Youth Coalition holds ARTvocacy Capacity Development session

Last week, 24 March, the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety launched its first Capacity Development session for 2022 titled ARTvocacy. The session was designed to provide members of the Youth Coalition with new skills and a better understanding of how to use art as a way to communicate and advocate to transform the mobility system.

The session was hosted by YOURS - Youth for Road Safety Capacity Development Director Manpreet Darroch and featured Lisa Russell from Create2030 and Kenneth Mulinde from Youth Arts Movement Uganda (YAMU).

The session focused on how art can be an important tool to catalyze social change by talking about different movements and initiatives triggered by interventions such as graffiti, film, storytelling, photography, and more. “Art holds up a mirror to society to show that we, as a society, need to realize what has happened. Don’t shy away from it but look at it. Face it on.”

During her intervention, Lisa gave examples of how she and her organization, Create2030, are using art to highlight global issues focused on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She emphasized how important storytelling was to show the realities people face, especially during times of conflict. “Arts and storytelling are so necessary for our efforts to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals.” - Lisa Russel

Kenny, on the other hand, highlighted how he and his team from YAMU and colleagues from the Global Youth Coalition use art to energize youth and creatively present the situations and realities that they face.

He shared one of his experiences of producing a music video with the Youth Coalition during the 2020 Art for Road Safety campaign. During the project, he and his team from YAMU produced and shot a video titled “Yambala Helmet” that emphasized the importance of using helmets while driving motorcycles while also touching on the mobility struggles young women faced in Uganda.

To wrap up the session, YOURS - Youth for Road Safety Senior Project Manager Ivan Viquez talked about the Youth Coalition’s upcoming arts campaign called the #ClaimingOurSpace campaign. The campaign, launching this 4th April, invites young people to share a power pose highlighting their capacity to get involved in road safety efforts in project implementation, decision-making, policy making, and more.

The final outcome of the campaign will be highlighted through an Art Exhibition happening during the High-Level Meeting in New York this July 2022. Learn more about the campaign by going to one of the links below: