The SaferAfrica project hosted its final conference in Tunis on 18th September to present and discuss results of three years of work and also to discuss future development opportunities for addressing effectively road safety in Africa. IRF DG, Susanna Zammataro animated the final roundtable bringing together key stakeholders engaged in the continent and internationally.

Opened by the Tunisian Minister for Youth and Health, Mrs Sonia Ben Cheikh and the Minister of Equipment, Mr Noureddine Selmi, the conference was attended by prominent international institutions, African regional and national bodies’ representatives, policymakers, researchers and civil society organizations.  “There’s a wealth of knowledge which has been created: Now it’s time to go and implement it” was the opening statement of Mr William Bird from the European Commission. Indeed the project has produced a significant number of analysis on key issues, country capacity reviews, training tools and methods and African stakeholders are already engaged thanks to the African Road Safety Observatory  (www.africanroadsafetyobservatory.org ) and the African-European Dialogue Platform – both created within SaferAfrica-and linkingpolicymakers, donors and professionals to plan and design road safety actions. At the core of the dialogue, a Management Board composed by high-level members, including ten top-level international Institutions active in the field of road safety, namely: European Commission (EC), World Bank (WB), African Development Bank (AfDB), Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) World Road Association (PIARC), World Health Organization (WHO), International Road Transport Union (IRU) and  International Transport Forum (ITF).

Coordinatedby the Research Centre for Transport and Logistics of Sapienza, University of Rome (CTL), SaferAfrica counts on a Consortium of 17 partners from both Europe and Africaclosely working with more than 200 African stakeholders coming from 41 African countries and in tight connection with the SaferAfrica Management Board.

The Conference held in Tunis provided the opportunity to discuss – in between others – projects’ implementation plans which have been prepared as part of the SaferAfrica deliverables. Thanks to this work some African countries more closely involved in the project are now stepping up action on standards for vehicles and for roads, on education and capacity building and on institutional reforms.

The recommendations of the EU-Africa Task Force on Road Safety acknowledge the contribution of the SaferAfrica project and suggest to the future ARSO to build upon the knowledge base, tools and network of SaferAfrica thus continuing its legacy. As stated by Prof. Luca Persia – SaferAfrica coordinator – “The members of the SaferAfrica stand ready to support this transition with their expertise to ensure a rapid and effective transition”. That will in the end translate into concrete actions to save lives in the African continent. “United we deliver” concluded Mrs Susanna Zammataro, IRF DG, by closing the final roundtable about future perspectives.

You can access all the deliverables from the SaferAfrica Project here: http://www.saferafrica.eu/en/publications

A short video on the Final conference is available here:
https://www.facebook.com/2217217145208468/videos/620313085165515/?sfnsn=mo