Collaboration to develop innovation and knowledge sharing could be the key to a road safety revolution.

Most importantly, through this Conference, the world also got to see the signi cant role of young people in road safety. Young people have voiced out our demand to take part in the decision-making process and we need the international community to carry the commitment to work with youth not only post- Conference but also beyond.

Mr. Ahmad Alhendawi:
The Ministerial Conference was a pivotal convening of leaders from around the world who are well positioned to adopt recommendations outlined in the “Stockholm Declaration” and make progress towards a new global target for road safety for 2030.

Pre-conference activities also created an important space for hundreds of youth advocates for road safety to come together and call on decision-makers to create the conditions for safer roads and safer mobility.

Since the event, young people have continued to champion the cause of road safety in their communities and online through advocacy e orts that aim to better enforce road safety laws, build more sustainable and accessible transport systems, improve education for safe driving, get unsafe vehicles o the road, and so much more.

Through this kind of youth advocacy and mobilisation, we can save lives and make even more progress towards tackling the global road safety crisis.

What messages would you like to convey to the HLP community?

Ms Jayathma Wickramanayake:
It is important for youth to be consulted and meaningfully engaged, not just at the implementation stage, but also from the beginning of the planning process in creating better public policy for all that could signi cantly improve the health and livelihood of people, including young people.

Mr. Ahmad Alhendawi:
Young people from around the world have de ned a clear agenda for action through the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety.
It is up to us as an international community, and as global youth movements, to ensure that the largest generation of young people in history is able to live up to their full potential.

Mr. Floor Lieshout:
The Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety is inspiring action by promoting youth engagement and participation in the global advocacy arena. We want to open new doors for young people to interact with decision-makers and make their voices loud and clear. The question is, will you join and support us? If you see an opportunity to support youth leadership, get in touch! We are waiting to collaborate.

About the High-Level Panel for Road Safety

The panel brings together an unprecedented coalition of leaders from the global business community, international institutions and NGOs, with the primary objective to raise awareness and to raise funding for road safety actions, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

The Panel aims to act as a catalyst, working with all interested stakeholders, and has a particular focus on making a contribution towards increasing engagement within the private sector. Whilst governments play a critical role in creating policies that are the determinants of road safety, private companies including car manufacturers and the insurance industry also have a vested interest in the safe mobility of people.

The vision and concrete objectives of the Panel are reflected in the 10 point manifesto that was published when the Panel was launched in November 2015 in New York under the auspices of the UN Secretary General..

READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE HLP WEBSITE

YOURS collaborates with WHO and Soul City Arts for the World Day of Remembrance

by Youth For Road Safety | Jan 6, 2024 | News & Blog

Friday, 13th November saw a multi-faceted live stream come to life as part of a Global Online Commemoration for the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The event takes place on the third Sunday of every November to remember those lost on the world’s roads. This year the event had the strapline; Remember. Support. Act. As part of the live stream, YOURS joined WHO to create an artistic experience, intertwined with artistic expressions, personal testimonies and speeches from dignitaries.

For this year’s edition of the World Day, we teamed up with the World Health Organization (WHO) for a special online live stream for the Global Commemoration. Artistic direction was undertaken by Soul City Arts, the same organization that delivered an outstanding artistic experience at the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety in February 2020. Together, we created three incredible poems to reflect the theme: Remember. Support. Act. A call to remember those who have been affected by road crashes and to act so that others do not suffer the same way the victims and their families have.

Interspersed and embedded within the steam, Tshaka Campbell, a renowned poet delivered three poems bringing the themes to life through linguistic expression which were visualized through video by Mohammed Ali MBE and the Soul City Arts team. Soul City Arts were also responsible for the overall look and feel of the event which included a bespoke ‘interface’ that framed all visuals and speeches on the screen. The event was a poignant dedication to all the lives lost on the road and the commitment we take as road safety practitioners support and act for change.

WATCH THE LIVESTREAM HERE

Credits for World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
Online Global Commemoration

Personal Testimonials
Steve Jordan, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue, United Kingdom
Viviam Perrone, Founder, Asociación Madres del Dolor, Argentina
Writu Bhatta Rai, Executive Secretary, Swatantrata Abhiyan, Nepal

Dignitaries
Michael Bloomberg, WHO Global Ambassador for NCDs and Injuries
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization
Andrew Holness, Prime Minister, Jamaica
Maolin Macatangay, Communications Officer, YOURS: Youth for Road Safety
Zoleka Mandela, Global Ambassador, Child Health Initiative
Jean Todt, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety

Hosted by
Dr Etienne Krug, Director, Department of Social Determinants of Health, WHO

Featured Poet
Tshaka Campbell, Soul City Arts, Performing “Remember”, “Support” and “Act”

A special thank you to contributing organizations:
Andy Barter Photography
Asociación Madres del Dolor
Avoid Accident
Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport
European Federation for Road Traffic Victims
FIA Foundation
Fundación MAPFRE
Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue
International Road Victims’ Partnership
Panos Mylonas
Sarah Group
Swatantrata Abhiyan
Trotro Productions

Executive Producers
Manpreet Darroch
Floor Lieshout

YOURS – Youth for Road Safety

Artistic Directors
Mohammed Ali MBE
Manpreet Darroch

Soul City Arts

Organized by
World Health Organization

Youth issues given a focus during Road Safety Week 2020 in Dominican Republic

by Youth For Road Safety | Jan 6, 2024 | News & Blog

The Instituto Nacional de Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre – Int or National Institute of Traffic and Land Transportation – International joined Road Safety Week in the Dominican Republic by hosting a conversation on road safety, specifically on Las Carreras Ilegales en Motocicletas or Illegal Racing on Motorcycles.

The intervention was addressed mostly to young men who are or have been involved in motorcycle races which put road users’ lives at risk. “It’s necessary to raise awareness among them and make them part of the change in road safety and mobility areas.”

The online conversation was held last week, 17 November, where road safety leaders came together for Semana de la Seguridad Vial. Representatives from the USAID Project, Young Alert, National School of Education, and YOURS – Youth for Road Safety.

The Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety was represented by Youth Advisory Board Member, Esteban Paredes.

During his discussion, Esteban talked about the efforts of YOURS to empower youth and involving them in meaningful participation and gave particular attention to the work YOURS has been doing with youth in South America.

Esteban also raised the necessity of a paradigm shift, pointing out that a new perspective that involves youth will be more effective.

“We need a paradigm shift. Away from the traditional approach where we blame ‘youth’, towards a system approach that puts young road users in the centre. We need to see youth as assets for development.”

Esteban talked about the 2^nd World Youth Assembly and how youth intervention was key in creating the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety and the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. He emphasized how the Coalition is uniting young people from all over the world so that they are supported in their efforts in road safety and sustainable mobility.

He also mentioned programs in Latin America, such as Fundacion Cavat and Roliev, that can help young people get involved with road safety efforts.

If you want to join the road safety movement, become a member of the Coalition, or check out the different road safety programs in your area!

JOIN THE COALITION

Join us for the World Day of Remembrance live stream Global Commemoration

by Youth For Road Safety | Jan 6, 2024 | News & Blog

The World Day of Remembrance (WDoR) was adopted by the United Nations through Resolution 60/5, otherwise known as Improving Global Road Safety. The WDoR commemorates the victims and the families affected by road crashes. It draws attention to the scale of the emotional and economic devastation caused by road crashes, recognizes the suffering of road crash victims and their families, and appreciates the support and rescue of health services all over the world.

WDoR is set every third Sunday of November.

This year, we have teamed up with the World Health Organization (WHO) for a special online livestream for the Global Commemoration of the WDoR this Friday, 13 November, at 2 PM CET. The theme for this year’s WDoR is Remember. Support. Act. It is a call to remember those who have been affected by road crashes and to act so that others do not suffer the same way the victims and their families have. WDoR is set every third Sunday of November.

The livestream will feature road safety testimonies from road safety activists all over the world. Global road safety leaders will also be presenting statements on road crashes and road safety efforts being done to achieve SDG Target 3.6.

The speakers for the session include Michael Bloomberg – the WHO Global Ambassador for the Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – WHO Director-General, Andrew Holnes – Prime Minister of Jamaica, Zoleka Mandela – Global Ambassador of Child Health Initiative, and Jean Todt – UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety.

“Year after year, 1.3 million people die on the world’s roads and 50 million more are injured. Join us for World Day of Remembrance on 13 November to Remember. Support. Act,” – Dr. Etienne Krug.
Catch these road safety activists and leaders in our session by registering today! Remember. Support. Act.

Global Youth Coalition launches second round of youth consultations

by Youth For Road Safety | Jan 6, 2024 | News & Blog

The Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety has launched its second round of Global Youth Consultations. With the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety, young people have the tool to lead the road safety revolution and help them take action for safe and sustainable mobility everywhere. The consultations will help young people implement the Global Youth Statement by localizing the challenges, demands, and commitments of young people all over the world.

The youth consultations
The first round of youth consultations was held late in 2018 before the 2^nd World Youth Assembly. It collected more than 1,500 youth voices from 54 countries and identified key issues young people were experiencing when it came to road safety in their respective regions.

The first youth consultations culminated into the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety – a document that lists the demands and commitments of youth from all over the world, focusing on issues around safe roads and sustainable mobility.

The second round of consultations is about letting youth know that their voices have been heard and that it is time to start leading the change for a safer world for young people. With the Global Youth Statement, youth can take real action for safe and sustainable mobility everywhere.

The second round of consultations has the following goal;

Follow-up with all young people who were initially consulted and brief them about how their voices contributed to the creation of the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety
Involve new youth leaders in the process of expressing views, opinions, and experiences about the reality young people face that relate to safe roads and sustainable mobility
Support youth in designing and implementing local plans reflecting on issues on the ground by localizing the Global Youth Statement
Track the progress of different actions and plans so that implementations of the Global Youth Statement can be reported to key stakeholders

Why are the consultations important?
The Global Youth Statement for Road Safety was released during the 2^nd WYA for Road Safety, a pre-event for the Global Ministerial Conference for Road Safety. World leaders have begun prioritizing road safety on a global scale.

Earlier this year, the United Nations released a resolution declaring the new Decade of Action because the first decade was not able to meet Sustainable Development Goal Target 3.6 – halving the number of road-related deaths and injuries by the year 2020. The new decade extends the deadline to 2030.

Road crashes kill around 1.35 million people worldwide and injure 20 million to 50 million more. 90% of road crashes occur in low and middle-income countries where young people are the most affected.

“You may not have been part of the decisions made in the past but you have the power to act today and tomorrow. And we, the youth, will also play our part as active citizens in society. We want to be part of the solution as equal partners. Not only informed and consulted but also participate meaningfully in the decision-making process. This will help you shape better policies and services that consider our needs.” – Raquel Barrios

Learn more about the youth consultations by going to the Coalition website!

VISIT COALITION WEBSITE

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