Delft, Netherlands – Last week, our Executive Director Floor Lieshout and Global Youth Coalition Youth Leadership Board member Oliva Nalwadda joined the annual Delft Road Safety Course (DRSC) in a five-day session that brought together road safety professionals from around the world to take part in the first in-person DRSC since 2019. 

Floor joined  Govert Schermers, Mark King, Gert-Jan Wijlhuizen, Patrick Broeren, Dr. Attila Borsos, Emma MacLennan, Philip Wijers, Henk Stipdonk, and Hilda M. Gomez to talk about different topics on road safety. Some of the key themes of the course include; road infrastructure design, the safety of vulnerable road users, the role of education, training and enforcement, and the implications of automated vehicles on road safety. 

The first day of the course was a refresher for the students attending the session. Course Leaders Govert Schermers and Mark King touched on highlights on the nature of road crashes, the decision-making processes to make roads safer, scientific evidence to support decision-making processes, and the implementation of road safety solutions among others. 

Other sessions of the course include the integration of the Safe System Approach in road design. Course Leader Emma MacLennan shares some important tools for effective road safety interventions, emphasizing the role of local stakeholders and experts when it comes to fundraising and project implementation. 

The third day of the session kicked off with a road trip to DenHaag, Netherlands where the participants visited the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research. 

SWOV Research sits behind all of the Netherlands’ Road Safety Policy Making, its researchers make the most of new technologies, research methods, and interdisciplinary collaborations to support evidence-based policy that is responsive to the public’s road safety and mobility needs. 

The learners also went on a tour around the city where they paid special attention to sustainable mobility. The tour also allowed the participants to take a look at functional road categories, safe speeds, forgiving roadsides, roundabouts, and integrating active travel infrastructure. 

Floor was the course lecturer on the fourth day of the DRSC. During his intervention, he talked about creating a power map, defined by Harvard Business School as “a visual tool that will help the participants understand who has more or less power in a work environment to help navigate politics and other areas”. 

On the overall reception of the DRSC, Oliva Nalwadda says “The Delft Road Safety Course is a perfect blend of knowledge and practice. As we #RethinkMobility, it is crucial that we empower actors from LMICs to design and implement strategic road safety interventions. By attending the Delft road safety course, I feel refueled and energized to lead the change I want to see on Uganda’s roads. I also had the opportunity to interact with other road safety actors and through experience-sharing exercises, I was able to learn, relearn and borrow several best practices in crash investigations and evidence-based road safety promotion.”

The last day of the DSRC was filled with road safety action plan presentations from the learners who were grouped by region. Throughout the event, participants were given the opportunity to network and share their experiences with their fellow learners. 

You can follow the Delft newsletter for future announcements on upcoming DSRCs.

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20 April, Thursday – The SDG 11 Champions of the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety Alain Ghossein, Oliva Nalwadda, and Stephen Kome Fondzenyuy lead the launch of our latest SDG Policy Brief on road safety and sustainable cities titled “Rethinking Mobility and Road Safety: A Transformative Vision of Youth”, which they wrote and delivered.

The Policy Brief presents the role of road safety in achieving the targets under SDG 11, specifically target 11.2 which looks to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations (women, children, persons with disabilities, and older persons). 

“Cities are responsible for a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions, with a high proportion of slum dwellers in urban areas not adequately considered in planning processes… Proper road safety is essential for making public areas sustainable and providing safer and more sustainable ways to commute to schools, work, leisure, and access services. There is no sustainable transport and sustainable urban city without road safety and it’s reciprocal” – SDG 11 Policy Brief (Rethinking Mobility and Road Safety: A Transformative Vision of Youth)

The Brief elaborates on the linkages between youth, road safety, and sustainable cities and communities. It also presents key facts and figures that highlight the current situation faced by people as members of the community and as road users when it comes to how they interact with cities, transportation, and mobility. 

In the Brief, the writers emphasized how young people are recognized as the most affected by any sustainability programs and therefore need to be meaningfully consulted and involved. It states, “Young people need to be at the center of any urban sustainable mobility programs. Failing to do so risks creating a society that disregards youth development, leaving them to their fate.”  

Presenting some of the developments made in addressing challenges in the creation of more sustainable cities, the Brief lists significant progress and investment that have been made by United Nations agencies, governments, civil society organizations, and citizens to fast-track the achievement of the objectives to make cities more sustainable, safe, inclusive, and resilient.

The Brief gives examples that are close to home through some of our Local Actions initiative projects that fund and support community-led projects that focus on creating sustainable communities through safe, accessible, and inclusive roads. It used the “Hey, I’m Moving on Two Wheels” project and the “Safe Return to School” project as examples of evidence-based initiatives that implement best practices that can be replicated in other areas of the world. 

We call on youth leaders, global organizations, and other stakeholders to use the Brief in their projects and advocacy work, especially if it’s connected with road safety, tactical mobility, engineering, and other related areas. It also presents recommendations for different organizations such as governments, civil societies, and youth-led organizations should do to further efforts to create safer roads and more sustainable cities. 

DOWNLOAD THE SDG 11 POLICY BRIEF

The Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) has opened the call for applications for young people to participate in the second edition of the EU Youth Sounding Board for International Partnerships (2023-2025). The Board will advise the European Commissioner for International Partnerships and its Directorate-General on youth participation and empowerment in EU External Action.

The Youth Sounding Board (YSB) is an opportunity for young people to share their opinions and ideas on different social issues and influence EU external action and international partnerships on issues that matter most to them. Through the YSB, young people will be able to contribute to making EU action more participatory, relevant, and effective for youth in EU partner countries across different political priorities. 

Some of the priorities of the DG INTPA include; (1) climate, environment, and energy, (2) digital and infrastructure, (3) gender equality, (4) human development, (5) migration and forced displacement, (6) peace and governance, (7) and sustainable growth and jobs. 

The YSB members will represent the views of as wide a range of young people as possible by reaching out to young people within and beyond their networks to gather their opinions and views. Members will build links with similar structures and existing youth initiatives at international, regional, and country levels both in the EU and in partner countries. 

For the first cohort of the Youth Sounding Board (2021-2023), over 4 000 applications from more than 150 countries were received.

The 25 selected members are a diverse group of talented, committed, and inspiring young people from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific and Latin America, and the Caribbean, as well as Europe

The 2021-2023 cohort was engaged in the process of co-creating the Youth Action Plan in EU external action. They drafted a report, ‘Meaningful Inclusion of Youth: A Promising Future‘, prepared in the context of consultations for the Youth Action Plan that was published in autumn 2022. In the report, young people from around the world voice their opinions, share thoughts about the challenges they face, and propose solutions.

The second cohort would be composed of 25 members aged 18–30 from the EU and across the world (see list of eligible countries). Applicants are required to have a good command of English and practical experience in youth participation processes, youth policies, or to have engaged in youth organizations and/or in youth-led initiatives. Youth organizations are able to nominate individuals, but all members will participate in their individual capacity, serving a mandate of two years. 

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, 26 April 2023, 23:59 CET.

CHECK OUT THE EU YSB WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS