After a long and exciting journey with the Limpopo road safety ambassadors, GRSP South Africa and Michelin officially handed over the project to the Limpopo Department of Transport (DoT).
South Africans pay a high toll for road traffic crashes, especially amongst young males aged 14-35. In July 2017, we partnered with the Global Road Safety Partnership South Africa (GRSP ZA), the Government of South Africa (Ministry of Health and Transport) and the Michelin Corporate Foundation to deliver the first Youth Ambassadors for Road Safety Training in the country. 20 young leaders, selected for their activism and standing in their communities joined YOURS in Limpopo Province to be trained on road safety knowledge and peer education methods.
Michelin, in their ground breaking approach to global road safety, and whom are long standing founding member of YOURS funded the programme (through the Michelin Corporate Foundation) to equip these young people with the skills they needed to reach out to their communities and raise road safety consciousness across society. The project was organized by GRSP ZA in collaboration with the Provincial Government of Limpopo and the Department for Transport.
Ambassadors follow meeting up in July 2018
Youth Ambassadors:
‘Empowered young people change the world’. Over five days in 2017, we trained 20 young people in road safety theory. From understanding why young people are at particular risk on the road to understanding the situation facing South African youth in terms of road crashes. Focusing on a number of key engagement methods in peer education, facilitation and campaigning, the youth Ambassadors also grasped the key risk factors facing youth in their communities; speeding, drink and drug driving, non-use of seatbelts and distracted driving.
Taking the Ambassador approach, these 20 young people have set about filtering road safety messaging back in their individual communities through workshops, media outreach, word-of-mouth and active campaigning. This programme acts as a pilot for the country, where stakeholders will observe the power of activated youth in road safety with the potential to scaling the project to other regions. In 2018, we revisted South Africa to follow up with the Ambassadors.
The project was officialy handed over to the Provincial Government of Limpopo. The invitees included representatives from Michelin SA, GRSP ZA, national DoT, provincial DoT, provincial Department of Education, the Youth Ambassadors, Michelin Foundation, GRSP Geneva and the media.
The official handover event included:
- School visit to a school near Polokwane where a demonstration of what has been achieved was done by the scholars and the relevant Youth Ambassador.
- A presentation giving an overview of the implementation of the project focusing on the highlights and successes.
- The ambassadors and other stakeholders receiving certificates of participation.
GRSP South Africa hope that with the two extensive road safety and capacity building training they have received from YOURS, the ambassadors will continue to apply their road safety skills and knowledge to the communities in the province.