Safe schools Africa: Ensuring the provision of safe infrastructure for school children on donor-financed road projects

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the world’s highest road traffic injury rates, and rates are increasing as the continent develops and mobilises. However, roads are a cornerstone of economic development, and so governments across the continent – supported by development partners – invest heavily in developing their road networks. No government or lending institution wants people – above all children, who are among the most vulnerable road users – to be injured or killed on the roads they finance and build. Making roads safe is not a controversial proposition. The challenge lies in changing the existing practices that allow high-risk roads to be built. This paper looks at a program, ‘Safe Schools Africa’, which seeks to address the challenge of ensuring that the existing road procurement, design, and construction systems and practices consider the specific road safety requirements of school children. The program ensures that provision is made to safeguard school children and other vulnerable road users in the design and construction of new and rehabilitated roads used by this group. Safe Schools Africa is operated and administered by the FIA Foundation and Amend. The FIA Foundation and Amend work together on advocacy and project identification, while Amend carries out the community engagement and technical engineering services and manages the logistics of project delivery. The paper will examine examples of the ongoing application of ‘Safe Schools Africa’ on donor-financed projects in Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia and share some lessons learnt to date.