Our Work

Amend works with governments, communities, development banks, foundations, private-sector companies and others to deliver safe and healthy journeys in developing countries.

We have run projects in more than fifteen countries, and with offices in Ghana, Mozambique, and Tanzania, our focus is on sub-Saharan Africa.

Our work involves everything from scientific research to the provision of safe infrastructure, engineering, education, training, advocacy, consulting and beyond.

The easiest way to understand our work is to browse through some of our current and past projects.

You can find a selection of our projects in chronological order below or, on a computer, sort by country or project type via the map and menu.

  • Safe Schools Africa
    • Advocacy
    • Infrastructure
    • Ghana
    • Mozambique
    • Tanzania
    • Zambia

    Project Budget: EUR 1,000,000 (initial funding)

    Dates: 2022 – ongoing

    Funding Partner: FIA Foundation and others

     

     

     

    Safe Schools Africa strengthens the delivery of road safety on development bank-funded roads projects in Africa, bringing Amend’s focus on vulnerable road user safety to the World Bank, African Development Bank and others.

     

    By working with development banks and governments on projects in numerous countries, including Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, we are taking the lifesaving principles of our SARSAI program to greater scale, helping to deliver on the road safety safeguards set out in the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Framework.

     

    Traditionally, and still today on many roads projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, engineers focus their designs on motorized vehicles. Not enough consideration is given to the vast majority of people who are multi-modal: walking, cycling, using motorcycle-taxis and taking public minibuses. Special attention is also commonly not given to vulnerable groups such as school children and people with disabilities.

     

    It is these challenges that Safe Schools Africa is working to address. By providing pro bono support to roads projects teams, we provide the capacity to focus on safety, develop the capability of officials and engineers, and change the minds of politicians – all with the aim of creating roads where children can walk safely, thereby also improving their health and well-being and the environment.

     

    Examples of development bank financed projects that we are currently providing support on include:

     

    • The AfDB Eastern Corridor Road Development Program in Ghana, influencing the design of 63 kilometres of road, improving the safety for children at over 20 schools
    • The World Bank Integrated Feeder Road Development Project in Mozambique, influencing the design of 67 kilometers of road, improving road safety for children at 25 schools
    • The World Bank Roads to Inclusion and Socioeconomic Opportunity project in Tanzania, supporting the ‘people-centered design’ philosophy in the upgrading of 535 kilometers of rural roads
    • The World Bank Integrated Rural Connectivity Project in Zambia, influencing the design of 16 sections of rural roads, totalling 283 kilometers in length

     

    You may download the full Prospectus on Safe Schools Africa here.

     

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  • Safe and Healthy Journeys to School for Children and Adolescents in Tanga, Tanzania
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Science
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: CHF 581,000

    Dates: September 2019 – ongoing

    Funding Partner: Fondation Botnar

     

     

     

    Prior to this project, at almost 40% of primary schools in Tanga, Tanzania, at least one child had been injured on the roads in the previous 12 months. Through this project, we are working to improve road safety for children and adolescents in Tanga, thereby allowing them — and the city’s general population — to benefit from safe and healthy journeys. This project has involved the following activities:

     

    • Development of a Safe and Sustainable Transport Action Plan for Tanga, with strong commitment from local stakeholders
    • Improvements to pedestrian infrastructure around eight school zones
    • Tailored road safety education for over 12,000 children and adolescents
    • Establishment of school road safety clubs and ‘Kids’ Courts
    • Safety training for over 300 motorcycle taxi riders
    • Monitoring and evaluation, including a major study of road traffic injury among children and adolescents

     

    A key strategy of the project is to build the capacity of local stakeholders, with the aim of enabling them to implement practical road safety activities beyond the end of the project.

     

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  • Road safety design audit for improved road safety standards, Dar es Salaam Metropolitan Development Project (DMDP)
    • Infrastructure
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: USD 49,985

    Dates: October 2020 to March 2021

    Funding Partner: World Bank

     

     

     

    The Dar es Salaam Metropolitan Development Project (DMDP) is a multi-year project between the Government of Tanzania and the World Bank that addresses mobility challenges in Dar es Salaam through road construction and other measures.

     

    Amend was contracted by the World Bank to conduct community consultation and technical audits to strengthen safety measures for the road corridors being improved under the DMDP. The aim of this assignment was to identify public safety risks in the detailed road designs so that, where possible, the designs can be altered to mitigate or reduce the risks, ideally, before the infrastructure is built and becomes operational.An interactive map of the project roads was developed that incorporates videos captured of the roads as well as key features identified and comments from members of the communities along the corridor which were used in the audit.

     

    The detailed recommendations Amend made were also intended to guide how future road improvements could meet the needs of non-motorised road users, specifically beneficiary communities along the project roads, as well as vulnerable road users, such as school children, women, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

     

    This project is an example of how Amend’s technical assistance on the “last mile” of roads projects can save lives by giving the World Bank and governments the specialized community-focused design capacity they need. One government engineer we worked with on this project indicated how our recommendations are realistic and have opened their eyes to things they often fail to capture in road improvement projects. Another suggested that, in a perfect world, the government could have permanent access to specialized road safety consulting like ours on all roads projects.

     

    Amend will, through separate funding, continue offering technical assistance on the DMDP project for the duration of 2021 to help ensure that appropriate safety measures are included in the detailed design drawings and subsequently constructed.

     

     

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  • Secondary School Road Safety Education: The VIA Program
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Mozambique
    • Senegal
    • Tanzania
    • Togo

    Project Budget: USD 230,000

    Dates: September 2020 to July 2023

    Funding Partner: TotalEnergies Foundation and TotalEnergies Mozambique

     

     

     

    VIA is a comprehensive road safety education program for secondary school students developed by the TotalEnergies Foundation and its partners.

     

    Amend adapted VIA to the African context and delivered the program to 120 secondary school children at two schools in each of Dakar, Senegal and Lomé, Togo and at one school in each of Dar es Salaam and Tanga, Tanzania. The VIA program was delivered at each school, every day after school for a month via 40-minute sessions in road safety clubs that Amend established at the schools. The 20 VIA program graduates per school became road safety “ambassadors” for their schools and communities.

     

    In each city where the VIA program was implemented, we held an event to celebrate and draw attention to the need for road safety education in secondary schools. Representatives from the government, the local TotalEnergies offices, and civil society saw safety demonstrations from the VIA Road Safety Ambassadors, who also received graduation certificates. The events also garnered considerable press coverage.

     

    Following the successful project in Senegal, Tanzania and Togo, we developed a project with TotalEnergies Mozambique to teach VIA to a total of 450 students in nine schools in the Maputo and Beira provinces.

     

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  • Commercial Motorcycle Rider Training
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Cameroon
    • Ghana
    • Guinea
    • Madagascar
    • Mozambique
    • Senegal
    • Tanzania
    • Togo

    Project Budget: EUR 400,000

    Dates: September 2020 to December 2022

    Funding Partner: TotalEnergies Foundation

     

     

     

    In September 2020, Amend and the TotalEnergies Foundation embarked on a multi-phase project to develop a commercial motorcycle rider training program, pilot it and then roll it out in multiple African countries.

     

    There are an estimated 27 million motorcycles in Africa, with around 80% of these being used commercially as motorcycle-taxis or for deliveries. Taking into account riders, owners and those involved in servicing the commercial motorcycle industry, motorcycles directly support the livelihoods of over one hundred million people across the continent. Motorcycles enable people to do business, get to work and access goods and services, including schools and hospitals. In many countries, motorcycles are drivers of the economy and society.

     

    However, it is conceivable that 100,000 motorcycle riders and passengers lose their lives across the continent each year in crashes, not to mention the other road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, who are struck and killed by motorcycles. On top of this, motorcycles cause millions of injuries each year, with devastating effects for individuals, families, communities, healthcare systems and economies.

     

    To combat the risk of crashes, we have developed a motorcycle rider training course specifically for commercial riders in Africa that is based on the UK’s Compulsory Basic Training. The training takes 10 hours over two days and has a strong focus on practical skills.

     

    From 2020 to 2022, we have provided training to around 1,500 commercial motorcycle riders in eight countries across the continent. In each city where we provided the training, we held ‘graduation’ ceremonies to celebrate and draw attention to the program. Representatives from the government, TotalEnergies, and civil society learned about the importance of the motorcycle training and saw safety demonstrations from the motorcycle riders. The events also garnered considerable press coverage.

     

     

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  • Road Safety Activities on the High Volume Transport Applied Research Programme
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Science
    • Malawi
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: GBP 90,000

    Dates: January to October 2020

    Funding Partner: High Volume Transport Applied Research Programme, funded by UK DFID

     

     

     

    The High Volume Transport Applied Research Programme supports Amend to undertake a number of road safety activities:

     

    • Attendance at the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm, in February 2020
    • Strengthening civil society around road safety in Malawi, training and supporting a local organization to deliver road safety education and establish Kids’ Courts
    • Establishing a Kids’ High Court in Tanzania, through which children will influence the design of new roads
    • Investigations into innovative infrastructure for non-motorized user safety, looking at appropriate traffic calming measures for African cities

     

     

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  • Safe and Healthy Journeys to School in Africa
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Infrastructure
    • Ghana
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: EUR 400,000

    Dates: January 2020 to December 2021

    Funding Partner: FIA Foundation

     

     

     

    In 2020, Amend and the FIA Foundation continued our partnership of more than a decade with a project involving the following:

     

    • An Amend School Area Road Safety Assessments and Improvements (SARSAI) implementation at Oblogo Cluster of schools in Accra, Ghana where several children have been killed and many injured in the last two years. We held a ribbon-cutting event at the school in March 2020 that was attended by Zoleka Mandela and other luminaries.
    • A SARSAI implementation at a school in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where children are at high risk of road traffic injury. The school has many disabled children, and there will be a special focus on accessibility for them. The ribbon-cutting event was held in November 2020.
    • Testing of innovative infrastructure solutions tailored for the African context, including different types of road marking paints and road construction materials.
    • Consulting for the World Bank on projects such as the Dar es Salaam Development Project to ensure that the lifesaving infrastructure measures contained in SARSAI are incorporated in World Bank-financed roads projects.

     

     

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  • Road Safety Activities with Primary Schools in Tanzania
    • Advocacy
    • Science
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: USD 400,000 (ongoing)

    Dates: 2013 – ongoing

    Funding Partner: Puma Energy Tanzania

     

     

     

    Since 2013, Amend has partnered with Puma Energy Tanzania to carry out road safety activities with primary schools throughout Tanzania. This program has involved working with over 70 schools in seven regions of Tanzania. It has included teaching road safety education to more than 100,000 children, running road safety drawing competitions, forming road safety clubs with Puma Be Road Safe Ambassadors participating in national-level events, improving pedestrian infrastructure around schools, and distributing reflector-enhanced school bags.

     

     

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  • Road Safety Activities with Schools in Chanika, Dar es Salaam
    • Education
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: USD 28,000

    Dates: September to November 2019

    Funding Partner: SOS Children’s Villages

     

     

     

    We undertook road safety activities at four primary schools in the Chanika area of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The activities included:

     

    • Tailored road safety education for all children at all four schools
    • A road safety drawing competition, including an award ceremony and distribution of prizes to children and schools
    • Incorporation of road safety activities in existing school clubs
    • Road safety Kids’ Courts

     

    View final project report here.

     

     

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  • Pedestrian Action Plan for Accra, Ghana
    • Advocacy
    • Ghana

    Project Budget: USD 104,500

    Dates: August 2017 to November 2019
    Funding Partner: World Resources Institute / Bloomberg Philanthropies

     

     


    From August 2017 to November 2019 Amend partnered with the World Resources Institute and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety on an advocacy project in Accra, Ghana with a clear goal: the development and release of a Pedestrian Road Safety Action Plan for Accra and subsequent follow up. The Action Plan was developed in partnership with the Accra Metropolitan Authority (the entity that administers the city of Accra), Ghana’s National Road Safety Commission (Ghana’s lead agency for road safety) and all relevant governmental road safety stakeholders in Accra.

    In this project, Amend managed:

     

    • Stakeholders’ input to the Action Plan,
    • Organization of stakeholder workshops and meetings,
    • Content production, design, printing, and distribution of the Action Plan,
    • Organization of a launch event for the Action Plan and media coverage, and 
    • Post-publication follow up on stakeholder commitments. 

     

    As part of the Action Plan, the road safety stakeholders made clear, measurable commitments to evidence-based road safety measures for the five years from 2018 to 2022. The steadfast commitment of the Hon. Mohammed Adjei Sowah, Mayor of Accra, to the project was absolutely fundamental of the project’s success. This highlights the importance of meaningful, high-level political support in road safety advocacy efforts.

    View the Pedestrian Road Safety Action Plan for Accra, Ghana here.

     

     

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  • Community Road Safety for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline in Tanzania: Scoping Study
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: USD 45,500

    Dates: January to May 2019

    Funding Partner: Total East Africa Midstream BV

     

     

     

    The East African Crude Oil Pipeline is a 1,443-kilometer crude oil export infrastructure that will transport Uganda’s oil from Kabaale-Hoima in Uganda to the Chongoleani Peninsula in Tanga, Tanzania. Construction will generate high levels of traffic, therefore posing road safety risks to communities along the pipeline corridor and on the new the roads that will be used to transport materials and people. Amend carried out a scoping study in the project regions in Tanzania to inform the project’s development of a community road safety program that will mitigate the road safety risks.

     

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  • Kids’ Court Road Safety Interventions: Their impact on Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Maputo, Mozambique
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Science
    • Mozambique

    Project Budget: GBP 27,500

    Dates: November 2018 to May 2019

    Funding Partner: UK Department for International Development, as a grant of the Transport Technology Research Innovation for International Development competition, through the High Volume Transport Applied Research Programme

     

     

    An evaluation of Amend’s Kids’ Court program, through which children are empowered to act as “judges,” questioning drivers who are caught speeding, talking on a mobile phone, or failing to wear a seat belt outside their school. The evaluation, which involved key informant interviews and focus group discussions with participating children, teachers, drivers, police officers, and children’s parents/caregivers, demonstrated improved knowledge of road safety messages and a positive perception of the program among all involved.

     

    View final project report here.

     

     

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  • Technical Assistance for Road Safety and Community Engagement in Rural Road Design
    • Advocacy
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: USD 60,000

    Dates: April 2019 to May 2020

    Funding Partner: World Bank, with support of UKAid

     

     

     

    Amend provided technical assistance to the World Bank in the development of a model for “people-centered” community engagement in the improvement of rural roads in Tanzania. In the past, roads have typically been built with consideration only for drivers of vehicles. However, through this new model, road safety and other social risks facing all road users and members of the roadside community — in particular pedestrians and vulnerable and marginalized groups — were considered from the outset.

     

    Final project report pending.

     

     

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  • Enhancing understanding of safe motorcycle and three-wheeler use for rural transport in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Science
    • Democratic Republic of Congo
    • Ghana
    • Kenya
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda

    Project Budget: GBP 180,000

    Dates: September 2017 to February 2019

    Funding Partner: UK Department for International Development, through the African Rural Access Partnership research program

     

     

     

    The use of motorcycles has increased rapidly in many African countries in recent years. Motorcycles are commonly used as taxis, with the rider charging a fare to carry passengers or freight. In rural areas, motorcycle taxis play a crucial role in connecting people to services and farmers to markets, and in many countries motorcycles are the most commonly found vehicle on rural roads. 

     

    The aim of this project was to improve knowledge and understanding concerning effective ways of enabling rural people to benefit from the safe use of motorcycles. Activities included reviews of regulatory frameworks and enforcement methods; a survey of motorcycle riders, owners, and users; key informant interviews; and focus group discussions. The project’s output included two manuals — one for motorcycle-training instructors, and one to support the operations of motorcycle-taxi associations.

     

    View final project outputs here.

     

     

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  • Road Safety Advocacy in Mozambique
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Mozambique

    Project Budget: USD 59,000

    Dates: 2017 – 2018

    Funding Partner: Puma Energy, Mozambique

     

     

     

    In 2017 and 2018, Amend partnered with Puma Energy Mozambique to carry out road safety advocacy in Maputo. During 2017, activities focused on primary schools, with road safety education, a road safety drawing competition, and distribution of reflector-enhanced school bags. During 2018, activities involved hosting a high-level road safety roundtable meeting for government and other stakeholders, forming a Private Sector Road Safety Forum and providing road safety training to primary school teachers.

     

     

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  • Partnership for Healthy Cities – Safe School Zone Infrastructure
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Infrastructure
    • Zambia

    Project Budget: USD 100,000

    Dates: March to October 2018

    Funding Partner: Vital Strategies / Bloomberg Philanthropies

     

     

     

    The Partnership for Healthy Cities, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and managed by Vital Strategies, supports cities in the planning and implementation of projects to strengthen non-communicable disease and injury prevention.


    The Partnership for Healthy Cities work in 2018 in Zambia was focused on road safety, but the consortium was having difficulty making progress on the ground and so engaged Amend.

     

    We developed an implementation of our School Area Road Safety Assessments and Improvements (SARSAI) program at Northmead Primary and Secondary Schools in Lusaka, where two children had been killed in road traffic and 13 more injured in the preceding two years.

     

    We added over 1,000 meters of footpaths, raised zebra crossings, rumble strips, bollards, and more to keep children safe at Northmead. Surveys showed a 68% reduction in vehicle speeds around the school post-implementation.

     

    The ribbon-cutting event for the implementation drew, among others, the deputy mayor of Lusaka and considerable press attention, which helped lead to subsequent school area speed-zone advocacy breakthroughs in Lusaka.

     

    Read final project report here.

     

     

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  • Safe School Infrastructure and 30km/h School Zone Advocacy
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Infrastructure
    • Botswana
    • Malawi
    • Namibia
    • Zambia

    Project Budget: USD 230,000

    Dates: January 2017 to December 2020

    Funding Partner: FedEx

     

     

     

    Over a three-year period, Amend and FedEx have partnered to implement Amend’s lifesaving School Area Road Safety Assessments and Improvements (SARSAI) program around schools and to advocate for safe 30 km/h school zones in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia.

     

    High risk schools in Gaborone, Botswana; Lilongwe, Malawi; Windhoek, Namibia; and Lusaka, Zambia received SARSAI, and ribbon-cutting events welcomed attendees such as the first lady of Botswana and the regional governor in Namibia.

     

    The project produced two significant advocacy breakthroughs: regulation changes in Windhoek, Namibia, and Lusaka, Zambia, mandating that all school zones in the cities set a maximum speed limit of 30 km/h. Events were held to celebrate these important regulation changes.

     

    2017 report here. 2018 report here. 2019-20 report pending.

     

     

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  • Safe school area infrastructure and 30 km/h advocacy in nine countries in Africa
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Botswana
    • Côte d'Ivoire
    • Ghana
    • Malawi
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Senegal
    • Tanzania
    • Zambia

    Project Budget: USD 1.7 million

    Dates: January 2017 to December 2019

    Funding Partners: Co-funded by the FIA Foundation and the Puma Energy Foundation

     

     

     

    The Puma Energy Foundation, the FIA Foundation, and Amend came together from January 2017 to December 2019 on a project to save children’s lives across nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with safe infrastructure and safe school zone advocacy.

    The program countries were Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia.

     

    During the 36-month project highlights included:

     

    • 17 school areas where children were at extremely elevated risk of road traffic injury received Amend’s proven-effective, award-winning School Area Road Safety Assessment and Improvements (SARSAI) program. SARSAI delivers safe infrastructure for schools and the surrounding communities.
    • Six countries had legal changes lowering speed limits around schools to 30 km/h, with one country instituting a new nationwide 30 km/h school zone speed limit (Zambia) and a city (Windhoek, Namibia) instituting a citywide 30 km/h school zone limit.
    • Ribbon-cutting events were held to launch the new infrastructure at every school that received SARSAI. These events brought together communities, and dignitaries to highlight the importance of safe journeys to school for children and garner government and media attention.

     

    View final project report here.

     

     

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  • Promoting EU visibility in the Tanzanian transport sector through road safety activities
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Science
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: EUR 100,000

    Dates: 2015

    Funding Partner: European Union Delegation to Tanzania

     

     

     

    Partnering with the European Union Delegation to Tanzania, Amend designed and implemented a road safety awareness campaign in Dar es Salaam. The campaign involved the following activities:

     

    • A launch event and ceremony
    • Training for members of the media on how to report road safety and other transport-related issues
    • A radio message targeting motorcycle taxi riders and passengers
    • Pedestrian infrastructure improvements around two primary schools
    • Distribution of reflector-enhanced school bags to primary schoolchildren
    • Road safety education for all children at eight primary schools

     

    View final project report here.

     

     

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  • A study to determine the causes and circumstances of motorcycle crashes on low-volume rural roads in Tanzania
    • Advocacy
    • Science
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: GBP 120,000

    Dates: 2013 to 2014

    Funding Partner: UK Department for International Development, through the African Rural Access Partnership research programme

     

     


    Through detailed crash investigations, risk assessments, interviews and inspections, this study aimed to determine the causes and circumstances of motorcycle crashes on low-volume rural roads in Tanzania, to inform the development of targeted road safety policies and interventions.

     

    View final project report here.

     

     

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  • Three studies into road traffic injury on rural roads in Tanzania
    • Advocacy
    • Education
    • Science
    • Tanzania

    Project Budget: £155,000 GBP

    Dates: 2012 to 2013

    Funding Partner: UK Department for International Development, through the African Rural Access Partnership research programme

     

     

     

    It is well established that improving rural roads can bring economic and social benefits. However, these benefits can be offset by an increase in road deaths and injuries and the associated negative social and economic consequences.

     

    These studies found high and increasing rates of road traffic injury on rural roads, in particular among motorcycle taxi riders.

     

    View final project report here.

     

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