LEARN

The Alliance is working with the International Road Federation, IRF (Geneva), funded by the FIA Road Safety Grant Programme, on a program that combines the training and capacity building expertise of both organizations.

Learn, Examine, Review, Act, Replicate, Network (LEARN) develops the knowledge and skills of government agencies, engineers, FIA clubs, teachers, NGOs, journalists, the private sector, and masters and PhD students to implement evidence-based road safety actions. Following a successful pilot program in Kenya and Senegal, the program has been rolled out in four more countries in Africa including Cameroon, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia.

Context

Improving road safety is a key development priority for Africa. Despite comparatively low motorization levels, the continent witnesses the world’s highest rate of road traffic fatalities, with approximately 26.6 deaths per 100,000 population (WHO 2018). The importance and need for better road safety data has been highlighted in the United Nations, African Union and other multilateral resolutions.

LEARN targets professionals who either work directly in road safety or whose role does — or should — incorporate it. It familiarizes them with a range of tools and techniques to help drive change using data to validate their work. It is enabling the creation of multi-stakeholder coalitions in African countries to improve road safety policy and action.

About LEARN

The long-term objective is the creation of multi-stakeholder coalitions in the beneficiary country, to improve road safety policy and action. Selected participants build their data-related knowledge and skills, familiarize themselves with a range of tools and techniques that can help drive change and communicate a robust road safety message. By the end of the training, participants jointly develop an action plan for the creation and launch of a multi-stakeholder road safety coalition in their country. Continuous mentoring and support is offered to the coalition to realize a concrete initiative showcasing at the national, regional and international meetings.

Why the Global Alliance and IRF?

• Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety: 
  • Regularly delivering capacity building initiatives tailored to NGOs working in road safety around the world.
  • The action plans developed as a result have led to measurable impacts, e.g. national legislation change in Tunisia and Zambia.
• International Road Federation (IRF Geneva)
  • IRF has delivered trainings on data for over two decades.
  • The effectiveness of these trainings is reflected in the increased quality and quantity of the data harvested annually via the IRF World Road Statistics questionnaire.

Training Objectives

Short-term:

• Enhance data-related knowledge and skills
• Familiarize participants with tools and techniques that can help drive change and communicate a robust road safety message
• Demonstrate the added value of collaborating with the support of data

Long-term: 

• Creation of multi-stakeholder road safety coalitions in Uganda to improve road safety policy and action
•  Develop easily replicable model for action within and outside the country.

Phase One

The first phase of training covers road safety data and familiarization with toolkits. The training results in the development of a joint action plan thus fostering collaboration between NGOs, government officials, academics, and other stakeholders.

Phase Two

In phase two, the participants from phase one, gather to move forward implementation of the coalition action plan through a demonstration data project.

Key Outcomes

The key benefits of the program so far are the strengthened connections that are built between NGOs, government officials, and other key stakeholders.

• Kenya: the coalition has identified five high risk school zones for assessment and improvement. Negotiations with a funder (a local bank) are in advanced stages to support at least one of the target schools as a demonstration project on school zone assessment and improvement.
• Senegal: the coalition coordinated by the NGO Laser International has succeeded in getting an amendment to 30 km/h speed limits in school zones, adopted by the Council of Ministers, chaired by the President. 
• Zambia: the coalition coordinated by the NGO Zambia Road Safety Trust has embarked on Crash Data Visualization, in-country Data-driven Action Plan, Zambia Non-Motorized Transport Strategy.
• Uganda, Cameroon, Tunisia: the LEARN coalitions are in the process of developing their joint action plans to implement a joint data driven demonstration activity.

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