Young people in Vietnam are taking the lead in making their cities safer, greener, and more livable. The Empowering Youth for Livable Cities programme is equipping them with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to bring that vision to life.
Building on the success of AI&Me: Empowering Youth for Safer Roads, this new three-year initiative (2024–2027) is led by AIP Foundation in collaboration with Fondation Botnar, FIA Foundation, iRAP, and YOURS – Youth for Road Safety. Together, the partners share a belief that nothing about youth should be decided without youth.
Around the world, there are 1.8 billion young people, the largest youth generation in history, and 90% of them live in developing countries. Yet city planning often happens without their voices. In Vietnam, urban life can be particularly challenging for young people, as traffic is dense, noise and air pollution are high, and there are limited green spaces. Roads are designed for speed, not safety. As a result, crashes remain the second leading cause of death among children and young adults.
This programme is changing that by empowering young people with knowledge about safe and sustainable mobility and helping them engage directly in shaping infrastructure and safety in their communities. It creates space for youth voices to influence decisions, inspiring a new generation of leaders who see road safety not just as a policy issue, but as a pathway to healthier, more inclusive cities.
“Young people in Vietnam are ready to take the lead in making their cities more sustainable and their commutes safer. I have been impressed with YOURS’ work to not only share road safety skills, but give young people the confidence and soft skills to communicate their ideas to their local leaders.” Ms Trang Truong, Senior Program Manager, AIP Foundation
Through the programme, YOURS supports youth in developing their leadership skills and acting as changemakers in their communities. The team is developing a Vietnam Youth Leadership and Road Safety Curriculum, training educators and local government representatives, guiding peer-to-peer learning in schools, and coaching youth to present their ideas to policymakers. These activities are helping connect young people in Vietnam with the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety, linking local action to global change.
“We are pleased to be partnering with AIP Foundation and iRAP in this ambitious project that aims to reach tens of thousands of youth through our tried and tested capacity development methodology. Young people themselves understand their lived realities best in the communities when it comes to safety, and so equipping them with the skills to advocate and lead road safety change is crucial”. Manpreet Darroch, Capacity Development Director, YOURS.
Recent surveys with 92 teachers and 800 students are shaping the approach. The findings revealed that nearly a quarter of teachers are under 25, meaning many road safety educators are young people themselves. Both teachers and students identified speeding, distracted driving, and overtaking as significant risks around schools. Teachers expressed a strong desire to use more interactive methods in class, while students said they learn best through games, competitions, and creative activities.
These insights are now guiding the programme’s design, making road safety education more engaging, youth-led, and relevant to everyday life. “To harness data for change, who better to ask than those using the streets every day on their way to school? iRAP has partnered with YOURS to cascade the Youth Engagement App (YEA) to high school students across Vietnam so that they can become peer leaders in their communities.” Ms Shanna Lucchesi, Project Coordinator, iRAP
Over the next three years, the programme aims to train 60 school staff as curriculum trainers, engage 900 peer youth trainers, reach more than 40,000 students with road safety education, collect 10,000 data points through the Youth Engagement App, and support over 120 improvements to make school zones safer. Youth pitch competitions will also provide students with a platform to share their ideas directly with decision-makers, transforming advocacy into tangible impact.
The Empowering Youth for Livable Cities programme is redefining what youth participation looks like, moving from consultation to collaboration, building a generation of leaders ready to co-create safer streets and more liveable cities, not only for themselves but for everyone.