Members of the consortium of the EU-funded SaferAfrica project met in Athens on 24-27 April 2018 to discuss advancements and to present first results to the Management Board. IRF (Geneva) who is a member of the consortium shared its experience on data collection during the dedicated workshop held jointly with the Management Board. Representatives from the African Development Bank, UNECA, SSATP/World Bank, FIA, WHO, IRTAD, IRU, PIARC were also present to address the issue of data in Africa and the specific needs of the African countries when it comes to implementing the Action Plan of the Decade.

The SaferAfrica Project aims to establish a Dialogue Platform between Africa and Europe focused on road safety and traffic management issues. The primary role of the Dialogue Platform is to act as a high-level and high-powered body that can help positively influence changes in the African regions.

The platform works at two different levels: high-level via the Management Board made-up of prominent institutions like the European Commission, International Financial Institutions, UN Regional Commissions and other relevant stakeholders. The technical level which involves government and research institutions, international organisations and transport stakeholders (e.g. NGOs), with a balance between African and EU partners.  

The project activities are oriented to the “Safe System” approach and grouped around four pillars: Road Safety Knowledge and Data; Road Safety and Traffic management Capacity Review; Capacity Building and Training; Sharing of Good Practices. These have been specifically identified to be aligned with the mid-term review of the African Road Safety Action Plan.

SaferAfrica aims at:

• Contributing to developing/designing actions related to the Action Plan (and, in particular, to its mid-term review) together with individual African countries/organisations.
• Assessing progress toward the goals of the Action Plan and, based on assessments of the solutions adopted by various countries, releasing recommendations.
• Increasing the endogenous capacities of African countries.
• Fostering the adoption of the principles of the Safe System approach, in which all elements of the road transport system are defined in an integrated way, with the aim of ensuring crash energy levels below what would to cause fatal or serious injury.

Learn more on SaferAfrica and Athens’ meetings on the SaferAfrica website: http://www.saferafrica.eu/news/saferafrica-dialogue-platform-workshop-management-board/