What is GRSP?
The Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) brings together governments and governmental agencies, the private sector and civil society organisations to address road safety issues in low and middle income countries. GRSP is a hosted programme of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), based in Geneva.
Traditionally, road safety has been seen as an unfortunate consequence of a transport system and as a problem for the transport sector. However, the direct costs of the growing number of crashes falls mostly on the health sector, businesses and families. Today it is widely acknowledged that many sectors have a role to play in road safety, especially in the prevention of crashes, deaths and injuries. GRSP brings together these sectors at the global, national and sometimes local government level. GRSP provides advice on good practice and facilitates projects in a growing number of countries.
GRSP Mission
By 2010 GRSP aspires to be:
- A leading global organisation for road safety – making a difference by bringing together needs and resources.
- The principal place where government talks to business and NGOs about road safety.
- The principal point of contact to bring together partners in order to deliver feasible and effective road safety projects.
- An outstanding knowledge source.
- Neutral, respected, trusted and viable.
GRSP aims to find more effective and innovative ways of dealing with road safety in developing and transition countries. Through a comprehensive approach to road safety, GRSP partners collaborate and coordinate road safety activities. This approach aims to build the capacities of local institutions and to enhance the ability of professionals and communities pro-actively to tackle safety problems.
GRSP Strategy
The GRSP strategy embodies the following key elements:
- Forging a partnership between all the key groups in society with a strong vested interest in improving road safety - the business community, civil society, government and donor agencies. This coalition becomes the focal point for interest in road safety interventions. Partners collaborate on road safety projects and press government to deliver on those interventions which only government mandate and accomplish (e.g. legislation, research, major infrastructure improvements, road safety database analysis)
- Undertaking - with finance provided by the members of the coalition - interventions and demonstration projects which show that road safety can be improved in cost-effective ways.
- Building sustainable local partnership organisations to work with government in delivering elements of a national or local road safety plan.
- Sharing knowledge about good practice and lessons learned from ongoing projects to demonstrate that partnerships can be effective in road safety
- GRSP is not generally a funding agency and does not finance major road safety interventions of the type normally financed by governments, bilateral and multi-lateral donors. However, through special initiatives such as GRSI, GRSP is able to provide modest financial support and build capacity.