Protect Cambodian Children from Brain Injury

These past few months at AIP Foundation have been a time for educating students, cooperating with stakeholders, and reaching out to communities in preparation for the upcoming school year. AIP Foundation recently selected four new primary schools in Phnom Penh for 2019 to 2020 Safety Delivered programming, with a total of 1,707 helmets to be distributed to students and teachers at the new schools. In August, AIP Foundation also engaged an audience of 400 people at the Manulife office in Phnom Penh, where we emphasized the importance of partnerships for saving lives and promoting helmet use in Cambodia. Read on to see how we have reached out to hundreds of community members and worked with local traffic police to protect the lives of children and promote road safety in their communities in Cambodia. 

AIP Foundation speaks to 400 at Manulife on saving lives in Cambodia 

9 August, 2019 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

AIP Foundation Country Director, Pagna Kim, discussing road crashes within the Cambodian context during presentation at Manulife Cambodia.

Manulife Cambodia recently invited AIP Foundation Cambodia Country Director, Pagna Kim, and Cambodia Program Manager, Piseth Im, to speak to an audience of 400 people and deliver a presentation titled, "Our Road Safety Partnership: Saving Many Lives in Cambodia" at its offices in Phnom Penh. The presentation highlighted the successes of AIP Foundation's partnership with Manulife Cambodia, including results from the Helmets for Families program which began in 2012. 

The implementation of Manulife Cambodia's Helmets for Families along with changes to road traffic laws and improvements in enforcement, have contributed to an increase in helmet use and substantial reductions in fatalities and injuries. Between January-June 2014, driver deaths and injuries were reduced by 25.6%. Between January-June 2016, the rate of passenger deaths and injuries was reduced by 19.9%. 

Since 2012, Manulife Cambodia and AIP Foundation have donated 5,000 high quality helmets to students and delivered road safety education and skills to 7 schools, 5,000 students, 261 teachers, and 9,129 parents.

In addition to positive contributions made at target schools and communities, Manulife Cambodia is one of over 100 stakeholders from the private sector, civil society, and international community that has endorsed the joint policy recommendation on motorcycle passenger helmet use urging adoption and implementation of a new road traffic law that will require motorcycle passengers and children to wear helmets.

For the second year in a row, Manulife Cambodia will also support the Annual Road Safety Conference in Cambodia on September 4-5, 2019, which aims to promote more effective measures to reduce road injuries and fatalities. In recognition of their commitment to improving road safety, Manulife Cambodia has won awards at both the national and international level, including The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Leadership of the Year award from Asia Pacific Customer Service Consortium and Certificates of Appreciation from the National Road Safety Committee (NRSC) in 2018 and 2019. 

View more photos here. 

Four primary schools in Phnom Penh, Cambodia are selected for Safety Delivered Phase II

1 August-30 August, 2019 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The entrance of Khean Klang Primary School, one of the schools selected for program implementation in 2019.

Following the success of AIP Foundation’s Safety Delivered program, The UPS Foundation has continued to support Phase II of the program, which began implementation in April 2019 and will run through December 2020. Four additional primary schools in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, have been selected for implementation.

Two of the new program schools, Chbar Ompov 2 and Khean Klang, are set for program implementation in 2019, and Hang Ngay Srah Chak and Chey Chum Nas primary schools are set for program implementation in 2020. Across the four schools, a total of 1,707 helmets will be distributed, including 1,570 helmets donated to students, and 137 helmets for teachers.

Safety Delivered aims to reduce road crash injuries and fatalities among vulnerable motorcyclists and passengers, and young, novice drivers through three mutually reinforcing components, including university-based campaigns, public awareness campaigns, and helmet distribution and education. At the new and existing primary schools, the helmet distribution and education (HDE) component of Safety Delivered will involve the distribution of helmets to primary school students and teachers, and the implementation of educational activities to build their capacities on road safety issues.

Two of the project schools with the highest rates of students relying on motorcycles as a means of transport include Chey Chum Nas Primary School and Hang Ngay Srah Chak Primary School. Of the 795 students at Chey Chum Nas Primary School, 569 students or over 70 percent are transported to school by motorcycle. At Hang Ngay Srah Chak Primary School, which is comprised of 436 students, 338 or over 75 percent are transported to school via motorcycle. With the high percentages of students who arrive to school by motorcycle, increasing the number of students wearing helmets will be a vital component to promoting the safety of children on the roads. In addition to students, the program will also target the helmet wearing rates of teachers and community members.

Helmets for Families reaches out to 500 community members to promote public road safety awareness

18 July, 2019 - Preah Sihanouk Province, Cambodia

Manulife volunteers distributing educational materials to a motorcycle driver.

AIP Foundation and Manulife Cambodia reached out to hundreds of local community members near Hun Sen Krong Primary School to promote proper helmet use and safe driving behavior through the Helmets for Families program. Manulife Cambodia volunteers distributed educational materials to community members and strategically placed posters in high-traffic areas to encourage helmet use among local residents. 

Manulife Cambodia has supported the Helmet for Families program in Cambodia since 2012. The program targets communities and schools facing dangerous traffic environments and poor road conditions. In Veal Vong Primary School, another target school in Cambodia, Helmet for Families programming increased student knowledge of proper helmet use from 4% to 78% over the 2017-2018 school year. Through continued community outreach efforts and programmatic activities, Helmet for Families will renew its efforts over the 2018-2019 school year to reduce the vulnerability of children on the roads during their commutes to and from school. 

View more photos from the community outreach here.

Cambodian traffic police lead road safety lessons for children 

17 July, 2019- Preah Sihanouk

Police officer assisting student in proper helmet wearing technique. 

In support of AIP Foundation’s Helmets for Families program, traffic police in Preah Sihanouk Province led interactive road safety activities for students at Hun Sen Krong primary school. 

Children participated in painting contests and bicycle races, applying practical road safety education to fun activities. Manulife volunteers were also present at the event, encouraging students to share their knowledge through a road safety questionnaire. The Helmets for Families program works to increase helmet use and education amongst not only children, but also their parents, through engagement of entire communities in events such as Hun Sen Krong’s extracurricular day. 

The Helmets for Families program works to increase helmet use and education amongst not only children, but also their parents, through engagement of entire communities in events such as Hun Sen Krong’s extracurricular day. From 2018-2019, Helmets for Families benefitted 943 students, 42 teachers, and 70 parents through helmet distributions, road safety education, and community engagement. As a result, helmet observations before and after program implementation showed an increase in student helmet use from 4% to 66% from 2018 to 2019.

See more photos from the event here. 

Dear Friends and Supporters,

As we move from spring into summer, the school year is drawing to a close - but our work continues. Throughout Cambodia, we are continuing to implement sustainable, effective initiatives to help work towards our goal of ensuring that every child has the right to travel safely on the roads. Read on for more information about our recent activities:

Helmets for Kids launches in Siem Reap, donates helmets to high-risk primary school

24-03-2019 - Siem Reap

Students participate in interactive road safety curriculum

We gave 96 helmets to high-risk students at Phum O Primary School in Siem Reap as part of our Helmets for Kids program. This event was co-sponsored by a new partner, The Dirty Cuts Siem Reap Motorcycle Club (DCSR), a local motorcycle club founded in 2013 and based in Siem Reap. Proceeds from the Siem Reap Bike Meet, which was sponsored by DCSR, were also donated to the Helmets for Kids program. Phum O Primary School was selected for the helmet donation due to its dangerous location along National Highway 6, where three students were involved in road crashes last year. The event was especially timely given the upcoming Khmer New Year, when road crashes often occur in higher numbers than usual. At the ceremony, students received educational training and participated educational games.

Please see more photos here

Please read the press release here

AIP Foundation organizes safe driving campaign ahead of Khmer New Year

12-04-2019 - Phnom Penh

A Phnom Penh police officer providing safe driving tips to a driver.

Together with 72 government officials, police officers, youth ambassadors for road safety, and public and private sector representatives, AIP Foundation organized a safe driving campaign prior to the Khmer New Year in Phnom Penh. The main message of this campaign was “Travel safely during Khmer New Year without over-speeding.” Participants distributed informational pamphlets with safety information and signs about the dangers of speeding to drivers and talked to them about risks and laws related to speeding.

Speeding is the leading cause of death on the roads in Cambodia. In 2017, the Cambodian National Road Safety Committee found that 11% of all road crashes in Cambodia happened during national holidays. Many Cambodians travel to their hometowns and the roads are more heavily occupied during this time.

Through this campaign, we reached 1,100 drivers on the roads and at bus stations. Additionally, Cellcard and Metfone, two national mobile phone companies in Cambodia, supported this campaign by sending the campaign message to 1,000,000 subscribers.

See more photos from the campaign here.

Cambodian university students in Phnom Penh discuss crash prevention during UN Global Road Safety Week

10-05-2019 - Phnom Penh

Students at Asia Euro University speaking up for road safety.

AIP Foundation facilitated road safety youth discussions with nearly 200 students at Build Bright University and Asia Euro University in Phnom Penh. University students had the opportunity to speak up and raise their concerns in accordance with this year’s UN Global Road Safety Week theme of leadership for road safety.

Students shared ideas with a group of guest speakers including Mr. Sen Cheatvisoth, Deputy Director of Road Safety Department of the Ministry of Public Work and Transportation; General Long Thou, Deputy Director of Traffic Police and Public Order Department of the General Commissariat of National Police; and Mr. Kim Pagna, AIP Foundation Cambodia Country Director.

During the discussion, students raised many concerns about the dangerous roads near their universities and shared many practical suggestions on how universities and students could make roads safer. A majority of students suggested creating speed limits of 30 Km/h around universities and schools zone. Asia Euro University is a partner university as part of our Safety Delivered program, supported by The UPS Foundation.

View photos from the discussion here.