Protect Cambodian Children from Brain Injury

In the first quarter of 2014, AIP Foundation Cambodia have been actively involved in a number of school and community outreach projects to promote safe driving behaviors, helmet use and general road safety. For International Women’s Day, AIP Foundation arranged a mother’s forum at a target primary school to share information related road safety and participants were invited to share their experiences, express concerns and discuss ideas to improve their and their children’s safety.

The 7^th Annual National Road Safety Week also fell in this period and was a perfect time for AIP Foundation to promote road safety activities through a range of online, educational and community outreach activities. The focus of activities was on helmet use for young motorcyclists including child passengers and promoting safe driving behaviors. AIP Foundation Country Director supported the official launch of National Road Safety Week with the donation of 150 helmets and the delivery of a speech to encourage people to take care on the roads.

Holiday periods, including the Khmer New Year (April 13-15) in Cambodia are traditionally a high risk time to be travelling on the roads with many crashes occurring. To address this problem, AIP Foundation delivered extracurricular road safety lessons to students at a target school in Phnom Penh to arm them with knowledge and skills just prior to the Khmer New Year holiday. More than 150 student took part in the lessons that included a re-cap on road rules, helmet use, pedestrian safety and other interactive games. The activities aim to create enthusiasm among students so they will strive to exercise safe road behaviors every day.

High school students at sponsored schools were invited to attend workshops on “Helmet Use and National Road Safety Policy” that aimed to share information, communicate the purpose of the National Road Safety Policy and encourage students to be active in the field of road safety. More than 900 students all up participated in these workshops and all were encouraged to share the information disseminated with their family, peers and friends.

Over the next few months, AIP will continue to work closely with schools on road safety education programs, awareness raising campaigns and partnering with donors,  supporters and traffic police to deliver life-saving skills and knowledge to Cambodians. Over 800 helmets more will be donated to primary school students in Kandal and Kampong Speu provinces. Through our activities, we can make a difference and prevent injuries and fatalities on the roads.