NGOs and Legislators: Seeking better collaboration

News from the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety.

How can NGOs have better collaborations with legislators and which countries are doing it well? How can continuity be ensured when governments and staff change? Why have so few countries ratified the Africa Road Safety Charter?

These were some of the issues deliberated by Members of Parliament representing the African Regional Network of Road Safety Legislators and NGO members of the Africa Chapter of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety at a special online session, in collaboration with WHO and World Bank.

The purpose of the session was to examine the challenges and opportunities for MPs and NGOs to work more closely together to push forward the road safety agenda at government level in Africa to help achieve the 2030 SDG target to reduce road deaths and injuries by 50%.

As a result of the meeting:

• There was interest, particularly on the NGO side, to push governments to ratify the Africa Road Safety Charter
• Creating networks between NGOs and MPs in-country and regionally would ensure sustainability and continuity to keep road safety on the agenda despite changing MPs and governments
• Case studies are needed from around the continent to model what good collaboration between MPs and NGOs looks like
• Increasing knowledge is needed on both sides to push a joint agenda effectively: NGOs need to understand the legislative process and legislators need to have more knowledge of the issues 

For more indepth information please click here.

To watch the video please click here.