Rwanda’s national road safety strategy highlights pedestrian safety as a priority area, but many of Kigali’s roads are still lacking walking amenities. Alliance member Healthy People Rwanda (HPR) conducted two Mobility Snapshots in November 2024 and documented pedestrians’ safety concerns. They found that people did not have enough time to cross the road safely and felt unsafe crossing major roads. There was a lack of midblock crossings and zebra crossings were located too far from destinations where people need to walk, such as bus stops and commercial buildings. Lack of safe, convenient places to cross meant that there were a lot of near-miss incidents.
HPR’s Mobility Snapshots were triggered by a concern raised by students from a nearby school during a road safety campaign, where youth from 30 schools were trained in road safety first aid.
As a result of the findings, HPR decided to focus its UN Global Road Safety Week campaign on three key asks. It is advocating with the City of Kigali, as the budget holder, and the city engineers in charge of developing and implementing infrastructure projects, alongside the national traffic police and Ministry of Infrastructure. It is calling for these agencies to implement changes to make the Mobility Snapshot intersection safer for school children and pedestrians:
To demonstrate the need for these interventions, HPR is organizing guided community walking audits at the dangerous intersections identified in its Mobility Snapshot. Participants, including community members, police officers, and students, will document hazards that they see, measure crossing distances, and collect pedestrian testimonials. These findings will be compiled into a visual report and presented to decision makers. HPR is also inviting key decision makers to join them at the Mobility Snapshot intersections to experience the street from the point of view of a pedestrian.
They will mobilize the community to demonstrate local demand, starting with local school students, who will participate in the walking audit and create artwork for an exhibition showcasing their vision of safe streets. Their social media campaign using the hashtag #CrossSafelyinKigali will increase visibility of the issue using time-lapse videos of dangerous crossings, testimonials, and infographics. They will also engage mainstream media and organize a roundtable with key decision makers to present the Mobility Snapshot and community audit data.
Dieudonne Rutagumba, HPR’s Co-founder, Communication and Monitoring Officer, is spearheading the NGO’s campaign. He says, “Rwanda has made an effort to ensuring the safety of pedestrians; However, everyone is responsible to take part and advocate for necessary changes to ensure safer movements around the country. For instance, some students raised the concern of wider crosswalks around the school, every citizen should consider being an eye to identify risky or unsafe roads and call for actions. HPR’s campaign is in line with the UN Global Road Safety Week theme, and we will be requesting the improvement of the specific intersection and other intersections in general. We have already begun engaging with schools and local authorities, and we are hopeful that our collective voice will drive lasting change”.
HPR’s UN Global Road Safety Week has received support from a small grant from TotalEnergies Foundation through the Alliance Africa Chapter.
