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Global Newsletter February 2018 |
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Dear Friends and Supporters, In February, we launched our 2017 Annual Report, which highlights the life-saving road safety programs we’ve implemented across our five program countries. In the 2016-2017 school year, we worked with more than 206,000 students, teachers, and parents. Activities across our program countries last year generated more than 361 online pieces, 340 pieces of radio coverage, 69 TV spots, and 68 articles in newspapers and magazines. Looking back at our reach in 2017 has pushed us to continue expanding to new communities and to innovate our road safety work in even more exciting ways in 2018. The issue of distracted driving was a key focus of activities across our program countries this month. In Cambodia and Thailand, we launched two separate videos focused on distracted driving as part of a public awareness campaign through our Safety Delivered program. In China, our team ensured the legacy of our road safety work in Kaizhou District remains intact by building the capacity of a local nonprofit, while also consolidating plans for the 2018 implementation of Walk Wise in Nanba Township. For more information on our programming and related road safety news, please read on. Kind regards, Mirjam Sidik
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Vietnam |
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Cambodia |
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Thailand |
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China |
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Employment Opportunities
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Global |
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Photo of the month- AIP Foundation recognized for contributions to road safety in Cambodia
(From left) H.E. Sun Chanthol, Senior Minister of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation and Permanent Deputy Chairman of the National Road Safety Committee, presents AIP Foundation Cambodia Country Director Pagna Kim with a Certificate of Appreciation. The award was in recognition of AIP Foundation’s commitment to road safety education in Cambodia in 2017. |
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AIP Foundation publishes Annual Report, reflects on 2017's progress toward saving lives
In 2017, we celebrated our 18th year of saving lives in low- and middle-income countries. Our diverse programs - ranging from advocating on behalf of garment and footwear factory workers and educating underserved ethnic minority communities, to empowering university students to act as ambassadors for their peers - spanned five countries. We distributed 25,572 quality helmets during the 2016-2017 school year, and worked with more than 206,000 students, teachers, and parents. Activities across our program countries last year generated more than 361 online pieces, 340 pieces of radio coverage, 69 TV spots, and 68 articles in newspapers and magazines. Our staff - who work in Cambodia, China, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam - collaborated with fellow industry experts at international conferences and meetings in 13 countries. Our PSA video in Thailand has received over 1.1 million views and was selected for screening at the APHA Global Public Health Film Festival in the U.S. And to mark the historic occasion of the 10 year anniversary of Vietnam's national helmet law, we jointly published a report with the FIA Foundation, HEAD FIRST: A case study on Vietnam’s motorcycle helmet campaign. But, that's not all we were able to accomplish. Read our freshly published 2017 Annual Report for more on our progress toward reducing road crash deaths and injuries in some of the world's most at-risk communities. |
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Related news: WHO develops indicators for global road safety targets - what does it mean?
Source: Youth for road safety, 06 February 2018 In November 2017, the United Nations agreed on a set of 12 targets that directly relate to the Sustainable Development Goals: SDG target 3.6 seeks to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2020 and SDG target 11.2 aims to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport by 2030. The set of 12 targets need indicators to ensure that progress is being made and that countries work towards implementing new initiatives, laws and changes to reduce road crashes. The 12 targets published by WHO focus on even further targets to help decision makers, campaigners, practitioners and pretty much all people working on road safety to be more specific on road safety action. The indicators take this even further to illustrate what needs to be seen (indicated) for targets to be successful. Read the full blog post from the YOURS website here. |
Vietnam |
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Road safety media campaign targets youth returning home for Vietnamese New Year
A Facebook media campaign launched by our Safety Delivered program targeted youth in Vietnam with messages to keep them safe on the roads as they returned home for Tet, the country's Lunar New Year and most important holiday. The campaign shared tips and traffic law information from our road safety educational pamphlet in various interactive formats, including infographics, GIFs, and games in order to best engage with the target audience. The holiday period is a particularly dangerous time of year on Vietnam's roads, with the country seeing a spike in road crash injuries and fatalities every year around Tet. Many youth in Vietnam also live far from home due to work and school and return home by motorcycle to celebrate the holiday with family. The campaign aimed to build their knowledge of traffic laws and driving techniques in order to keep them safe. The road safety campaign reached over 625,000 people during its three-month run. |
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Student road safety ambassadors use championship soccer match to educate 2,500 peers
Thirty Safety Delivered road safety ambassadors from the Economic University of Ho Chi Minh City took advantage of the highly anticipated AFC U-23 Championship soccer match to educate an estimated 2,500 of their peers with a distracted driving video. The video, which was shown to the audience during the match's halftime break, was originally published by Volkswagen and focused on the dangers of mobile phone use while driving. It emphasized that it only takes a moment of distraction for tragedy to strike. The championship match was a face-off between Vietnam and Uzbekistan's national teams, with Vietnam making history in the tournament when it became the first Southeast Asian country to move out of the group stages. On the same day, 30 road safety ambassadors at Hong Bang University also provided safe driving knowledge and skills education for 300 of their fellow students. These were the first peer-to-peer education activities carried out by the road safety ambassadors in 2018, with 70 more events across 10 program schools planned for the upcoming year. View more photos here. |
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Related news: 179 killed in traffic accidents across Vietnam during six Tet days
Source: Tuoi Tre News, 20 February 2018 According to the National Committee for Traffic Safety, 231 traffic crashes occurred in the Southeast Asian country from February 14 to 19, killing 179 victims and injuring 186 others. The numbers of crashes and casualties were especially high between February 15 and 18, the traffic safety committee added. Traffic police officers dealt with 1,665 violations within those days, issuing fines worth a combined VND310 million (US$13,660), impounding 422 vehicles, and revoking 101 driver's licenses. Most crashes arose from such traffic violations as driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, and lack of safety helmets, the committee said, adding that crashes mainly occurred in the countryside and suburban areas. Read the full article from Tuoi Tre News here. |
Cambodia |
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Emojis take on sinister role in new campaign addressing distracted driving among youth
A new safety campaign will integrate media- and community-based approaches to address distracted driving among 15 to 29 year olds. The campaign’s slogan is “Leave your phone alone or you could be next!” and features a sinister, evil emoji character as its key visual. It will be broadcast through a public service announcement on national television channels and disseminated through digital channels via an online media campaign. We are leading the initiative as part of The UPS Foundation-supported Safety Delivered program, and working in close consultation with the Cambodian National Police, the National Road Safety Committee, and representatives from relevant ministries and target universities. The campaign’s television commercial (TVC) takes the familiar icon of a cute and innocent emoji and turns it into a lethal killer on the road, by featuring a malicious emoji that preys on distracted motorcyclists. Through this innovative reimagining of common road situations into horror movie scenes, the campaign addresses the consequences of unsafe behaviors such as calling, text messaging, and using the Internet. These behaviors cause a driver to become distracted, slow his or her reaction time, and affect his or her ability to make safe driving decisions. View more photos from the TVC launch event here. Read the full press release here. |
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Leading mobile operator sends distracted driving campaign messaging to 200k subscribers
We teamed up with Metfone, a leading mobile operator in Cambodia, to send a text message to their 200,000 subscribers with the slogan in Khmer from our new Safety Delivered distracted driving campaign. The public awareness campaign’s slogan is “Leave your phone alone or you could be next!” and features a sinister emoji character as its key visual. In addition to this texting campaign, an associated commercial will be broadcast on national television channels in Cambodia, an online campaign will be disseminated across social media channels, and our university student road safety ambassadors will carry out awareness raising events. |
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35 parents receive road safety training in advance of dangerous holiday period
Thirty-five parents received training on the importance of correct helmet use for themselves and their children through our Helmets for Families program sponsored by Manulife Cambodia. During the training, parents were provided with free quality helmets and instruction as to the importance of consistently wearing a helmet when driving. The training provided information on the national helmet law and focused on reinforcing the importance of the parents’ individual roles as caregivers to the well-being of their children. The training was planned to coincide with the upcoming Lunar New Year to raise awareness of the higher incidences of road crashes around holiday periods and national celebrations. Parents were cautioned to take extra care on the roads at these times. This activity follows Manulife Cambodia’s donation of 1,048 helmets to students, teachers, and mothers at Veal Vong Primary School in Kampong Cham province in early November 2017. View more photos from the training here. |
Thailand |
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New viral video proves just how "crazy" it is to drive while distracted
As part of a new public awareness campaign in Thailand, our Safety Delivered program has released a new viral video that proves just how "crazy" it is to use a phone while driving. The video, titled "The Science of Crazy," centers around the concept that using a phone while driving is so crazy that science has a difficult time understanding why people choose to do it. To address this, a group of scientists conduct a series of humorous experiments involving the most common examples of distracted cell phone use in order to prove the obvious- that cell phone usage while driving is deadly. The video uses humor as a tool to directly engage Thai youth in a discussion on distracted driving. In its first two weeks, the video had already been viewed over 52,000 times and had over 14,000 engagements on Facebook. Watch the full video with English subtitles here. |
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Speed reduction campaign sees success with new 50km/h speed limit in Bangkok
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Royal Thai Police announced major speed limit reductions on critical roads in the city. The reduction, from 80km/h to 50km/h, follows a yearlong advocacy campaign carried out by our Slow Down to Save Lives program, which is supported by the Global Road Safety Partnership under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety. “Tell Auntie PIA” (“Fong Pa PIA”) is a public service announcement video released as part of our Slow Down to Save Lives programming that has been key to our advocacy success. The initiative encourages the public to submit comments and images through social media of risky road behaviors that they witnessed and dangerous traffic areas in Bangkok. The viral video has been viewed more than 1.1 million times. Read more via the Bangkok Post here. |
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AIP Foundation attends meeting on traffic police reforms, presents legislative review findings
AIP Foundation Thailand Country Manager Oratai Junsuwanaruk presented the findings of a legislative review of Thailand’s Traffic Fine System and Penalty Provisions at a recent meeting on traffic police reforms in Thailand that was organized jointly by the World Health Organization and the Royal Thai Government. Legal Development Program member Pol. Col. Jinda Klubklaye also attended the meeting. Key outcomes of the meeting included conclusions that the management structure of the traffic police department needs an overhaul and that traffic laws should also be strengthened to ensure effective enforcement. |
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Baseline data shows need for safe school zones
As part of our Slow Down to Save Lives program, we organized a stakeholders’ workshop at Yothinburana Primary School to review road crash data collected outside of the school and determine next steps. The participants consisted of school executives and staff, Bang Pho police, and representatives from the Legal Development Program and the Global Health Access Initiative. At the meeting, the attendees reviewed baseline data, which found that there have been a number of speed-related crashes involving students outside the primary school. The convening was part of the program’s continuing efforts to push for a speed limit reduction of below 50 km/h in front of the school and to urge the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to improve the surrounding street environment. This includes installing necessary traffic and road safety management equipment in order to ensure students and people in the community stay safe. The program is a collaboration with the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), with the World Health Organization, ThaiRoads, Legal Development Program in Thailand, and other community leaders also acting as key supporters. |
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Helmets for Kids teams up with road safety stakeholders to organize extracurricular activities
AIP Foundation teamed up with Yan Nawa District’s City Law Enforcement Section and Honda Motorcycle Thailand to organize road safety extracurricular activities for 87 fourth graders at Wat Chong Nonsi School in Bangkok as part of its Helmets for Kids program. The purpose of the activities was to help the students refresh their knowledge of safe behavior on the road through interactive games. The extracurricular activities included stations on correct helmet use as well as pedestrian safety concepts such as crossing the road, traffic light intersections, and walking near high speed roads. The Helmets for Kids program is supported by Grab Thailand. View more photos here. |
China |
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Stakeholders’ meeting plans for 2018
Walk Wise implementation
AIP Foundation recently held a stakeholder meeting for its Walk Wise program in Nanba Township, China. Representatives from the four program schools, the township government, the traffic police station, the education monitoring office, and the Xuanhan Natural Gas office were in attendance at the meeting. Discussion focused on evaluation of the program's activities thus far in Nanba Township as well as input and comments on plans for 2018 program implementation. At the meeting, AIP Foundation China staff also introduced the indicators that will be used to evaluate each stakeholder's performance at the end of the first year of program implementation. The group then deliberated on what evaluation metrics would best measure progress. |
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AIP Foundation builds capacity of local nonprofit to sustain road safety education in Kaizhou District
AIP Foundation’s Walk Wise program is building the capacity of local nonprofit Tongchuang Social Service Center to continue delivering road safety education in the Kaizhou District of Chongqing Province, where we finished our five-year mission in November 2017. Tongchuang has worked closely with the Walk Wise program for the past three years and is well versed in our ‘five gears’ implementation model. Our team is providing additional technical support and project management training to ensure the nonprofit is best equipped to take on their new role in the district. Tongchuang will begin by launching programming at a local village primary school. |
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