Nearly one year has passed since we delivered the Kenya Training of Facilitators in Nairobi, Kenya at the back end on 2012. Since then, we have seen workshops delivered across the country and directed at the heart of the community. Hundreds of young Kenyans have already been reached through unique peer-to-peer workshops run by highly skilled trained facilitators with an approximate peer out reach of thousands through word of mouth and the filtering out of road safety messages in communities.
In late November – early December 2012, YOURS partnered with a number of key road safety organizations and NGOs to run the first Kenya Training of Facilitators. Key partners included the Kenya Red Cross Society, The United Nations Environment Programme, ASIRT Kenya and the Road Safety Fund.
In training a group of young Kenyan leaders, we knew that once YOURS left Kenya, the young leaders, feeling empowered and equipped with new skills and knowledge, would step into their local communities and share a peer-led message with young people all across the country.
Trained facilitators begin their training by scoping the road safety issues facing youth in Kenya and the wider world.
So far, hundreds of young people have undergone a road safety workshop with our group Kenyan facilitators who, through the breadth of the country, reached out to their peers in their own road safety workshops which nearly all facilitators have already completed.
More recently, two facilitators selected from the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT Kenya) by international road safety champion and advocate Ms Bright Oywaya. Our trained facilitators from ASIRT, Mr Harrison Muiruri and Mr Kevin Ochieng identified a key problem in Nairobi affected Boda Boda drivers (motorcycle taxi drivers in the city).
Young facilitators talk to boda boda drivers in Nairobi Kenya
Mr Harrison Muiruri told us,
“After engaging with corporal Mugo, a traffic police from Runda police station,he told us that three quarters of the road traffic crashes recorded in the area involved boda boda riders. They record at least 2 incidences in a week especially on the busy northern bypass road. This was a fact that was confirmed by the members of the Githogoro community and the boda boda riders.
ASIRT Kenya felt the need of conducting sensitization training to the boda boda riders operating in the Unep and the idea was welcomed by the targeted group and the Githogoro community”.
Objectives of the training
ASIRT Kenya anticipated meeting the following objectives when it conducted the training on in late August 2013:
- To sensitize the boda boda riders on basic road safety with the aim of creating more awareness on road safety
- To sensitize the boda boda riders on importance of wearing helmet and reflective clothing with the aim of changing their attitude in a positive way.
The training inspired a shift in attitudes towards road safety topics covered which included understanding the scope of the road safey problem in Kenya and the world and a key focus for the motorcycle drivers; promoting the active use of helmets. The role of the education and raising awareness on young people is fundamental in mitigating road crashes in Kenya. This is partly because of their vulnerability based on the fact that they are the majority road users and also because they are inexperienced road user.
After the training the Boda Boda drivers supported the call for safer roads and supported the Long Short Walk campaign:
