IRF (Geneva) launched today in Stockholm an IRF Data Warehouse in the framework of a side event organised jointly with the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety and the Total Foundation at the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. Built on the IRF World Road Statistics time series and complemented by a series of powerful dashboards, the new tool will further support the work of the Regional Road Safety Observatories being set up around the world.

“Data is vital and allows us to speak to governments” said Jamie Leather, Sustainable Transport Lead at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in his keynote remarks. “ADB and the Asian-Pacific Road Safety Observatory are working to have a unified data collection system in place and achieve a level of consistency across the different regional observatories. Better data are needed for output and impact” he stressed.

Introducing the tool, Julia Funk, IRF Senior Programme Manager and Head of Statistics said “This new tool will greatly help in collecting, managing, understanding and communicating on data and with data. A piece of work which is the fruit of partnerships and collaborations and that has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Total Foundation. It’s IRF’s additional contribution to the road safety cause and to the sector overall.”

“Data, tools and resources are fundamental but they are nothing without skilled people who are able to make good use of them. Capacity-building for road safety is a top priority and something both IRF and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety are deeply committed to” commented Patrick Kinyanjui, Programme Manager at the Global Alliance introducing results of the LEARN Project, a joint initiative from the International Road Federation (IRF Geneva) and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety made possible thanks to the support of FIA Road Safety Grant Programme. Awa Sarr, President of Laser International gave a live testimony of how the project has helped enhance the knowledge, skills and actions of road safety professionals and stakeholders with regard to data via hands-on trainings in Senegal and Kenya.

“Partnerships are a fundamental building block: foundations, financial institutions and NGOs working with governments to deliver measurable outcomes” said Anne-Valérie Troy from Total Foundation. “We believe partnerships are the way forward and that’s why we have been engaging and supporting different stakeholders. We want to enhance coordination because it is much needed.”

A sentiment echoed by Julia Funk in closing the event: “We thank Road Safety Analysis team for the support in developing this new tool and we look forward to working with as many people and organisations as possible whether it’s directly on data or on capacity building on data, so reach out to us and the Global Alliance to discuss ways in which we can do so”.

With the support of

For any questions, please contact info@irfnet.ch or +41 22 306 0260.