World Bank, BRAC Join Hands to boost Road Safety in Bangladesh

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The World Bank and BRAC signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate to boost road safety in Bangladesh, and at an online event today, the Honorable Minister of Road Transport and Bridges, Mr. Obaidul Quader inaugurated the program under this partnership.

The function titled ‘Road Safety Collaboration: Reducing road fatalities 50% by 2030’ also launched a Road Safety Awareness Campaign along the 48 KM Jessore-Jhenaidah corridor as part of the partnership. The campaign will complement the World Bank supported WeCARE project, which was approved in June 2020 and aims to upgrade the prevailing two-lane highway, Bhomra-Satkhira-Navaron, and Jahore-Jhenaidah to a safer four-lane highway. 

BRAC and the World Bank will partner together to market safety for ladies in public transport systems and conduct training and skills building for drivers, including women drivers. BRAC’s driving school’s initiative ‘women behind the wheels’ trained up to now about 214 women as professional drivers.

Globally, about 1.35 million persons die each year in road accidents. In Bangladesh, road crashes will be the fourth leading reason behind death of children aged between 5 and 14, and 67 percent of victims are within the 15-49 generation.

In the case, the Honorable Minister of Road Transport and Bridges, Mr. Obaidul Quader praised the joined initiative by the World Bank and BRAC and said, “Under the leadership of Honorable Prime Minister H. E. Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has taken actions to attain the Sustainable Development Goal of cutting the quantity of road traffic fatalities by half next decade. With more awareness and safer behaviors by road users, training of drivers, and better roads, Bangladesh is going for a comprehensive approach for ensuring road safety.”

He also assured that his ministry provides full support regarding the training and employment of female drivers.

“Road safety is becoming an financial and development priority for any country,” said Dandan Chen, Acting Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan. “We are proud to be portion of the government’s commitment to raised road safety through a National Road Safety Program. Our partnership with BRAC will reinforce the support to this program   for enhancing road safety in both rural and cities in Bangladesh.” 

The collaboration will support exchange of knowledge and raise awareness among stakeholders to lessen fatalities and injuries from road accidents. This can help the united states adopt interventions predicated on the Safe-System Approach, including safe roads and safe behaviors, as recommended globally.

Since 2011, under BRAC’s community road safety awareness program, over 1.2 million persons have obtained training on the safe utilization of roads. In addition, 5,451 schoolteachers and 498,000 school children have obtained special awareness training on road safety.

“I believe this joint initiative between BRAC and the World Bank will be a large step forward to take the road safety system in the project area to a new level. With the support of the federal government of Bangladesh and the World Bank, we desire to take BRAC’s community led road safety model across Bangladesh,” saidAsif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC. “The government, development partners, non-government organizations and most importantly the citizens have to work together such as this to find more comprehensive long-term systemic solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing traffic fatalities by 50 %.”

Ahmed Najmul Hussain, Director, BRAC Road Safety Programme, said, “I believe that undertaking more such community-driven awareness initiatives for the other highways of the united states such as the someone to be implemented under this MoU along the Jessore-Jhenaidah highway will substantially lessen the number of road crashes.”

Source: https://moderndiplomacy.eu

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