From, with and for young people Floor Lieshout

2 Agenda Road safety, a global problem Why are young YOURS Why youth participation? Summary

3 Introduction Floor Lieshout o 2001: Youth advisor Minister of Transport o ´02-´07: Manager Front Office TeamAlert o ´07-´08: Account-manager T&W Capgemini o 2009: Technical Officer WHO o 2010: Chief Executive of YOURS 30 minutes

4 Facts Worldwide, road crashes are the leading cause of death among year olds Every day more than 1000 young people die on the world´s roads Thousands more are injured

5 Facts WHO predicts: unless more comprehensive global action is taken, the number of deaths and injuries is likely to rise significantly UN resolution calls for a Decade of Action: 11 May 2011 Great momentum to increase comprehensive road safety efforts

6 Road crashes are preventable What is needed: Designing safer roads Improving the safety features of vehicles Setting and enforcing laws: seat-belts, helmets, child restraints, BAC limits for drivers, speed limits Raising public awareness, education activities and training Influencing social values and norms

7 Why are young people at risk? Brain development: between yrs Prefrontal cortex: Impulse control Judgment Decision-making Reasoning

8 Why are young people at risk? Social emotional system of the brain between yrs Social stimuli Rewards Emotion wins from self-control Today I see an advert, tomorrow I buy it

9 Why are young people at risk? Young people are more sensitive for social / group pressure / peer influence Some young people will take higher risks (negative and positive) than adults in search for a ´kick´ Young males are higher at risk than young females

10 Why are young people at risk? Inexperience among adolescents and young adults makes them less safe when driving a car or a motorcycle than older drivers Overestimation of their own skills Environment often not adjusted for their needs Setting speed limits Safe playgrounds Safe school areas

11 Not all young people are the same 70% 25% 5% 70% of young people are open for road safety messages and will behave OK in most circumstances 5% are ´traffic criminals´ and will do whatever they want 25% can go either way, hopefully they chose the biggest group (social validation)

12 We are in this together! Civil Society (International) Governmental Organizations Private Sector Non- Governmental Organizations Researchers

13 Youth have to play their role… We believe... that road crashes are preventable road safety does not stop at our borders in the high potential of youth it is young people themselves who can be at the forefront of making a difference

14 Our story: World Youth Assembly

15 WYA: Discuss road safety and youth involvement

16 WYA: Wish to create a global youth NGO for road safety

Under auspices of United Nations, WHO Creation of a Youth Taskforce – Strategy, mission, vision, objectives, roadmap, etc. Official launch during First Global Ministerial Conference in Moscow

18 First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety

19 First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety

20 What do we do in a nutshell Advocate at a global level Inspire, Connect and Unite young people Develop capacities of youth advocates

21 Our continues growing youth network

22 Why youth engagement? Encourage to reach out to young people and increase youth participation: Youth have a right to participate in decisions that affects them Next generation of stakeholders Development of skills Approach youth as part of the solution, not just as focus of the problem

23 Ladder of youth participation 1) Young people are manipulated 2) Young people are decoration 3) Young people tokenized 4) Young people assigned but informed 5) Young people consulted and informed 6) Adult- initiated, shared decisions with young people 7)Young people lead & initiate action 8) Young people & adults share decision-making R. Hart (1992) – Florence, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre © Adam Fletcher – The Freechild Project

24 What brings youth to the table? Boundless energy and motivation Determination: the will to make a change Skills in the new ´social media´ Abilities for peer education Capacities as advocates Expertise of our own youth culture

25 Summary Road crashes: leading killer of young people Road crashes are preventable Young people are at risk because of: Brain dev. – inexperience – peer pressure – environment – overestimation of own skills About YOURS Advocacy, Networking & Sharing, Capacity dev. Importance of youth participation Invest in young people, they are the future!

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