Increasing Youth awareness of Road Safety through the use of ICT

The forum on Increasing Youth awareness of Road Safety through the use of ICT was conducted on 13th November 2013 at Open Institute office. The purpose of this forum was to promote youth engagement in road safety awareness through the use of ICT in order to help them to share the knowledge of road safety within their own community.

Participants were councilors from both municipalities and provinces such as Phnom Penh and Battambang, representative of Nation Committee on Road Safety of Cambodia, representative of the Interior Ministry, representatives from various NGOs including the, Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, Girl Guides Association of Cambodia, Youth Council of Cambodia, , and University student who came from the NGO network. This forum was co-organized by the Open Institute, Coalition for Road Safety (CRY), People Health for Development Association (PHD), and Khmer Youth and Social Development (KYSD).

Mr. Choun Von Deputy General Director of Nation Road Safety Committee of Cambodia (NRSC), delivered his opening speech at the forum on Increasing Youth awareness of Road Safety through the use of ICT
Date: 13 November, 2013
Photo by Open Institute

In an opening speech Mr. Choun Von, Deputy General Director of National Road Safety Committee of Cambodia ( NRSC), said that the traffic in Cambodia nowadays is very busy. This forum was aimed to increase awareness of road safety to youth through the use of ICT. He explained that ICT is very important to provide access to all types of information to one another very quickly such as information on traffic accidents, economics, politics etc. He stated that since the traffic law has been established since 2007, they have worked toward development in conjunction with NGOs partners, International NGOs and local NGOs who share their goals in improving road safety. He mentioned that Facebook is a good method of social media that could be used to share knowledge, experiences, and other information throughout the public. He explained that a case study showed that 1,200,000 people use Facebook in Cambodia (62% were man and 37% women) so ICT could be a very effective tool to promote road safety awareness to decrease traffic accidents in Cambodia. He thanked the Open Institute, Coalition for Road Safety, and other relevant NGOs who cooperated in order to organize the forum.

Ms. Chim Manavy, Executive Director of the Open Institute, delivered her welcomes remark to participant in workshop on Increasing Youth awareness of Road Safety through the use of ICT
Date: 13 November, 2013
Photo by Open Institute

When delivering her welcome remarks to participants at workshop, Ms. Chim Manavy, Executive Director of the Open Institute, said that she was so glad that councilors from municipality and Battambang province, representative of NGO, and University student representative of NGO network were able to join the workshop on Increasing Youth awareness of Road Safety through the use of ICT. She explained that the purpose of workshop was to promote youth get more understanding about road safety through the use of ICT to reduce traffic accidents. She continued by saying that traffic accidents are increasing rapidly and are responsible for countless deaths in Cambodia and around the world each day. She emphasized that youth are the group most commonly killed in traffic accidents, and people between the ages of 15 to 29 years and most likely to die or become disabled because of a lack of road safety. She explained that traffic accidents are a leading cause of death in Cambodia—around three people are killed by traffic accidents and 100 people are injured every day here. Road safety is considered the second biggest catastrophe in Cambodia and not only are these traffic accidents responsible for extreme death tolls, but they are also very detrimental to our economy, Ms. Manavy explained.

To illustrate the way in which NGOs can positively impact Road Safety Awareness, Ms. Lim Sokchea, Excutive Director of Coalition for Road Safety (CRY) talked about increasing good behavior and awareness of youth in terms of road safety. She also provided testimonials (through a video clip) of people who have lost loved ones or have been injured due to traffic problems.

In her presentation, Ms. Hoy Sochivanny, Acting Chief of Commissioner of Girl Guides Association of Cambodia (GGAC), talked about her experience working with members of GGAC to promote a greater respect for traffic laws; they implemented a program where young people who are members of GGAC spend their free time on weekends standing at traffic lights and attempting to yield traffic and force drivers/travelers to respect their signals This forum attracted participants. Mr. Or Kanha Ratanak, learning & Communication Manager of Interior Ministry, said that this forum was very interesting and it was very vital for youth and councilors to make them aware more knowledge about traffic accidents. The main points that he emphasized in his lesson were the cause of traffic accidents, the way to avoid traffic accidents, a video of case studies related to traffic accidents, the friend educating friends initiative, the best mechanisms to reducing traffic accidents, and the important role of ICT4D. He continued his speech by suggesting we each impart this knowledge to our community, friends, and family. He suggested that this forum can continue to help people in the future, especially in rural areas.

The whole picture of workshop on Increasing Youth awareness of Road Safety through the use of ICT
Date: 13 November, 2013
Photo by Open Institute

Miss. Pen Panha, student at Royal University of Phnom Penh and volunteers of People Health for Development, said that the forum was very good and contained a great deal of relevant information on traffic accidents which would be shared to Sangkat councilors and Youth so that they could receive this knowledge and share it in their communities or schools . She explained that this forum would help them to reduce traffic accidents and make them aware of the causes of traffic accidents in Cambodia. The important thing about ICT, she explained, is that it could help us to access information and to share and comment information that is relevant to traffic accidents. Beside this, ICT allows us to communicate with each other very quickly and efficiently. She suggested that Open Institute provide more trainings related to traffic accidents and traffic laws, particularly to youth and Commune /Sangkat councilors so that they can share this information to their own communities in order to reduce and protect traffic accidents in the future. She expressed her gratitude to Open Institute and other stake holders who worked hard to organize this workshop.

Even though the forum only lasted for a short time, the participants gained a great deal of newfound understanding and knowledge on the topic from the skilled facilitators. They learned how to protect and avoid accidents, the primary causes of accidents, and the importance of ICT in reducing these traffic accidents. The participants really appreciated this forum and expressed that they enjoyed learning about a topic that is so relevant and carries so much weight as it is destroying human resources in Cambodia everyday.

Ms. Lim Sokchea, Executive Director and a facilitator of the forum was showing the way how to promoting youth to reduce their behavior causes traffic accident while they are driving Date: 13 November, 2013 Photo by Open Institute	Ms. Hoy SochiVanny, Acting Chief of Commissioner of GGAC, delivered her presentation to participants at the workshop on increasing youth awareness through the use of ICT Date: 13 November, 2013 Photo by Open Institute
Mr. Mak Puthea, ICT4D Cambodia Nework Coordinator Assistant of Open Institute, was doing presentation about Promoting Youth Engagement through the use of ICT for Development Date: 13 November, 2013 Photo by Open Institute