2013: A Year of Achievements for the EuroMed Transport Road Safety Programme
On the back of extensive planning, advisory groups have been formed, multi-sectoral partnerships have been established and the capacity of key road safety actors has been enhanced to the point where 5 out of the 8 beneficiary countries of the GRSP-run EuroMed Transport Road Safety programme have officially launched their road safety pilot projects attracting significant media coverage. The countries are Algeria, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. A 6th country will be launching its project early 2014.
In addition, two successful regional workshops have been conducted, ‘Addressing the Safety of Vulnerable Road Users’ and ‘Good Practice in Road Safety Auditing, Professional Driver Training, Road Safety Education and Communications’. These two workshop are amongst 12 workshops conducted within the EuroMed Road Safety Programme and have been well attended by heads of departments of Ministries of Transport, Public Works and Interior and directors of road safety lead agencies in their countries.
“In a region facing numerous challenges, spreading the culture of road safety may appear a challenge; yet when we know this is the biggest killer in our countries, taking more lives than explosions, then we know we must make it a priority’’ urged Samar AbouRaad, GRSP MENA Region Manager.
The EuroMed Transport: Support to the MENA Road Safety Programme aims to provide capacity building and technical assistance to road safety officials in 8 beneficiary countries in the MENA region, namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia. The multi-sectoral, evidence based and result oriented in-country pilot projects are an important component of this one million Euros programme funded by the European Union.
