Transaid’s 25th Anniversary year in review

Throughout Transaid’s silver jubilee year, we have continued to transform lives through safe, available and sustainable transport. It has been a year to celebrate the unique partnerships that we have forged over the last 25 years.

Thanks to our incredible network of supporters and partners, Transaid has maintained its position as a recognised leader in our two core areas of focus. We have continued to work with local partners, civil society, international organisations, the private sector, governments and donors implementing sustainable and impactful programmes in road safety and access to healthcare across sub-Saharan Africa.

Programme highlights: Road safety

Transaid’s road safety programmes have continued at pace in 2023, and our driver training programmes in Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Mozambique have seen great success in terms of the numbers of trainers and drivers that have been trained to an improved standard. This is a testament to our partners in the countries where we are working, and our focus remains on the Sustainable Development Goals, and particularly to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2030. Key road safety highlights from the last year include:

  • A 30 percent increase in the number of drivers and trainers trained in Transaid-assisted centres year-on-year.
  • Transaid has now supported the training of more than 60,000 professional drivers since 2008.
  • Over 80 female drivers have been trained as part of the Professional Driver Training Uganda Project Phase Two (PDTU-2).

In May, we secured an extension of our work funded by the FIA Foundation, to lead the second phase of a project to establish a National Helmet Wearing Coalition in Kenya. The aims of this second phase include cementing Kenyan ownership of this initiative, strengthening the implementation of the current Kenyan Helmet Standard, and equipping motorcycle users with knowledge of helmet quality. In recent weeks, Transaid and partners have been busy delivering Training of Trainers (ToT) training to motorcycle rider trainers, association leaders, and road safety advocates, which includes modules on safe behaviours, and post-crash care for first responders to motorcycle crashes.

Towards the end of 2023 and coinciding with the release of the World Health Organisation’s latest Global Status Report on Road Safety, commentary from key members of the Coalition featured in the Guardian online, following reports that the number of people who died in traffic incidents in Africa rose by 17 percent in the past decade, despite global road traffic deaths falling by five percent.

In a first for Transaid, this year we commenced a 10-month project, funded by Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, and in partnership with Durham University to better understand the strategies young men in London and Cape Town implement to keep themselves safe while walking to public transport.

The PDTU-2 project, which forms part of the GIZ Employment and Skills for Development in Africa (E4D) programme, came to a conclusion earlier this year. Over a two-year period, almost 900 predominantly HGV drivers have been trained – exceeding the project’s original training goal by more than 15 percent. Key to the project was the aim of encouraging more women into the sector, and the fact that around ten percent of the trainees were women also demonstrates an appetite for a more inclusive workforce.

The support of Transaid’s corporate partners is paramount to the success of our road safety programmes, and earlier this year, two Michelin Training Instructors delivered tailored tyre safety training to truck and bus driver trainers on Transaid’s projects in Zambia and Ghana.

In September, Nicoletta Effah, a Graduate Operations Management Trainee from GXO embarked upon a six-month secondment as a Project Officer for Transaid, supporting our longstanding road safety project with the Industrial Training Centre (ITC) in Lusaka, Zambia. In early 2024, the ITC is due to receive two vehicles donated by Fagan and Whalley and Samworth Brothers, which have both been fitted with telematics and safety equipment by Microlise and Brigade Electronics. Nicoletta will manage the effective integration of the two vehicles and the respective equipment into the training centre, to ensure that they have the greatest impact.

Programme highlights: Improving access to healthcare

Transaid’s work with communities and governments improving access to healthcare continued this year, and our focus remains on Sustainable Development Goal three – to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Following the transition of our flagship MAMaZ Against Malaria (MAM@Scale) programme to government ownership in Zambia, the Community Health Volunteers and Emergency Transport Scheme riders have continued efforts to tackle severe malaria in rural Zambia. This is through the delivery of a critical pre-referral treatment and the utilisation of bicycle ambulances to improve and ensure timely access to health facilities.

In recent years, MAM@Scale has seen an 87 percent reduction in children dying of severe malaria, whilst broadening its reach across ten districts. On World Malaria Day in April, we celebrated the achievements of MAM@Scale by sharing stories from bicycle ambulance rider, Minerva, as well as Justina and Kelvin, who utilised the bicycle ambulance when their daughter Annette was diagnosed with severe malaria.

 

Between April 2022 and March 2023, Transaid and partners continued work with the Uganda National Health Laboratory Services, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), and other partners to provide COVID-19 rapid antigen test screening in Uganda for truck drivers and their assistants. The project team raised awareness of symptoms and prevention, tackled vaccine hesitancy, integrated road safety messaging, and conducted over 2,600 tests and reached over 8,000 drivers.

In 2021, Transaid and partners conducted a research project aimed at investigating the role of the transport sector in facilitating and preventing trafficking in persons along high-volume transport corridors in East Africa, as well as potential solutions for identifying and preventing human trafficking. In May 2023, this research was published in the Journal of Transport and Health, and the potential areas of intervention include training for vehicle operators delivered by transport associations or driver training schools; targeted public education campaigns focused on the transport routes and vehicles favoured by traffickers; and training for border control officials and traffic police.

Fundraising highlights:

A team of 40 riders drawn from across the transport and logistics sector have completed a 187-mile cycle ride from London to Paris to raise funds for Transaid’s work in sub-Saharan Africa.

2023 has been another busy year for the fundraising team and Ambassadors, working tirelessly to increase awareness of our work and raise vital funds. In September, our London to Paris cycle challenge made a monumental return. Despite more punctures than ever before, the forty riders came together as one team and raised more than £65,000 for our programmes.

In June, we launched Transaid’s next African cycle challenge, which will see riders travel to Kenya in October 2024. Almost thirty spaces have now been taken, and we encourage interested parties to register now to avoid missing out.

We are so grateful to all of the individuals, teams, and companies that have taken on a challenge for Transaid this year. From the intrepid cyclists, to those that got involved with our 2.5 challenge, – thank you for helping us transform lives across sub-Saharan Africa in 2023.

Transaid is grateful to have continued its position as one of the charities of the industry and our presence at almost thirty industry events has truly helped to increase awareness of Transaid’s mission and raise crucial funds for our programmes. Particular highlights include the Multimodal Exhibition and Awards, the Microlise Exhibition and Conference, the Motor Transport Awards, and the Logistics UK Logistics Awards. Not forgetting the inaugural Transaid Cup which took place in July and helped to unite the transport industry whilst raising crucial funds for our projects.

Transaid’s networks continued to grow, with the welcoming of new corporate partners Iron Mountain and Brigade Electronics, as well as five new Trustees:  Astrid van der Burgt, Paul Milner, Phil Kamutenga, Philip Roe, and Sharn Samra, and also new Ambassadors: Jayne Masters, Nicola Robertson, Abbie Rennison, and Clara Thomas.

Our Anniversary Showcase took place in November and saw more than 170 supporters, partners and development organisations come together to mark 25 years of our work. We were delighted that our Patron and founder, HRH The Princess Royal attended the event as the guest of honour. Once again, our congratulations go to Florence Bearman and Thelma Ayisi – the joint winners of the 2023 Victor Simfukwe Award, and our thanks go to our sponsors: DP World, the Malcolm Group, Europa, Palletline, Garnett Keeler, the RHA and UKWA for making the event possible.

To round off a fantastic anniversary year, Transaid’s 2023 Christmas Appeal has raised over £42,000 – a new fundraising record for this annual campaign, by over £6,000. We are incredibly grateful to the sixteen industry publications that published our festive advert, as well as the 55 companies that pledged their support.

Thank you from Transaid

As we conclude Transaid’s 25th Anniversary year, we reflect on our successes of the last 25 years and we look forward to a new strategy commencing in 2024 for Transaid. Significant plans are already in place to continue to grow the scale and impact of our road safety and access to healthcare work and increase our focus on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Thank you for supporting Transaid and making the achievements of the last 25 years possible. Transaid wishes a wonderful festive season to those celebrating and we look forward to sharing more updates with you in 2024.