Global Initiative for Child Health & Mobility (CHMI)

Transcription

1 Note of Meeting Global Initiative for Child Health & Mobility (CHMI) Partners Meeting, 28th February 2017, Cliveden, Berkshire The Global Initiative for Child Health & Mobility is a coalition of organisations working together to advocate for child health to be a primary consideration in planning for transportation and urban development. The coalition has a particular objective of campaigning for a safe and healthy journey to school for every child, as a way to focus the wider systemic changes needed to deliver safe, clean, low carbon mobility for all. The partners met in February 2017 to share activities, identify synergies and agree on an advocacy plan for the year. This is a note of the meeting. Participants: Marilena Amoni, FIA Foundation trustee, Chair, FIA Foundation US Advisory Group mamoni530@gmail.com Saul Billingsley, Executive Director, FIA Foundation s.billingsley@fiafoundation.org James Bradford, Global Product Director, International Road Assessment Programme james.bradford@irap.org Richard Clarke, Researcher, FIA Foundation r.clarke@fiafoundation.org Greig Craft, President, Asia Injury Prevention Foundation greig.craft@aipf-vietnam.org Rita Cuypers, Director of Partnerships, FIA Foundation r.cuypers@fiafoundation.org Natalie Draisin, North America Manager & UN Representative, FIA Foundation, n.draisin@fiafoundation.org Judy Grayson, Senior Adviser, Child Protection, UNICEF jgrayson@unicef.org Rob de Jong, Head, Urban Transport Unit, UN Environment Rob.Jong@unep.org Seung Lee, Senior Director, School Health & Nutrition, Save the Children US slee@savechildren.org Emma MacLennan, Director, Eastern Alliance for Safe & Sustainable Transport emma@easst.co.uk Ayikai Poswayo, Programme Manager, Amend aposwayo@amend.org Nancy Pullen-Seufert, Director, US National Center for Safe Routes to School npullenseufert@gmail.com Nani Rodriguez, CEO, Fundacion Gonzalo Rodriguez nani@gonzalorodriguez.org Avi Silverman, Coordinator, UNICEF Child Traffic Injury Prevention Programme asilverman@unicef.org Sheila Watson, Deputy Director, FIA Foundation s.watson@fiafoundation.org Ben Welle, Senior Associate, Health & Road Safety, World Resources Institute BWelle@wri.org Leni Wild, Head, Politics & Governance Programme, Overseas Development Institute l.wild@odi.org.uk Jeffrey Witte, Executive Director, Amend jwitte@amend.org

2 Introduction Saul Billingsley introduced the purpose of the partnership, and how the focus on safe and healthy journeys to school connects the different organisations together around a shared agenda. He described how this is the first meeting to bring together not just global partners, but also regional and technical partners. The objectives of the meeting were on programmatic advocacy and activity; to identify synergies and opportunities for collaborative action; to identify research gaps and priorities; and to agree on common advocacy activities. Saul highlighted how issues of air pollution and road safety are important in cities all over the world including London, Delhi, New York and China. 300 million children are exposed to toxic air, and 2 billion live in areas that exceed the guideline limits. Air pollution particularly is becoming more politically important. The emphasis on the school journey is a way of focusing political attention. The CHMI provides a loose co-ordination mechanism, a means of facilitating collaboration and getting traction around a global policy message, combining practical solutions, technical partners and genuine delivery at scale. CHMI is organising events which provide opportunities to come together and raise the profile of the issues: the launch meeting in London in June 2016, a roundtable during the UN High Level Political Forum in July 2016, a coalition-building event in Accra in September 2016, and a planned forthcoming conference in City Hall, London on 4 th October He highlighted the success in including the CHMI agenda in the Habitat III text and the opportunity to reinforce the policy narrative of the safe and healthy school journey as a key right, and using the air quality policy momentum to build broader alliances for safe and healthy streets. For example, the FIA Foundation is planning to support an updated toolkit on air quality for primary schools that has been used in London, and possibly piloting it in other cities, such as Nairobi and Delhi. He also highlighted the UN Global Road Safety week in May, and a number of planned activities including a mini-report and an open letter on the benefits for children of reducing traffic speed. Overview of Global Partner Activities UNICEF: Global Programme for child road traffic injury prevention - Judy Grayson, Senior Adviser, Child Protection, UNICEF & Avi Silverman, Programme Coordinator, UNICEF Judy Grayson and Avi Silverman introduced UNICEF s global road safety programme, including progress in their original pilot countries of South Africa, China and Vietnam, an expanded focus at the global level and new activities in a further 6 countries. UNICEF s strategic framework was presented, which is orientated around the SDGs. UNICEF is working closely on the new SAVE LIVES road safety package with WHO, which takes a safe systems approach in encouraging governments to prioritise interventions. UNICEF has experience of working with governments, and has a field presence in 190 countries. Some of the challenges of engaging governments and programming work were also raised, as well as questions of data. There will be more scope for UNICEF to work on road safety if it is included in a country s National Development Plan. However, UNICEF can still work on road safety issues without country programmes and Judy encouraged partners to invite UNICEF country offices to engage with events.

3 UNEP Share the Road and Partnership for Clean Fuels & Vehicles Rob de Jong, Head Urban Transport, UN Environment Programme Rob de Jong highlighted how air pollution is a mobility issue with many impacts on children health impacts, school attendance, and developmental impacts and children being exposed to air pollution now has a massive impact in the years to come. Air pollution causes around 7 million premature deaths a year and 2 million among children. He highlighted the progress in removing lead from petrol over the past decade has made a big difference, but there are many more areas to improve. Children in developing countries are 80 times more impacted by air pollution than developed countries. UNICEF s Clear the air for children report suggested that one in 10 deaths are related to air pollution. Governments agreed a new resolution on air quality at the last UN Environment Assembly, and UNEP and is developing new activities and a toolkit. Rob highlighted the challenge of 2-stroke motorbikes which can emit many times more pollution than modern trucks. The issue of second hand vehicles is also very relevant as the average vehicle imported into Uganda is 16 years old, and this exports the dirty emissions from Europe and other more developed markets. However, clean fuels are also needed to ensure that modern vehicle standards are effective. In some cases chemical waste is being blended in fuel in Africa because regulations aren t as stringent. He emphasised the importance of working with different ministries (such as ministry of development or treasury), and also highlighted the challenges of vested political interests which obstruct change. Cities Safer By Design Ben Welle, Senior Associate, Health & Road Safety, World Resources Institute WRI has global offices in Mexico, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Turkey and Ethiopia, and also work in other cities such as Ghana. It is fostering leadership among city mayors, national leaders, and national road safety councils to ask them to commit to safer streets and promote access to safe walking and cycling options. WRI accomplishes this through city partners, and advocates for a safe system policy to be incorporated especially in LMIC. Ben Welle started by highlighting that If you have safe streets for children, you have safer streets for the elderly and those with disabilities. Ben gave some examples of WRI s work, guided by Cities Safer By Design, a handbook of evidence based measures, which it uses in a hands-on workshop format with engineers. In Fortaleza WRI implemented raised pedestrian crossings, kerb extensions, and medians where there was high foot traffic, particularly around schools. In Bangkok, they did simple interventions to create sidewalks. In Ho Chi Minh City, they put in a pedestrian median refuge. In Guadalajara, they identified the intersections with the highest fatalities and then deployed engineers and designers to improve them, with a focus on children s safety. In Turkey, they targeted leadership and brought together local Mayors and have worked on improving pedestrian conditions in Izmir. Designed to Move is WRI s physical activity action agenda, which aims to put physical activity into every part of life. Physical activity is linked to a huge number of public health issues, and WRI are working with cities at the local level. Their research agenda includes a focus on safe and sustainable systems including a low speed zones guide. They are also doing a pilot on real time interactive map on PM2.5 using data from NASA. WRI work on Bus Rapid Transit systems, and their evaluation of the scheme in Mexico City shows that this reduced road fatalities, increased walking and reduced air pollution.

4 Political Economy of Urban Road Safety Leni Wild, Head, Politics and Governance, Overseas Development Institute ODI is looking to better understand how to build political support and momentum in weaker environments, for example where mayors are not highly motivated to make changes. They are also interested in building capacity and making connections between policy initiatives and actual delivery of solutions. Research includes a literature review on road safety measures, sustainable transport and political economy drivers; use of city-level case studies to understand what drives performance at city and national level, what capacities allow for coordination and enforcement and how they might be strengthened, and any other measures that should be included to reinforce the SDG agenda. Currently there is not a lot of documented evidence available, but they are looking to pull together information and find the lessons that it is possible to draw from these experiences to understand the limitations and ways to overcome them for example the Good Samaritan laws introduced in India. City level case studies will include a focus on youth. Research also includes policy reports and outreach to be produced at the end of the year. Integrating road safety into the SDG child rights agenda Seung Lee, Senior Director, School Health and Nutrition, Save the Children US Save the Children has a four-part framework that serves as pillars for their efforts: policy, education, services, and the environment. This is built on a foundation of effective partnerships, community partnership and ownership, and child partnership. Injuries and road crashes are one of ten issues Save the Children focuses on among school-age children. The Global Strategy is similar to that of UNICEF, and has three main focuses: Survive, Learn, and Be Protected. Road safety is a lower priority on the Save the Children agenda because most schools are worried about other issues like water and nutrition. Save the Children has the unique capability to track the outcomes of individual children, sponsored by donors, which includes those who have been impacted by road traffic crashes. The NGO has been conducting Program Learning Groups in several cities to help raise awareness to country officers, members, and leadership. This shows that there s no easy solution to embedding road safety within current programs, and shows that programs should play to their strengths for example, Save the Children for advocacy and their ability to engage higher level partners. Regional & Technical Partners Organising for safer streets for children in Sub Saharan Africa, Jeffrey Witte, Executive Director & Ayikai Poswayo, Programme Manager, Amend AMEND work in Sub Saharan Africa to address issue of road injuries, and focus on safe and healthy journeys to school. They identify and prove low cost solutions, such as moving school gates or low cost speed humps, through demonstration projects and have undertaken research with CDC which has shown the impact of the approach. They are using this evidence to advocate for government and/or municipal action. AMEND are working in 10 countries over the next 3 years to replicate this (funded by FIA Foundation and PUMA Energy) on average there will be a demonstration event every month over this time in different countries. One of their strengths is their in-house engineering expertise, but they can also partner with other organisations to expand this work into different areas.

5 Share the Road, Rob de Jong, UN Environment Rob de Jong introduced Share the Road, a partnership with the FIA Foundation which promotes nonmotorised transport. Much infrastructure in developing countries isn t suitable for walking and cycling for instance people may have nowhere to walk on roadsides as there are no pavements, especially if verges become inaccessible because of rain. The consequences: out of 700 people who died in Nairobi due to road crashes, 500 were pedestrians. UN Environment undertook a demonstration project in Nairobi, and this has led to scaling up at the city level. Nairobi has now committed 20% of its transport budget for active mobility infrastructure. This will take time to feed through across the whole city, but all new roads will now be built to meet minimum standards. Share the Road has developed tools and guidance to get facilities in place. Share the Road is also working on a non-motorised transport policy for Lagos, and working with the Federal government in Nigeria. Share the Road also undertook a review of legislation in Brazil, and is planning a Mayoral summit to initiate an NMT policy. They are also working with schools in Brazil to identify issues and solutions. Share the Road is planning new work in Mexico and Ghana on these issues. Partnerships for improving child motorcycle safety in SE Asia, Greig Craft, President, Asia Injury Prevention Foundation AIP Foundation works on several aspects of road safety, but particularly motorcycle safety. The motorbike is the major form of mobility in many parts of Asia the equivalent of the family car. It is also responsible for the majority of road crash fatalities, and children are at high risk. Greig explained how AIP Foundation coordinated a country wide coalition in Vietnam to advocate over a number of years for a practical helmet standard and law. The coalition involved a number of international agencies, including UNICEF and the World Bank, private sector, embassies and, crucially, had strong buy-in from and engagement with the government and the National Road Safety Committee. This coalition has continued to be important in ensuring that children wear helmets, through a national child helmet action plan, but also involved in ensuring people understand the legislation and that there is good compliance particularly around the issue of counterfeit helmets. Building coalitions and capacity to improve road safety and air quality in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Emma MacLennan, Director, Eastern Alliance for Safe & Sustainable Transport EASST works closely in partnership with a network of organisations mainly in the countries of the former Soviet Union. With small amounts of funding, it is able to build a relationship with people who are working on the ground and sharing expertise. This includes a number of FIA member clubs. They fund many small projects designed to catalyse policy change. EASST has also developed a child road safety education pack, incorporating THINK! road safety materials from the UK adapted for the road and cultural conditions of EASST s countries of operation. The pack is available free and Emma encouraged partners to make use of it. Lessons from school bus and child seat safety campaigns in Latin America - Nani Rodriguez, CEO, Fundacion Gonzalo Rodriguez Fundacion Gonzalo Rodriguez has worked to improve safety on school buses in Uruguay, including liaising with the government to replace the fleet. By working closely with the President, they were able to get support and tax deductions to enable this to go ahead. They are now involved in ensuring that car seats are used for children, and used correctly. This includes a new VR tool to show what

6 would happen if a car seat wasn t used. They also work very closely with the media to keep the issue on the agenda. As a result, the organisation has excellent brand recognition nationally. They are now working to ensure that road safety agencies across Latin America have child mobility on their agenda. As part of FGR s collaboration with the FIA Foundation, they are working on safe routes to school, including piloting irap s new star rating for schools app. Child and youth safety as a catalyst for Vision Zero - Nancy Pullen-Seufert, Director, US National Center for Safe Routes to School The US National Center for Safe Routes to School was established to support the Federally funded 2006 Safe Routes to school programme. They therefore have over a decade of experience and learning in how to push these forward, and are using this experience to work with US cities and mayors to encourage a child-focused adoption of Vision Zero strategies. They have also been involved in establishing the International Walk to School Day this includes involving local officials to support an event including around a third of the 5000 events hosting an elected official. This is a great platform for advocating for child safety. Star rating safety for school journeys James Bradford, Global Product Director, International Road Assessment Programme irap is working with road authorities around the world to assess the quality of the roads. FedEx have provided funding to adapt the irap star rating to areas around schools. This includes a simple way of assessing the quality of infrastructure arounds schools and for assessing quality, and could be used primarily as an advocacy tool by schools and communities to urge infrastructure improvements. This would then be submitted for quality control by reviewers around the world through an app. The challenge is how to make the irap approach work better in an urban setting, and so they are working with SWOV, the Dutch road safety institute, and the Dutch auto club to improve the urban and pedestrian model. Discussion Session: Working together for every child In a discussion session to close out the day, partners reviewed the information shared and identified opportunities for collaboration. These include: Sharing policy contacts and using national activities to leverage wider partner engagement e.g. inviting Save the Children and/or UNICEF country offices to attend events and help amplify messages. Organisations can share toolkits that are developing. For example: o FIA Foundation are preparing a report on speed ahead of UN global road safety week, which CHMI partners will be invited to associate with if interested; o WRI are working on a report on low speed zones; o EASST have a road safety education toolkit, based on the THINK! Resource; Making best use of available expertise - some partners have particular expertise in technical details and project delivery; others have other strengths (e.g. communications, research, access to decision makers, convening power). Bring the two together whenever possible; It would be useful to map the CHMI activities in different countries. This could include countries, city-level work, and also where country offices are located. The Foundation undertook to lead this effort; Organisations from different sectors can share their key stakeholders for example UN Environment has strong national coalitions in their Partnership for Clean Fuels &

7 Vehicles/Share the Road taskforces which could be relevant for wider child health engagement; Key actions the meeting agreed to the following specific key actions to advance the CHMI agenda during 2017: Support a high level international conference on the safe and healthy journey to school - identify right people to be there and support. Provisional date is 4 th October in London; Support an Open Letter on speed reduction as an effective vaccine for children for UN global road safety week ideally with sign-on from heads of agencies/organisations; Mapping of CHMI partner activities and contact networks; Collaborate on speed report for UN Global Road Safety Week. Feed in examples and review.