Coalition holds second Youth Consultations LIVE

Last Wednesday, July 15, the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety held its second LIVE Youth Consultation. The Consultation was held via Zoom and was led by three of the Coalition’s members; Sana’ Khasawneh, Kenneth Mulinde, and Matias Ivan Schulz. Each member invited young leaders from their countries to participate and to discuss the most pressing road safety issues in their areas.

The Youth Consultations are a way to support the process of meaningful youth participation for safer roads and sustainable mobility all over the world. The Youth Consultations will also help members of the Coalition and other young leaders on how to implement the Global Youth Statement in their communities and countries. 

The second round of LIVE Youth Consultations had about twenty participants all in all, each placed with their facilitator. Each breakout room followed the four steps from the Youth Consultation methodology; (1) Discussing and providing feedback on the Global Youth Statement, (2) Splitting the different areas of the Global Youth Statement and localizing them based on the situation in the respective countries, (3) Project planning, and (4) Mapping the community. 

Sana’s group, which was based in Jordan, focused on the road safety infrastructures in their area and talked about how it contributed to the road crashes that occurred involving youth and other vulnerable road users. The group had determined that it was important to focus on engineering colleges so that they can offer support and lead efforts in identifying black spots on the roads and creating solutions for them. 

From Argentina, Matias and his group talked about urban design and how the cities did not consider people with disabilities in the design. The group acknowledged how there were efforts to create lanes for pedestrians and maintain low-speed streets but talked about the importance of engaging leaders and decision-makers to cater to the needs of people with disabilities and other vulnerable road users.

Finally, Kenneth and his group who are based in Uganda talked about the most pressing issues they face as road users; speeding in highways, overcrowding in streets, and uneducated road users. To address these issues, Kenny and his team made plans around educating young people on issues around road safety through the Global Youth Statement and the Global Youth Coalition. 

Each of the discussions contributes to the overall aim of the Global Youth Consultations to update the partners, members, decision-makers, and the rest of the global community with the real and concrete road safety actions young people are taking since the launch of the Global Youth Statement at the 2nd World Youth Assembly last February 2020.

Contribute to the youth and road safety movement by leading your own youth consultation!