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The partnership mobilises and gets adolescents and young people from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro involved in discussing safe and sustainable mobility, and counts on their participation and vision in the process of devising public policies to generate change at scale


MADRID/SÃO PAULO, 30 October 2023 - The partnership between the Abertis Foundation and UNICEF is helping to guarantee the right to safer mobility for more than 6,000 children and young people in Brazil, where representatives of the Foundation have learned first-hand about the projects they support in the country.
The partnership enables safer and more sustainable environments for children and young people in the face of road traffic injuries and deaths, which are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents aged 5-19 worldwide. "Children and young people are entitled to a safe and healthy environment, including when they travel to school, to their homes and to their community every day. Yet, every two minutes, a child or adolescent under the age of 19 dies as a result of road traffic crashes worldwide, that means 200,000-plus deaths that could be prevented every year," said Luwei Pearson, UNICEF's Associate Director of Maternal and Newborn Child Health.
In Brazil, the partnership focuses on large cities such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and specifically on areas and neighbourhoods that are poorly connected and face a particular mobility-related challenge. These difficulties significantly impact children's and adolescents' fundamental rights regarding access to education, employment, health care or social services.
One specific place where the partnership is operating is Cidade Tiradentes, São Paulo's second district with the longest average travel time by public transport, 1h and 9min, 62% longer than the city average. 71,500 children and adolescents living in the area face daily mobility problems such as poor connections with the rest of the city, lack of signage, overcrowding in public transport and also insecurity, violence or discrimination.
"I have to use four means of transport to get to my university: two buses, the metro and a train. I spend 4 to 4.5 hours a day on transport, going back and forth. I spend more time going back and forth than at the university. So I move around more than I study and I often have to study on public transport," says Lara, 19.
Due to a lack of safe and affordable transportation options, compounded by high levels of violence and insecurity, adolescents and young people have limited access to educational, employment and recreational opportunities. This impacts their health, well-being and present and future prospects. "Solving these problems calls for public policies that prioritize children and adolescents, coordination between different actors and, above all, listening to the children and adolescents themselves, who face these challenges on a daily basis," explains Adriana Alvarenga, interim coordinator of UNICEF Brazil's southeastern territory.

To reverse this situation, the projects promoted by the Abertis Foundation and UNICEF mobilise and involve local adolescents and young people in discussing safe and sustainable mobility. By doing so, their participation, commitment and vision are being taken into account when devising public policies to try to generate a systemic change that will positively impact young people in other cities in the country. Young people are part of and lead road safety and urban mobility discussions that also address their right to access the city, the ties between urban mobility and unequal opportunities, and how these limitations affect their mental health and life opportunities.

Gustavo, 18, points out that "when young people unite, when we mobilise, we can change things, we can bring demands to the public authorities. Having the notion that we have a voice and that we can advance these demands is important". In this regard, one of the adolescents' proposals is for municipal-wide changes to make it safer for them to go to and from school, and they are also going to keep on calling for improvements in safe urban mobility with public authorities so that more young people can benefit.
During the visit to the Brazilian projects that the Abertis Foundation supports through its partnership with UNICEF, Georgina Flamme, director of the Abertis Foundation, stated that "the private sector must be a relevant actor in tackling major social challenges, and the raison d'etre for our business must enable us to keep on improving the right to safe and sustainable mobility. In a country where Abertis is present, we are proud to see the positive impact that our strategic partnership with UNICEF is having in Brazil's major cities to bring down the rates of child injuries and deaths due to traffic accidents, and to promote inclusive mobility for all".

The Executive Director of UNICEF Spain, José María Vera, stressed that "thanks to our partnership with the Abertis Foundation, we are helping to build safer, more sustainable environments for children and young people in Brazil - for example, on their way to school or study centre - and promoting the improvement of road safety regulations and legislation".
In addition to the work underway in Brazil, the strategic partnership between the two organisations seeks to promote safer and more sustainable mobility for children and young people in India and access to STEM (science and technology related studies) careers for girls and young women in Mexico, all with the aim of helping to reducing the impact of road traffic injuries on the most vulnerable children. Since 2017, the partnership has already contributed to improving the safety of 267,000 children and young people in countries with high road safety risk rates.

Note to editors
Data on the problem of road accidents and their impact on children and adolescents:

-Road traffic injuries and deaths claim nearly 1.3 million lives each year at all ages worldwide and are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents aged 5-19 years. Every two minutes, a child or adolescent aged 0-19 years dies as a result of road traffic injury - more than 200,000 a year.
-In addition to the public health impact, road traffic injuries also represent a huge economic burden for victims and their families, due to both the costs of injury treatment and the loss of productivity and income of the injured.
-In low- and middle-income countries, 97 per cent of road traffic deaths involve children and adolescents under the age of 19, according to the World Health Organization.

About UNICEF
UNICEF works in the world’s toughest places to reach the world's most disadvantaged children and adolescents. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for all.

About Abertis
Abertis is one of the world's leading toll road operators, with more than 8,000 kilometres of high-capacity, high-quality roads in 16 countries in Europe, America and Asia. For Abertis, driver safety is a priority. Committed to research and innovation, Abertis combines advances in high-capacity infrastructures with new technologies to promote innovative solutions to meet the mobility challenges of the future.

About Abertis Foundation
The Abertis Foundation was founded in 1999 as a non-profit entity, with the mission of contributing to the sustainable development of the regions and countries where the Abertis Group operates.
The Abertis Foundation engages in actions designed to improve road safety with the aim of reducing accident rates. These actions focus on road safety education for children, raising awareness among young people and prevention in the case of older drivers.
It also promotes social actions in favour of the most vulnerable groups, incorporating them into its road safety actions in favour of sustainability and environmental care. Furthermore, it supplements the Abertis Group's activities in the countries where it operates: Spain, France, Puerto Rico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and contributes to the development of the International Network of Abertis Chairs.

UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, product or service.

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