Mentorship Program Leads to Publication

In 2020, several Alliance members participated in the Journal of Road Safety Mentorship Program provided by the Australasian College of Road Safety to promote evidence-based road safety programs from NGOs and encourage a greater focus on data.

Through the program, Alliance member Uganda Road Accident Reduction Network Organization (URRENO) recently had a peer-reviewed paper titled “School Road Safety Education in Uganda: Progress and Lessons Learned” published in the well-respected Journal of Road Safety.

The article documents URRENO’s progress in advancing road safety education through Ugandan primary schools as a pilot through the national curriculum.

The key findings of the paper were that:

1. Road safety interventions are dependent on evidence-based facts from assessment, surveys and research. One of the main challenges faced in low-income countries is implementation of road safety measures to address road crashes that are not evidence-based and not well researched. Data collection and analysis of any project informs and deepens the content.
2. Building strong partnerships in any road safety intervention is one of the keys for success. Working in partnership helps to demonstrate broad-based support. Partners may include (but are not limited to) government ministries, departments and agencies, business communities, civil society organisations and individuals with influence.
3. Participatory approaches where stakeholders and beneficiaries play significant roles in the implementation of the projects are also key.
4. URRENO’s strategy for sustainability is always building capacities of beneficiaries through training and empowering them with materials, equipment and tools to continue with their activities.

The paper concludes that “It is important to acknowledge that many factors contribute to safer roads with a lower rate of crashes which can affect school children. Thus, it cannot be said that the road safety education activities reported alone led to a decrease in the number of road crashes involving school children. Nevertheless, trained pupils in targeted schools showed an improved ability to apply the knowledge needed to cross the roads, which contributed to their ability to move safely along the roads to and from schools, despite the aggravating traffic circumstances in Uganda.”

The paper also references the joint work done by URRENO and Hope for Victims of Traffic Accidents (HOVITA) on safe school zones in Uganda following the Alliance Advocate training in 2018. Read URRENO’s article HERE and the full journal HERE.

Of the scheme, Tumwine Fred Nkuruho, Executive Director of URRENO, says, “The mentorship scheme has enriched our dexterity in writing articles for publication, increased our network undertaking and this is elevating URRENO’s visibility globally.” Find out more about the mentorship program including how to get involved HERE.