Investing in the safety and lives of young students at our program schools in Cambodia is a long-term investment in the growth and resilience of their communities.
Each year, road crash injuries and fatalities disproportionately burden the youngest individuals in society. Across the world, road crashes remain the leading cause of death for children and youth aged 5-29. The lives of these children and youth are tragically cut short at a time when they are learning and working towards brighter futures.
It is time to work towards a more sustainable future for our children and youth. Please join us in supporting positive impacts and safer behavior on the roads through education, behavioral change, and positive inspiration for youth.
Please read on to see what the past few months have held for AIP Foundation's work with young students and children in Cambodia.
Students participating in a performance with their brand new helmets on stage.
Students with their brand new helmets during the Safety Delivered 2019 kick-off event in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Nearly 720 primary school students and teachers at Chbar Amov 2 and Wat Mongkol Serei Kean Kleang Primary School in Phnom Penh received quality helmets and were encouraged to wear them as part of their school uniforms during the Safety Delivered 2019 kick-off event, implemented by AIP Foundation and supported by The UPS Foundation.
AIP Foundation welcomes the 2020 new year and would like to use this opportunity to express our gratitude to the many supporters who have contributed their time, generosity, and energy to promote safer roads and safer lives across our program countries and communities.
In Vietnam, the year-end saw the successful distribution of quality helmets to vulnerable communities, including students and teachers at high risk of road crash-related injuries and fatalities. Thanks to the invaluable support of donors and the engagement of teachers, parents, volunteers, and our teams on the ground, communities received helmet safety training and road safety education to enable them to make safer decisions as road users.
Please read on to see the positive impact we can make through continued collaboration and engagement to promote the safety of communities worldwide.
Teachers volunteered to demonstrate how to wear helmet correctly in Can Gio Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
November 10, 2019
2 November 2019 – 10 November 2019
During the first week of November, the Safety Delivered 2019-2020 program in Vietnam held three teacher training workshops for a total of 200 parents and teachers across three project schools in Go Vap District, District 12, and Can Gio Ward in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, with the aim of encouraging child helmet use and empowering teachers to serve as positive role models for the students.
At the training sessions, parents and teachers were first informed of the road crash crisis in Vietnam to emphasize the importance of road safety education for young children. The participants were then trained on proper helmet wearing technique, including how to ensure a helmet fits properly and how to correctly wear and adjust the chin strap. Following the helmet training, teachers were encouraged to share their own experiences and challenges in discussing helmet safety with students. Through the workshops, both teachers and parents received the opportunity to collaborate with other teachers on effectively communicating the importance of helmet wearing to students, and were equipped with proper helmet safety methods and techniques.
See more photos from the workshops here.
Students at Hy Vong school make a commitment to wearing helmets after spending the morning playing exciting road safety games and activities.
November 13, 2019
AIP Foundation staff and volunteers joined nearly 200 students at Hy Vong school, a school for children with physical disabilities, in Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on November 13, 2019, for a helmet handover ceremony to encourage students to learn more about road safety through engaging games and educational activities. The helmet handover ceremony was a part of the Safety Delivered program, which is supported by the UPS Foundation and aims to increase child helmet wearing rates and reduce youth distracted driving behavior through school-based education, public awareness campaigns, and advocacy in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and India.
Students at Hy Vong Primary school received new helmets and learned how to wear their new helmets properly, including how to adjust the chin strap and ensure proper size and fit. The volunteers also supported students in discussing why it is important to wear a helmet whenever traveling via motorcycle or bicycle.
Nine additional helmet handover ceremonies took place throughout November in Go Vap, District 12, and Can Gio, Ho Chi Minh City, delivering more than 5,000 helmets to students across 7 schools through the Safety Delivered program.
To see more photos from the helmet handover ceremony at Hy Vong, please click here.
Students participate in a flash mob dance after receiving their new helmets.
December 3, 2019
In celebration of AIP Foundation’s Safety Delivered program, nearly 1,600 attendees, including volunteers from UPS (NYSE: UPS), students, parents, school officials, and local stakeholders, banded together to raise awareness for road safety through a kick- off ceremony and motorcycle parade at Ho Van Thanh Primary School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Supported by UPS and The UPS Foundation, Safety Delivered is a program by the AIP Foundation that works with young, inexperienced motorcycle riders in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and India, to educate and eliminate distracted riding behavior, as well as increase helmet use among children.
Russell Reed, Managing Director of UPS Thailand and Vietnam stated, “Everyone has a part to play in creating safer roads and drivers. I am heartened by the dedicated efforts of our UPS Vietnam volunteers working with AIP Foundation to increase students’ knowledge of road safety. Community change requires the concerted effort of advocates and stakeholders alike in promoting positive habits. In doing so, we can create a powerful multiplier effect that will boost road safety efforts and save lives on the roads across Vietnam.”
To read more about the event, please see the Press Release here.
Mr. Anthony Salapete, Vice President, MTM Architecture of Vietnam Garment Manufacturing Company (VNG) places a brand new helmet on a student at Phu Xuan Primary School.
December 19, 2019
In response to the Vietnam National Traffic Safety Committee’s 2019 traffic safety action plan, which calls for better traffic safety measures for motorcyclists and passengers, AIP Foundation addressed non-helmet use among children through its Helmets for Kids program by providing more than 400 helmets to at-risk students at Phu Xuan Primary School in Binh Xuyen District, a rural district of Vinh Phuc Province in the Red River Delta region of Northern Vietnam. The Helmets for Kids is supported by the Vietnam Garment Manufacturing Company (VNG) – TAL Apparel.
At the helmet handover ceremony, students and parents from Phu Xuan Primary School were in attendance, in addition to representatives from the National Traffic Safety Committee, Vinh Phuc Traffic Safety Committee, Vinh Phuc Department of Education and Training, Binh Xuyen Bureau of Education and Training, and the Binh Xuyen People’s Committee. AIP Foundation staff and representatives of TAL Apparel also attended the ceremony.
Pre-helmet observations conducted by AIP Foundation showed that while more than 95% of the students at Phu Xuan Primary School travel to school by motorcycle with adults or alone on bicycles, 0% of students were found to wear helmets.
Mr. Nguyen Trong Thai, Chief of the secretariat of the National Traffic Safety Committee remarked, “The issue of non-child helmet use is of great concern, which highlights the need for strong collaboration from the private sector, such as the TAL Group, to address traffic safety issues for children. The need for greater road crash prevention awareness at Phu Xuan Primary School is of the utmost importance. Students should not be on our roads without protective equipment for their developing brains. The Helmets for Kids program will demonstrate to students, as well as their parents, the importance of wearing a helmet whenever they are traveling on a motorcycle or bicycle.”
To learn more about the ceremony, read the Press Release here.
View photos from the ceremony here.
Protecting the lives of students and ensuring their safety on the roads requires dedicated partnerships with families, schools, and governments. These past few months, AIP Foundation has continued to work with teachers, parents, students, and stakeholders to promote broader community awareness and knowledge regarding the importance of helmet use. Through these partnerships, we have launched school-based education campaigns and helmet distributions to provide life-saving knowledge and access to safety equipment for students in Cambodia.
At Onlong Vil Primary School in Battambang Province, Cambodia, as part of our Helmets for Families program, we worked with schools and volunteers to carry out head measurements of 60 student representatives to ensure the student beneficiaries are properly fitted for the quality helmets they will receive during the 2019-2020 school year. During the upcoming school year, we will distribute over 1,200 helmets to students, teachers, and parents at Onlong Vil Primary School. Together with students, we also painted murals on school walls to spread positive messages about road safety. Through interactive extracurricular activities which reinforce road safety messages for students, we aim to empower them to promote safer behaviors to their peers and teachers.
During the Second Annual Conference on Road Safety in Cambodia, we shared the positive results of our safe school zone campaign in Vietnam. Promoting the lives and well-being of students requires partnerships across countries and the exchange of knowledge: for the stakeholders gathered in Phnom Penh, we discussed the importance of public awareness campaigns, tailored school zone modifications, and pilot road safety e-curriculum for our work in Vietnam.
We will continue to work to leverage our partnerships and promote safer road behavior to ensure the well-being of our student beneficiaries and vulnerable road users across our program countries.
Read on to see these partnerships in action.
Volunteers from Manulife Cambodia and AIP Foundation staff paint a mural which reads, "Everything is for children's road safety," on school walls.
“Everything is for children’s road safety” message painted on school walls in Cambodia
November 21, 2019
In support of the Helmets for Families program, Manulife Cambodia volunteers joined AIP Foundation staff to paint murals with positive messages about road safety on the school walls at Onlong Vil Primary School, as part of a larger effort to promote helmet-wearing among students during their commutes to and from school. The students were excited to participate in the painting with the volunteers.
This activity follows helmet measurements which were taken the day before at the school. During the 2019-2020 school year, with the support of Manulife Cambodia, AIP Foundation aims to distribute over 1,200 helmets to students, teachers, and parents at Onlong Vil Primary School through the Helmets for Families program.
See more photos from the activity here.
Manulife Cambodia volunteer assists a student with proper helmet fitting at Onlong Vil Primary School.
Manulife Cambodia volunteers support AIP Foundation in conducting helmet measurements for students through Helmets for Families
