The Youth Assembly was attended by 160+ young leaders from 74 countries. The attendees were gender balanced and represented the six regions of the world. In addition, they came from different sectors such as academia, civil society, governments, corporations and multilateral institutions.
The Assembly’s programme combined different activities. In the morning, plenary sessions took place with speakers from different sectors and regions. Furthermore, the results of the Youth Consultations were presented and the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety was officially adopted. During the coffee breaks and lunch there was an opportunity to network, visit the art exhibition, listen to live performances and share thoughts at the expression wall.
During the afternoon, 6 parallel sessions took place where youth leaders exchanged ideas with international experts about topics directly related to road safety such as: climate, health, equality, participation, sustainable cities and advocacy. After discussing the future of road safety with the Transport Ministers from Iceland and South Africa, the programme moved towards the Impact Generator Challenge Finals, where 3 winners got financial and technical support for their youth-led projects in Colombia, Botswana and Tajikistan.
Based on the evaluation of the Assembly, the desire of the youth delegates and the Global Youth Taskforce is to ramp up youth efforts and its impact. It is their wish to launch a Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety that is claiming their space on a much larger scale: globally advocating for road safety and increasing local youth-led activities on the ground. Both efforts will energize a road safety revolution and lead to saving young lives on our roads.
