Interview: Launch of YOURS road safety action kit
On April 16, 2012, the global organization, Youth for Road Safety (YOURS), launched its first-ever road safety toolkit. Targeting young people all over the world, the safety kit aims to introduce road safety in a concise, yet clear and appealing way. In order to know more about that kit, we interviewed its author Nellie Ghusayni, a former GRSP MENA staff member.
Q: How did the action kit project begin?
A: It started in 2010. We were approached by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, USA. They said they had a small budget that they wanted to use to produce some kind of manual for young people. What was initially meant to be a 10-page booklet eventually turned out to be a 46-page, comprehensive document that took approximately one year and half to complete.
Q. What does the action kit consist of?
A: The YOURS action kit is divided into 3 main sections:
- The state of road safety in the world with information on speeding, drinking and driving, the use or non-use of helmets, and many more topic
- Planning and implementing road safety projects
- Partnership building, community participation, networking and fundraising
Q. What makes the content of the action kit appealing?
A: A lot of the information in the kit is present everywhere, especially on the web. The real challenge resided in combining knowledge and practice. So the first thing we did was to get in touch with our youth network. What do they want to read about, what would they be interested in? Then we started brainstorming together and we put some ideas forward. We said for example, in Canada young people want to know about this, is this something young people in Kenya would be interested in?
We also worked to make the language youth friendly, and aside from general information, we sought to inspire our target audience. We include stories that aim to show young people to understand that “yes, road safety can be achieved” and not just because we are saying it can happen, but because other people in other countries have done it and they can help you and they can support you and you can learn from them. Another element that makes the booklet stands out is its design. Mark Woodwood from Airspace Studio, who was also behind the “Steve” animation, produced by GRSP and YOURS for the Decade of Action.
Q: Where do we find the action kit and how should it be used?
A: The YOURS action kit is available online for free download here and can also be used as a training tool. We already trained trainers in Oman for example last month, before it was actually printed, and it was a great success.
