D3.4 – Capacity building initiatives

Abstract

The first main objective of work package 3 is to assess the implementation of the Action Plan 2011–2020 (AU‐UNECA, 2010). This assessment has been supported by SWOT and PESTEL analysis completed at different geo‐political scales (continental, regional economic communities/corridors and country) and is described in deliverable 3.1. The second main objective of work package 3 is to define initiatives for different topics (i.e., road safety policies, road safety and traffic management, capacity building and other road safety interventions). Those initiatives are designed to foster the implementation of the Action Plan and to contribute to a better situation in terms of road safety. This deliverable deals with the definition of initiatives for capacity building and training in the African continent. Deliverable 6.1 ‘Road Safety Curriculum for Africa’ highlights the specific needs and demands for training and education according to African education experts (Vieira Gomes, Kluppels & Schemers, 2017). One of the needs emphasizes the multidisciplinary characteristics of the road safety expertise. Subsequently, a lot of different professionals are active in different areas of road safety. Although cooperation between different road safety professionals is wanted to enhance road safety in general, this deliverable tries to categorize different capacity building initiatives (i.e., available courses) according to different groups of road safety professionals. A general education for all road safety experts is certainly needed. But after a general introduction to road safety, more specific capacity building initiatives for different road safety professionals are required in the African continent. This doesn’t exclude that some capacity building initiatives in this deliverable are applicable for two or more groups of road safety professionals. According to the Transportation Research Board (2007), road safety professionals have been defined as workers who spend all or most of their workday on matters pertaining directly to road safety, such as assessing safety performance and needs, planning, developing and implementing safety initiatives and taking specific actions related to safety (TRB, 2007). In this deliverable road safety initiatives are proposed for six different groups of road safety professionals. These groups are data collectors and analysts, health personnel, public policy makers, road safety engineers, teachers and educators and traffic police. The described capacity building initiatives in this report serve as a guideline for capacity building for the previously mentioned target groups. Off course, the proposed initiatives need to be further adjusted to the specific requirements for the group of road safety professionals within the country or region where they would be used.