August 18, 2025
Every day, children and young people across in Uganda face the dangers of speeding motorcycles and cars, and roads that often lack pedestrian crossings. In 2024 alone, road crashes claimed the lives of 500 children -each loss leaving behind grieving families, empty seats in classrooms and lives forever changed. These tragic statistics have led road safety advocates to chart what a safe journey to school could look like for all children across Uganda.
Advocates are not only driven by statistics. Many have been personally impacted by unsafe roads, often recounting harrowing stories of a friend or loved one who was injured or killed because of a road crash. The consequences of road crashes ripple far beyond individual loss. They place a heavy burden on hospital systems and the country’s economy. An estimated 11% of Uganda’s GDP is lost to road crashes. Safer roads do more than save lives - they contribute to economic growth and keep people connected to schools, workplaces and communities
Young people represent an estimated 80% of the total population in Uganda and globally road crashes represent one of the leading causes of death for young people ages 5-29. The need for action is urgent. Safer journeys to school ensure that young people thrive, reach their full potential and contribute meaningfully to the country’s future.
Community-led Advocacy in Action
In response, Safe Transport and Survivors Support Uganda (STASSU), a founding member of the road safety advocacy coalition, led a powerful advocacy campaign to build political will for a national policy focused road safety for children. STASSU worked alongside parents, teachers, school administrations, young people and other community leaders to identify the greatest road safety risks for children and the policy solutions needed to keep young students safe. These community consultations and voices from local leaders informed and fueled the direction of the advocacy campaign.
STASSU collaborated with the Ministry of Works and Transport to launch a technical working group that brought together policymakers from various ministries, including Education & Sports, Local Government, Public Service, Gender and road safety partners such as Global Road Safety Partnership and World Resources Institute. GHAI worked closely with STASSU and the technical working group to provide strategic guidance in developing the school zone guide and additional assistance to develop key communications assets that were used to generate support for the guide leading to the launch event. STASSU also drew from learnings in countries across Africa and in other regions who have developed similar safe school zones programs. These key learnings were integrated into discussions on the lifesaving recommendations that would be included in Uganda’s own safe school zones policy.
A National Milestone for Safer Schools
This collaborative, community-driven advocacy led to landmark achievement: in May 2025, Uganda adopted the Safe School Zones Guide. This national guide represents the first of its kind in Africa and includes lifesaving measures such as safer speed limits, pedestrian crossings, appropriate signage and other speed calming measures around schools. During the country’s inaugural road safety forum, Vice President Alupo launched the guide and called on policymakers at the national and subnational level to ensure the sustainability of the guide. A few weeks later, in early June, advocates achieved an important win when the Ministry of Education and Sports integrated the guide in the national education reforms and rules policy and issued standing orders to operationalize the guide. Now all schools are mandated to conduct road safety audits and implement protective measures to ensure safer journeys for all students.
The work is not yet done. Now advocates are diligently working to ensure that all school districts prioritize safety for children and that communities are empowered to hold their local leaders accountable so that the vision and mandate of the guide becomes a reality for all. The vision: every child in Uganda can walk, bike or ride to school safely, no matter where they live.
