LONDON, United Kingdom – December 12, 2024

AIP Foundation has won a 2024 Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for the AI&Me: Empowering Youth for Safer Roads program. Yearly, the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards are presented to organizations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to improving road safety.

H.R.H.Prince Michael of Kent, a long-­time patron of road safety efforts worldwide, presented the award to Victoria Jönsson-Brown, from AIP Foundation and Monica Olyslagers, Global Innovation Manager & Cities Specialist from the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP).

“The AIP Foundation team is truly honored and humbled to receive the highly prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award this year. For us, this award is not only a recognition of our efforts in advancing safe mobility for youth in Vietnam, but a true testament to the power of youth. The AI&Me program is truly a program for youth by youth. In Vietnam, decisions are no longer being made without youth and that is the way it should be,” shares Victoria Jönsson-Brown, Communications Manager at AIP Foundation and Member of the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety.

AI for Good: Using AI and Big Data to empower youth

The AI&Me: Empowering Youth for Safer Roads program enabled youth to identify dangerous locations through an intuitive digital risk-perception tool and leveraged the power of Big Data to support governments in focusing life-saving road upgrades where young people have indicated they need it most. Through innovative strategies and tools, the project increased the local community’s road safety knowledge and supported stakeholders to advocate for safer roads and identify priorities for evidence-based interventions.

The program was supported by Fondation Botnar – a Swiss philanthropic foundation working to improve the health and well-being of young people living in cities around the world – as well as the FIA Foundation, Anditi, and the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP).

In recent years, big data technology has been utilized to transform road safety through predictive analysis by evaluating historical data to pinpoint high-risk areas. These maps enable authorities to take preventive measures before casualties happen.

AI&Me program: Outstanding contributions safeguarding lives on the road

As the AI&Me program wrapped up in 2024 across the three cities, we celebrated the following results: over 20,000 pins were scored to indicate high-risk areas using the Youth Engagement App, and over 1,800 young students were empowered with road safety skills. Program results also show that pre- and post-intervention surveys of 1,468 youngsters demonstrated increased knowledge, attitude, and behaviors from 55.8% to 82%, 42.1% to 58.6%, and 39.6% to 57.1%, respectively. The Vietnamese Traffic Safety Committees and the Department of Education and Training of all three provinces support the launch of the App in their areas.

Success in sharing results with government partners in Vietnam

The AI&Me results included 106 highest-risk schools based on Big Data screening, Youth Engagement App, and Star Ratings for Schools assessment results and proposed solutions for these 106 schools to enhance star rating and reduce risk scores. 98 schools of 106 schools identified from the Big Data screening have 1-2 star ratings for the school’s main entrance (84 schools with 1 star – 3 schools share location with other schools, 11 schools with two stars). Using evidence-based research of their impact on safety, a Star Rating is calculated at spot locations, where 1-star is the least safe and 5-star is the safest.

The meetings with the Government in the third year of the program, were an opportunity for the results to be incorporated into the Citizen Portal (a public government website) of each provincial government. The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has a strong commitment to upgrading roads and school zones, outlined in the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, and also issued a Resolution that promotes new technologies in traffic safety management and infrastructure. The AI&Me program directly aligns with the Government’s development strategies, ensuring commitment to sustainability.

Toward the future: Launch of the Empowering Youth for Livable Cities program

Building on the success of the innovative Big Data and AI road safety program that recently concluded, AI&Me: Empowering Youth for Safer Roads, AIP Foundation launched the newest program championing youth rights in Vietnam: the Empowering Youth for Livable Cities in November 2024.

Supported by key partners, Fondation Botnar, FIA Foundation, the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP), and YOURS – Youth, for Road Safety, this new program harnesses the power of youth and empowers youth to drive positive changes in the development of their communities and ensure their voices are not just heard but are actively contributing to shaping their future.