The launching ceremony for the pilot of the Youth Engagement App in Yên Bái City Wednesday morning. — Photo from AIP Foundation

YÊN BÁI — AIP Foundation on Wednesday launched Youth Engagement App (YEA) pilot in HCM City, Pleiku City (Gia Lai Province), and Yên Bái City (Yên Bái Province) starting December 2022 to January 2023.

The launch of the app, part of the foundation's Big Data road safety programme, AI&Me: Empowering youth for safer roads, engages students from 18 project secondary schools and colleges on how to use the app.

Raise your voice: A Youth Engagement App for safer mobility 

The YEA offers young people an efficient way to identify and report high-risk road conditions, providing them with a platform for their voices to be heard.

Through the app, government officials will receive data as actionable recommendations to make effective and evidence-based road safety interventions. This will make it easier to identify blackspots for more in-depth analysis to determine the star ratings for school zones.

Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) is an evidence-based tool for measuring, managing, and communicating the risks children are exposed to on a journey to school.

It supports quick interventions that save lives and prevent serious injuries from day one.

AIP Foundation’s three-year AI&Me: Empowering youth for safer roads programme is supported by Fondation Botnar – a Swiss philanthropic foundation working to improve the health and wellbeing of young people living in cities around the world – as well as the FIA Foundation, Anditi, and the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP).

The Traffic Safety Committees and the Department of Education and Training of all three provinces support the launch of the app in their areas.

“Today is the day that students will take charge in ensuring that their cities are safe. The YEA puts young voices at the heart of solving the global road safety crisis,” Hoàng Na Hương, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at AIP Foundation, said.

Teachers empower students to raise their voices 

Prior to the launch of the YEA, AIP Foundation hosted, together with iRAP and the Ministry of Transport (MOT) the first hands-on training of the YEA to key government stakeholders and teachers – in HCM City, Pleiku City, and Yên Bái City.

The main objective was to provide an introduction to the AI&Me programme as well as launch the YEA with instructions on how to use it and pass on the knowledge to their students.

This capacity-building course, conducted by experts from iRAP, was the first milestone for teachers to be empowered and play an active role in providing training to 1800 students from 18 pilot schools to use the app.

In turn, these students will raise their voices for safer #streetsforlife, which brings us closer to the vision of a world where all neighbourhood streets are liveable, safe, sustainable, and walkable.

“The launch of the YEA will make a big difference for our next generation in HCM City, Pleiku, and Yên Bái. Our future belongs to the youth, so we need to hear their voices to find the best solutions to the issues they face. We can only achieve safer streets across Việt Nam if we work together,” Phạm Việt Công, from the Deputy Office Chief of National Traffic Safety Committee, remarked.

AI for good: Using Big Data to save lives on the road in Việt Nam

Road crashes are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years globally.

In Việt Nam, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimated that more than 6,200 children and youth aged 5-29 were killed in road crashes in 2019.

This represents a public health crisis that disproportionately affects young people most. Road upgrades, speed management, as well as enforcement of behavioural risk factors are needed to effectively address this crisis. 

The AI&Me programme was launched and tested in HCM City, Gia Lai Province, and Yên Bái Province from August to March 2021, with the possibility of scaling up to other regions and countries following successful initial trials.

“I think that the YEA is a fantastic tool to create safer streets in my neighbourhood. With the app, I can easily alert the local authorities and let them know where there is a danger. This App makes me feel safer. It also makes me feel like I am a part of the solution, which gives me the power to make an impact,” shared Đăng Phan (changed from actual name), a local youth from Nguyễn Huệ High School at the launch event in Yên Bái.

In recent years, big data technology has been utilised to transform road safety through predictive analysis by evaluating historical data to pinpoint high-risk areas.

These maps enable authorities to take preventative measures before casualties happen. — VNS
 

Students and parents try out the app. — Photo from AIP Foundation