The UK Department for International Development (DFID), which manages the UK’s overseas aid progamme, is to join the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility.
In its new strategy paper (or ‘White Paper’) DFID says “Increasing numbers of vehicles on the roads can lead to higher numbers of poor people killed or injured in road crashes. This is both a human tragedy and an enormous cost to the economy. To help prevent this, the UK will become a sponsor of the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, and support the November 2009 Ministerial Conference in Moscow”.
The recognition of the importance of road safety, and the work of the Facility, comes as DFID also announces a doubling of aid for infrastructure development in Africa, to £1 billion over the next four years. Much of this investment will be directed to the North-South transport corridor, which aims to upgrade 4000 kilometres of road to improve economic and trade efficiency. The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility is working, in part through its support for the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), to influence policies in order to ensure that road programmes of this kind make safety and the needs of local communities living alongside highways a priority.
DFID’s support for the Global Road Safety Facility comes at a time when development experts and NGOs are increasingly recognising the important role that safe roads can play in achieving other development objectives. This analysis has recently led UK development charity Oxfam to join the Make Roads Safe campaign. Oxfam’s International Director, Penny Lawrence, said: “We welcome the Make Roads Safe campaign as a vital contribution to reducing poverty and suffering”.
David Ward, Director General of the FIA Foundation and current Chairman of the Global Road Safety Facility, welcomed DFID’s decision. “The UK is one of the world’s best performing countries in terms of its own road safety and one of the most active supporters of international development. Joining the other top performing countries, Australia, the Netherlands and Sweden, in the Global Road Safety Facility will strengthen the work and the voice of the Facility as it encourages more governments and donors to meet the challenge of reducing road fatalities in a Decade of Action.”
The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility was launched in 2005 and is supported by the World Bank, the Governments of Australia, Netherlands and Sweden, and the FIA Foundation.
See the DFID White Paper ‘Eliminating World Poverty: Building Our Common Future’ >
Visit the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility website for more information >