Professional Development Programs
52 Weeks Road Safety Campaign (Gerayo Amahoro)
Healthy People Rwanda has joined other partner institutions in a 52-week National road safety campaign that aimed to promote road safety amid alarming rates of road traffic crashes’ mortality in Rwanda.
The campaign dubbed “Gerayo Amaharo” meaning “arrive safely” was initiated on May 13th 2019. Activities that marked its beginning were rolled out in major Taxi Parks across the country. In addition, 576 driver cooperative leaders were trained across the whole country.
Many people held placards that carried various messages with a common and strong call for action to everyone in taking part to make Rwandan roads safer. Social media threads were created to dovetail the face to face education with the following hashtags #GerayoAmahoro and #ArriveSafe.
Knowing that 80% of accidents are a result of reckless driving such as over speeding, drunk driving, HPR contributed to the campaign with zeal to be among the frontline team to curb road traffic accidents in Rwanda.
Rwanda National Police-Healthy People Rwanda partnership
In April 2019, Healthy People Rwanda has signed a Memorandum of Understanding enhancing a 5 year joint partnership on road safety projects and interventions in Rwanda. The expected outcomes is generation of tools and interventions for road safety and first aid to ensure healthy and more prosperous communities in Rwanda through evidence based medical practice.
Road safety week 2019
The United Nations Global Road Safety week occurred from 6th to 12th May with the theme “leadership for road safety”. HPR in partnership with Rwanda National Police organized a walk which ended with a meeting at the national stadium to celebrate the day and raise awareness on proper road use behaviors.
Conferences
2nd World Youth Assembly for road safety
Youth for Road Safety (YOURS) has taken the initiative to gather 200 young road safety delegates from 74 countries across the world for the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety hosted in, Sweden, HPR delegates also attended. The following were some of the participants’ thoughts Stockholm:
Nattasuang Phakkawan from Thailand said″ The Thai red cross asked me to attend this assembly. I really liked the energy and motivations that they gave to all of us. Our voice could possibly make something change in a better way. And now I go back to Thailand full of energy to say 'Enough is enough ' Time for change”
Sammi Li from China shared: “I was impressed by the high energy, high level of engagement, very positive spirit from young and bright leaders and inspired by the modern format of the event (e.g live street art and rap music performance). That’s the way to go when you want to create fun and real inspiration to incite youth to like and to retain the given message on a given topic. Great mix of presentation of facts and practical workshops related to SDGs where each delegate made at least one concrete commitment to change. The most important part of the event was obviously the Global Youth Statement which will serve as a guiding star to the young delegates driving action in their hometown.”
Linda Kemoli from Kenya “The WAY (World Youth Assembly) was insightful. I learnt so much from the panel discussions as well as the parallel one and interacted with people from nations across the world who are passionate about the same cause (road safety). I felt driven to continue working towards this cause (road safety), feeling reassured that there are many other young people around the world that are doing the same!”
Dr. Farah Naz Rahman from Bangladesh “I work in a public health NGO of Bangladesh which works on road safety. I got to know about the 2nd World Youth Assembly from my office contacts. It was very different from the regular conferences. It was so vibrant, youthful and very engaging. I love the instructiveness and diversity of this conference. Meeting youth all over the world doing commendable work on road safety was highly inspiring”
Daniela from Argentina ``It was an interesting experience. Got to know more about other ways to promote road safety through the experience of the other young people”
Tendekayi Marapara from Zimbabwe “It was a great platform to learn how others are doing, learning how to starrate schools and appreciating the success stories from other youths. The future lies in our hands”
Providence Klugan from Ghana “It was amazing! The ability to interact and learn from fellow age mates and put together a statement claiming our space. I really enjoyed the energy, there wasn't a single dull moment!”
Maolin Macatangay from Philippines said " I am part of the Global Youth Task force which organized the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety. I found the assembly to be an immense success. I saw that youth delegates were extremely passionate about their commitments for safer roads and safer mobility. It leaves me to wonder whether they've always had this energy and was just waiting for the perfect platform to express it. Everything was a breath of fresh air and it left me with so much hope for our society and the next generation."
Steve Manyozo from Malawi who stated “The 2nd World Youth Assembly on Road Safety was an amazing opportunity for a galvanized youth movement for the course of road safety. The big foot print for me was when we (the youth of the world) delivered the Youth Statement on Road Safety at the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference”
3rd Ministerial conference on Road Safety under the theme of “Achieving Global Goals 2030”
The 3rd Ministerial conference for road safety happened from 18th-20th February 2020. under the theme “achieving global goals 2030”. It was organized by the Sweden Government in partnership with the World Health Organization and was attended by about 1700 delegates from 140 countries, including Ministers, Senior officials from United Nations agencies and representatives from Civil Society Organization, academia and private sector. Within this framework, two delegates (Dr Innocent Nzeyimana & Dr Ami Nkumbuye) represented Healthy People Rwanda during the conference.
6th Global meeting of Non Governmental Organizations advocating for road safety and road victims, Greece
From 9th to 13th April 2019, a meeting of NGOs working in road safety was organized by the Global alliance of NGOs for road safety held in Greece. The meeting entailed 270 attendees, 76 countries represented, and 23 workshops. HPR which pertains to the alliance sent delegates to showcase the organization’s progress and learn from others.