From 26th November – 7th December 2012 YOURS brought together a group of passionate young Kenyans in Nairobi. The two weeks of intensive road safety training commenced and the young leaders were trained on a range of local road safety issues like: speeding, non-use of helmets and distracted driving. Further topics were communication and facilitation skills, evaluation methods and overall road safety knowledge. It is with great pleasure that we announce that all participants graduated from the course
All participants take moment for a picture with Dr Walter Odhiambo (Medical Students Association), Bright Oywaya (ASIRT Kenya), Liana Vetch (United Nations).
Against the beautiful and inspirational backdrop of the United Nations Office, 11 budding facilitators joined the YOURS team to undergo an unique programme that coupled evidence based road safety study, interactive learning with on the ground practical experience. This gave the participants a chance to truly develop into skilled youth advocates and peer educators for road safety.
This training provided the chance for young people on the ground and who witness the impacts of poor road safety standards in Kenya every day, to take action as powerful advocates and peer educators. Now the young Kenyans will begin their journey to run their own workshops across the breadth of Kenya. Together they will reach thousands of young people throughout their local communities and positively influence a generation of road safety conscious young people.
In our closing ceremony, our partners took a moment to reflect on the milestone of finishing the training and seeing their freshly trained young people.
Floor Lieshout, Director of YOURS said: “It is essential that we have more skilled and educated young people in the road safety field who can advocate for road safety. This training is a benchmark for us for future trainings and we realize once more that the local partners on the ground make the difference and make our work in reaching young people so much easier”.
Felistas N Kioko of the Kenya Red Cross came to observe the facilitators in action, she said:
“You have done a lot in a short period of time. The young people are the most affected group in Kenya in regards to road crashes and it is great to see you train advocates all under the age of 30. This is youth passing on the message to youth. They can make a big impact for road safety in Kenya. It is also good to see our young Kenyan Red Cross workers develop so much through your training. The training of facilitators is great”.
One of our participants, Boniface Ngria who is also behind Youths for Road Safety Kenya wrote in a fitting round-up of the training: “Finally the Youth Road Safety Facilitators Workshop came to an end yesterday. This, however, marked the commencement of the ripple effect since the graduands have now been released to different regions including, Nairobi area, Naivasha town, Thika town, Machakos town and Mombasa as well as to different organizations.
He continued, ‘With this diversity, the message can only go viral and hopefully the training will have the impact it was intended to achieve. The fact that the time of the training coincided with the transport crisis resulting from the ‘Matatu’ (PSV) operators strike in opposition to the just implemented New Traffic Act was indeed a blessing in disguise: nothing could have mirrored the magnitude of the problem at hand than this”.
He concluded, “The onus now is on the graduands to make proper use of the knowledge they have acquired to make the difference. Knowledge is never lost when shared but developed and matured! Go out there and do your best as that is not just the best but the only way of celebrating this milestone. Best of luck to you all and Bravo!!!
We are proud to announce the graduates with their certificates below!
Ms Sheila Atieno – Coordinator of the African Region Anglophone Countries (YOURS) and Youths for Road Safety Kenya
Mr Boniface Ngira – Youths for Road Safety Kenya
Ms Lucie Lucia – Kenya Red Cross Society
Mr Duncan Matheka – IPPNW
Ms Martha Wanjiro Wainaia – Youths for Road Safety Kenya
Mr Harrison Muiruri – ASIRT Kenya
Mr Isaac Ouma – Youths for Road Safety Kenya
Mr Joel Njoroge – Kenya Red Cross Society
Mr John Mwikwabe – Kenya Red Cross Society
Mr Kevin Ochieng – ASIRT Kenya
Mr Micheal Otieno – Kenya Red Cross Society
As we reach this great milestone, we use this training as a benchmark for further trainings around the world reaching more young people and creating a ripple effect of road safety action, advocacy and awareness all around the globe. More pictures, videos and testimonials are coming shortly! An official report will be published soon so stay tuned to the YOURS website.