School Road Safety Education in Uganda: Progress and 1 Lessons Learned 2

22 The Uganda Road Accident Reduction Network Organisation (URRENO) is a non-profit, non- 23 government organisation (NGO) mandated in 1997. From a modest pilot project funded by the World 24 Bank in 2003, it has become a leader in the development, implementation and advocacy for road 25 safety education in primary schools across Uganda. Through URRENO efforts, the pilot program was 26 adopted as the national curriculum and was shown to improve students’ road safety skills and 27 behaviours and reduce their involvement in crashes from 15% to 5%. Many other related worthwhile 28 initiatives followed, including: improvements in pedestrian facilities; integrated road safety publicity 29 and enforcement campaigns; and expansion of road safety NGOs to supplement Government efforts. 30 Lessons learned of value for like organisations include: striving to collect and analyse data to attain 31 a project evidence base; building strong partnerships with influential individuals, community groups, 32 businesses and Government stakeholders; adopting participatory approaches in which stakeholders 33 and beneficiaries play significant roles in project implementation; and building capacities and 34 empowering beneficiaries. URRENO continues in its efforts to strengthen and further roll-out the 35 road safety education curriculum across Uganda, following evidence that transfers of trained teachers 36 has contributed to decayed expertise and attention to road safety, particularly among schools in rural 37 areas. URRENO will continue to strive to empower young people to learn and strengthen their 38 capacity in road safety, to grow out of dependence and become independent safe road users.

The Uganda Road Accident Reduction Network Organisation (URRENO) is a non-profit, non-23 government organisation (NGO) mandated in 1997. From a modest pilot project funded by the World 24 Bank in 2003, it has become a leader in the development, implementation and advocacy for road 25 safety education in primary schools across Uganda. Through URRENO efforts, the pilot program was 26 adopted as the national curriculum and was shown to improve students' road safety skills and 27 behaviours and reduce their involvement in crashes from 15% to 5%. Many other related worthwhile 28 initiatives followed, including: improvements in pedestrian facilities; integrated road safety publicity 29 and enforcement campaigns; and expansion of road safety NGOs to supplement Government efforts. 30 Lessons learned of value for like organisations include: striving to collect and analyse data to attain 31 a project evidence base; building strong partnerships with influential individuals, community groups, 32 businesses and Government stakeholders; adopting participatory approaches in which stakeholders 33 and beneficiaries play significant roles in project implementation; and building capacities and 34 empowering beneficiaries. URRENO continues in its efforts to strengthen and further roll-out the 35 road safety education curriculum across Uganda, following evidence that transfers of trained teachers 36 has contributed to decayed expertise and attention to road safety, particularly among schools in rural 37 areas. URRENO will continue to strive to empower young people to learn and strengthen their 38 capacity in road safety, to grow out of dependence and become independent safe road users.

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Uganda Road Accident Reduction Network Organisation (URRENO) is one of the largest non-54 political, non-profit organisations in Uganda. Established in 1995 from humble beginnings it has 55 grown into the leading NGO for road safety promotion in Uganda. Through its dedication, advocacy, 56 select funding applications and collaboration with local and international partners, it has made a 57 number of achievements in progressing road safety awareness, investment and improvements in 58 Uganda.

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The objective of this paper is to document URRENO's progress in advancing road safety education 61 (RSE) in Ugandan primary schools and to share the lessons learned, as efforts continue to expand the 62 reach and evaluate impacts. URRENO implemented a Road Safety Education project to enhance safer 63 road use behaviors in order to reduce and minimize the impact of injury and death caused by road 64 crashes involving pupils in primary schools in Uganda. To set the scene for this body of work, a brief 65 introduction to Uganda and its road safety history, and URRENO activities and achievements, is first 66 provided. The Uganda Government has invested in the transport sector particularly in upgrading the national 76 road network to paved bituminous standard over the years. The Government budgetary allocation to 77 the transport sector has grown from UGX 564 billion in 2007-08 to 5,317 billion in 2019-20, the bulk 78 of which is spent on the roads sub-sector (over 76%). However, a recent United Nations performance 79 review (UNECA & UNECE, 2018) found that road safety has not benefitted from the increased 80 funding: while transport represented 18-19% of the national budget in recent years, road safety 81 allocations remained at less than 1%.

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Whereas there are efforts by the Uganda Government to address road safety management, the overall 83 national results are far short of the changes urgently needed to reduce road fatalities and injuries.

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According to the Uganda Police (2019), over 3,407 people were killed and 9,451 injured in road 85 crashes during 2018; continuing the trend of annual increases as motorisation also increases. The 86 majority of fatalities were vulnerable road users, pedestrians (38%) and motorcyclists (27%), with 87 passengers and drivers of car-type vehicles proportionally much smaller (12% and 5% respectively).

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Among those of known age, approximately 17% of fatalities and 13% of serious injuries were aged 89 under 18, which includes those of school age, of interest in this article. This is in part due to Uganda 90 having a young population, with the median age just 16.7 years.

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However, the actual size of the problem is likely to be greater than this because of significant under-93 reporting of road crashes; a problem known to exist in many low-and middle-income countries. Many 94 3 of 10 road casualties are working men and women whose families depend on their income; as a 95 consequence, the social cost of crashes often goes far beyond the simple statistics of those actually 96 involved. In addition, road crashes put considerable strain on an already over-stretched health service 97 -with annual costs currently estimated at UGX 4.4 trillion ($1.2 billion), representing more than 2% 98 of Uganda's gross domestic product.

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The Government of Uganda passed the Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998 to formalise the 101 administration structure, rules and requirements for registration and licensing of vehicles, driving 102 permits, licences for public service/private omnibus/goods, use of motor vehicles, control of traffic 103 and enforcement, and to establish a National Road Safety Council. After passing the Act, URRENO 104 and other road safety partners carried out road safety advocacy for Government to implement 105 interventions to reduce crashes.    The URRENO idea was conceived by a multi-disciplinary group of professionals who perceived the 145 road safety situation of Uganda as precarious and hitherto perceived the need for advocacy and 146 promotion initiatives for a radical transformation of the road safety perspective. It was agreed that an 147 NGO be initiated to articulate strategies to address the fundamental causes of road injury in Uganda. 148 Thereafter, a situation survey and brainstorming meetings were organised and, subsequently, a 149 mission and vision for URRENO collectively developed. All these materials were pre-tested in a small representative sample of schools (both urban and rural) 217 following teacher training. Feedback from both children and teachers resulted in some redrafting of 218 the materials, converting some to videos tailored to each class learning level, and development of a 219 system of 'training-of-trainers' so that training could be cascaded down in a sustainable way in future.

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It should be noted that the PEMSIS RSE element was never intended to be a national program. The 222 project was intended to produce a curriculum that could be fully integrated into the evolving education  The first roll-out project activity was a survey to assess outcomes since the pilot project. The focus

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• Pupils from project schools showed a better ability to apply the correct road crossing rules (i.e., 267 look first left, second right and left again before crossing) and to move their gaze within photo-268 based scenarios in order to identify potential risks compared to control pupils.

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• Involvement of school students in road crashes around the schools had reportedly reduced in 270 the targeted schools to 5% compared to 15% before the project had started in the previous year.  After the survey, the roll-out project was implemented targeting a much larger number of primary 287 schools. A total of 180 primary schools were selected along highways and in urban centres 288 considered to be more prone to road crashes and therefore a more urgent priority for increased 289 capacity in RSE. The roll-out had four main components:

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The RSE project was a case where URRENO, an NGO, partnered with a Government agency, the

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Uganda has been gradually increasing attention and implementing reforms in road safety over the 396 past two decades. URRENO is striving to ensure school RSE is rolled out and sustained as part of 397 these efforts. The PEMSIS project was a key turning point that attracted Ministerial attention and 398 RSE was established as part of the national primary school curriculum. Five years on, URRENO was 399 able to secure funding and applied innovative methods in the Ugandan context to better understand 400 on-going teachers' RSE activities and children's road safety behaviours. While this determined that 401 great gains had been achieved, it was clear that that these were decaying over time through lack of 402 support and attention to teacher relocations. Therefore, URRENO is continuing its efforts to 403 strengthen and further roll-out RSE through Ugandan schools. Strong data and partnerships, 404 participatory approaches and capacity building with stakeholders and beneficiaries are key elements 405 to this on-going success.