Editorial: Local voices on the global stage
Editorial: Local voices on the global stage
28 February 2025
The long-awaited?4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety (Ministerial Conference) took place this month?under the?theme Commit to Life. NGOs have been preparing for many months to?help make the conference a powerful moment where meaningful commitments were made and to spark strong?evidence-based action and accountability in the second half of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 (Decade of Action).
On the ground in Marrakech, around 70 Alliance members attended the Ministerial Conference, working with the Alliance to represent the voice of our full?network of 400 NGOs. Using Mobility Snapshots and community helmet data collected by members, we set out to show delegates the realities of people’s journeys around the world and evidence-based solutions to make them safe. We pushed a message of commitment and accountabilty. These themes permeated each of our activities.?
Realities and Solutions At our booth,?delegates could explore different Mobility Snapshots, feel the difference between standard and nonstandard helmets, and listen to NGOs sharing the realities of people’s journeys in a series of head-to-head discussions. Two new publications, a white paper on Safe Helmets for All and our Mobility Snapshot analysis, enabled greater exploration of the issues, and a side event Making safe helmets a reality for all brought together experts who contributed to the white paper to discuss its findings.
Commitment and accountability Our call to action has been central to our messaging for the past four years, urging evidence-based actions, transparent and accountable investment, and involvement of NGOs and communities in decision-making. It was presented at the Symposium, shared at the #CommitToLife walk and ride, and symbolized in the safe mobility painting presented to the Government of Morocco at the closing of the conference.?We explored?how to make commitments actionable and follow through into accountability in?our Symposium and parallel session and monitored each of the commitments made by?26 countries in the plenary sessions. We will use this analysis?to assist NGOs in keeping their governments accountable for implementing the commitments they have made. Read more on our website.
We thank?the Government of Morocco and WHO for their leadership in organizing the conference and setting the agenda for the coming years. Now we look to our governments to act on their commitments and achieve the 2030 targets.? NGOs are ready to play their part, representing people’s realities, supporting implementation of solutions, and keeping governments and other system influencers?accountable for their conference commitments and the 2030 targets.