Alumni Spotlight: Vanessa Rubio, El Salvador

From 6th to 10th of March 2023, as founder of MOVES El Salvador, I supported the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety to host their Eighth Global Meeting in my home city of San Salvador.

The meeting served as a vital platform for civil society, academia, private sector, and governments to come together and address the critical need to “Re-Think Road Safety: Mobility for The People and The Planet”. The event brought together a diverse group of stakeholders and organizations who share a common interest in road safety, providing a symposium for sharing best practices and evidence-based implementable solutions.

It marked a significant turning point for El Salvador as it allowed us to showcase progress to the new authorities, highlighting four prominent aspects:

• Commitment: El Salvador’s commitment and efforts to improve road safety have put the country in a stronger position for international discussions, allowing foreign stakeholders, who may have never considered El Salvador as a country actively working towards this cause. As a result, their perception of El Salvador has improved significantly.
• Continuity: The efforts made by the previous authorities in the matter were put into perspective, emphasizing its importance so that the new authorities continue with the same work plan within the objectives of the Global Plan.

• Leadership: It was evidenced that collaboration between government, private sector and civil society is needed to achieve road safety targets, and both should leverage to make road safety a priority. Both must act together to advocate to a safe transport system.
• Responsibility: NGOs must persist in advocating for road safety and persuade others to support their mission. The Global Meeting served as a platform for these organizations to demonstrate their influential voices and highlight how a collective effort can propel a common objective with the same level of dedication from all attendees. Our aim is to “E”ngage and “E”ncourage others to join our cause and help prevent traffic accidents, which not only leave a profound impact on the victims but also with their loved ones.