Rwandan Students’ Statement presented in schools

Local actions winner Nkumbuye Ami and his team from Vision Zero Youth Council – Rwanda presented the Rwandan Students’ Statement on Road Safety to students at Ecole Notre Damme la Providence Karubanda to talk about the road safety situation in the area, talk about youth initiatives to further safe and sustainable mobility and to talk about basic post-crash care responses in the event of a road crash. 

The statement is the product of the sessions Ami and his team have conducted across Kigali city and the Southern Province where conversations with students were conducted after road safety principles and basic post-crash care actions were discussed. The sessions began earlier in the year where the team initially discussed road safety in a global perspective through the Global Youth Statement.

Patterned after the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety, the Students’ Statement lists down the demands and commitments of Rwandan youth in terms of the potential dangers they face on the road, specifically around school zones.

During the session, the students were engaged in the discussion and had a lot to share and talk about in terms of their experiences on their journey to school. The Rwanda Students’ Statement and the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety were also reprinted and distributed to the students to encourage more conversation around the topic.

The team and the message were well received and were invited again to hold a similar session for different students so that they would be made aware of matters regarding their safety and so that they would be equipped with life-saving knowledge on how to apply post-crash care responses when needed.

Ami’s project is called the Traffic Care Youth Initiatives Project and focuses on community awareness through teaching sessions on road safety. The project will advocate for discussions with road safety leaders as a way to show decision-makers that the roads are unsafe for young people. A radio talk show campaign will also be done to spread road safety messages in Rwanda.

It is among the twelve local actions projects supported by the Global Youth Coaliton.