YOUTH ACTING FOR ZERO ROAD FATALITIES IN MOROCCO

BY EL KHALIL CHERIF FROM MOROCCO

The project aims to develop an advocacy toolkit for decision makers in Morocco to achieve meaningful youth involvement to impact the future of SAFE and SUSTAINABLE mobility. The toolkit is intended for entities at the decision making table like: the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Interior, National Road Safety Agency (NARSA), civil society organizations and others. It adopts the recommendations of the Global Plan for Road Safety 2021-2030 by identifying the youth of Morocco as a main stakeholder that needs to be included at the decision making level. The project involves several stages that will result in creating a well-designed advocacy tool. This tool will connect the sustainable development goals of health and well-being, sustainable cities and communities and reduced inequalities with the goal of shaping a safer future for mobility in Morocco.

To ensure a meaningful youth participation, this project will involve conducting consultations with young people across Morocco, as well as decision makers. It focuses on creating an adequate framework that includes youth in developing the national policy for road safety, community mobilization and building the capacity of young people to take action and educate their peers on safe behavior. Campaigning for road safety is an essential component of this project, to grow the number of supporters and increase pressure on decision makers to take action.

The goal of the project is to achieve meaningful engagement of youth in shaping the national road safety policy in Morocco by 2022 - 2030.

ABOUT THE PROJECT LEAD

El Khalil is a researcher at Instituto Superior Técnico. He has gotten a PhD in Environment, Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System and recently a Master in Sustainable Ocean Blue Economy for Environment Diplomacy from University of Trieste.

As a researcher, El Khalil believes in taking evidence-based measures to impact youth in his region. He is passionate about involving young people to achieve the sustainable development goals, especially SDGs: 3, 4, 13, 14 and 17.

PROJECT UPDATES

Youth connecting with policymakers and decision-makers in Morocco

El Khalil and his team have begun implementing different consultations and focus group discussions to talk to young people about their work with decision-makers within decision-making and policymaking structures. The data will support the team’s effort of creating an advocacy toolkit for decision-makers in Morocco that puts youth at the center of the decision-making policy to impact the future for safe and sustainable mobility. 

ADVOCACY TOOLKIT FOR MOROCCAN DECISION-MAKERS PUBLISHED BY LOCAL ACTIONS TEAM

Head of the Local Actions Project “Youth Acting for Zero Road Fatalities in Morocco”, Dr. El Khalil Cherif and his team developed an advocacy toolkit titled ‘Together to Engage the Youth Towards Safe and Sustainable Mobility: A Guide for Decision-Makers’.

The Toolkit calls on decision-makers to start working with young people in the region by presenting resources, insights, and recommendations that will lead to better strategies for meaningfully engaging with youth.

Local Actions Winner Publishes Paper on Road Safety Decision-Making

Local Actions 2022 Winner El Khalil Cherif and his team; Zohra Bohdidi, Hamza El Azhari, Ayman Bnoussaad, and Aziz Babounia, published a paper titled Enhancing Road Safety Decision-Making through Analysis of Youth Survey Data: A Descriptive Statistical Approach, based on results of his project: Youth Acting for Zero Fatalities in Morocco.

The paper discusses how unsafe roads have posed a significant threat to public health, economic stability, societal well-being, and national interests for numerous decades.