Local Actions winners lead awareness sessions in local schools

Young leaders behind the Promotion of the Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) Infrastructure Usage project continue their implementation with awareness-raising sessions at the Disney Junior School in the Rubaga Division in Uganda. 

Our youth leaders shared some basic road safety signs with the students, teaching them what they meant and should do when encountering these markers on their way to and from school. They shared some images of warning, regulatory, and informative signs. 

“We must protect our young ones because they are the future of tomorrow… One of the ways [this can be done is by ] making sure the children are equipped with knowledge about road safety to safeguard the vulnerable road users from road crashes.”

Apart from the discussion on road traffic signs to students, our leaders also presented information about non-motorised transport and road safety to youth and adolescents of the area who had access to motorcycles and other vehicles. They localised the discussion by using examples in Uganda, which include motorist encroachment on NMT facilities and the lack of pedestrian footpaths in the area. 

To introduce these issues to youth in the area, our leaders welcomed open discussions with participants. The project's primary goal is to sensitise people to the realities road users face on Ugandan roads and influence NMT policy reviews in the city.

In the next couple of days, our Local Actions team went to St. Peters Primary School, Nsambya, in Uganda, during a general assembly to talk about road safety, educating students about how they could become responsible road users. 

Our leaders shared some habits that should be avoided and stopped altogether, such as walking in the middle of the road or forgetting to look both ways before students cross the street. 

As a part of the project, our leaders will continue to visit schools and educate students in classrooms and assemblies to talk to them about road safety and NMT infrastructure in Uganda. The target is to engage youth in the Kampala metropolitan area, the Mwamba Development Agency, policymakers, school children, and the media.