UNRSF and GRSF partner to improve road safety in Tanzania

Together with the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), the United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF) has announced that it will evaluate the deployment of the “Ten Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure” in Tanzania.   

Tanzania has a rate of 29.2 fatalities/100,000 inhabitants. The most affected road users are pedestrians and passengers of four wheeled cars and light vehicles, followed by riders of motorised two and three wheelers.

The UNRSF and GRSF initiative aims to reduce road traffic deaths and serious injuries by improving national road safety policies, national road design standards, road safety engineering, and training and accreditation. The partnership will also use applied research to recommend enhancements to the Ten Steps approach, and potential applications for existing and future development activities by the World Bank, other multilateral development banks (MDBs) and bilateral agencies.

Additionally, the initiative will work to embed road safety skills as part of the Regional Centre of Excellence for Road Safety being created with support from the African Development Bank. The evaluation of the Ten Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure project will inform refinements for the future and aims to provide confidence for upcoming deployments by the UN, the World Bank, MDBs and bilateral donors.

Dr. Soames Job, Head of GRSF, said: “We are pleased to be jointly funding this valuable road safety delivery initiative for Tanzania. This joint undertaking is an important step for saving lives and preventing debilitating injuries in Tanzania, and a vital part of the close collaboration of the World Bank and GRSF with iRAP, IRF, PIARC, UNRSC, and UNRSF. It is critical that these leading global organisations work together to save lives and avoid injuries on the world’s roads.”

Romain Hubert, Acting Head of the UNRSF secretariat, added: “2020 needs to usher in a decade of ambitious action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and for this, synergising efforts in road safety has never been more important. By jointly financing this promising project, the UNRSF and GRSF are leveraging our limited resources to maximise results and impact. I am confident that this is the first of a series of meaningful collaborations that we will undertake.”