Transaid is a charity that works to transform lives through safe, available and sustainable transport. One of the charity’s corporate supporters is National Express, which has been working alongside Transaid since 2010. CBW spoke to Raquel Davis, National Express’ Assistant General Manager in Indianapolis, the most recent employee to spend time in Zambia
Employees from the international passenger transport company, National Express (NX), first started travelling to sub-Saharan Africa in 2011 to deliver professional driver training as part of Transaid’s programmes. So far, a total number of 15 NX employees have completed at least one secondment in aid of Transaid, spending either two weeks or three months on placement. During Raquel Davis’ time in Zambia, she was able to see first-hand how Transaid’s programmes are helping to transform lives.
Zambia – one of the top 10 producers of copper, which contributes to 80% of the country’s foreign earnings, and with an economy that is growing annually by 6% – is host to one of Transaid’s most successful road safety projects. To put the scale of the project into perspective, in the 12 months ending April 2017, some 972 professional drivers were trained at the Industrial Training Centre (ITC).
Transaid’s work here is essential, because the chaotic atmosphere of the busy streets and the rural African setting makes for some particularly dangerous roads. Currently, some 24.7 people per 100,000 head of population lose their lives to crashes on the road, compared to a low 3.7 in the UK – so the need for professional driver training couldn’t be more pressing.
Raquel Davis, NX’s Assistant General Manager in Indianapolis, took part in a professional secondment with Transaid as part of the NX Network, the National Express Group graduate programme. Originally from Gary, Indiana, and having studied at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Raquel swapped the laid-back spirits of Indiana for the hustle and bustle of a busy, and crowded, Zambian commute. Raquel spent May to July in the country getting heavily involved in the driver training department at the ITC.[wlm_nonmember][…]
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Stepping out of the comfort zone
Opportunities to spend three months in a sub-Saharan country don’t come around often, so when Raquel saw the chance to apply for the secondment in Zambia she jumped straight in.
“I initially heard from previous secondees Alex Donaldson and Silvio Sorrentino at an NX Network event in the UK. I was truly inspired by the journey they had been on and wanted to get involved – considering only one participant was going to be chosen to take part, I was honoured to be selected out of the large number of applicants who had applied. I was also delighted to be the first North American National Express graduate to work in the role too! When I joined National Express in 2015 I never expected to have the chance to have this once in a lifetime experience – the knowledge I have gained and the people I have met on this journey has been second to none.”
When it comes down to the facts and figures, 1.24million lives are claimed each year on the world’s roads, with 90% of these deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries. In Africa, half of all road traffic deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. The lack of road safety precautions was evident to Raquel.
She said: “Once in the country, it really put into perspective for me how necessary the driver training programmes were. I knew that Zambia had a high fatality rate linked to road crashes, but seeing the driving standards first-hand had me in shock – I saw pedestrians darting between ongoing traffic, cars weaving in and out of lanes, minibuses packed to the brim with passengers and driving incredibly fast. In hindsight, seeing these things in person made me more determined to make the most of every second I had in Zambia to help improve driver standards.”
Getting down to business
Raquel spent most of her time placed at the ITC, which sets out to improve the standards of professional driver training for the Zambian manufacturing, transport and logistics industries. No two days were the same for her as she spent time working across the training, marketing, and maintenance departments.
“The work that I was involved in was directly to do with process improvement in the driving training department at the ITC. This included the driver training tracker, which will be utilised to bridge the gap between all departments and provide accurate data for marketing statistics that helps to improve the overall pass rate for the training department.
“I spent a lot of time learning about how different departments do their bit to improve the efficiency of each area in the training to ensure that everything is aligned with Transaid’s Road Safety Programme. I was introduced to a new way of learning every single day and the people that I worked with were so passionate about the work that they were doing.”
Throughout the three months, Raquel was also involved in a variety of tasks, including helping to develop learning tools and templates that would make data collections more accurate and efficient.
More MaMAZ programme
Alongside the work at the ITC, Raquel also had the opportunity to work on the MORE Mobilising Access to Maternal Health Services in Zambia (MORE MaMAZ) programme, which specialises in empowering rural communities to provide substantial care to women and girls in need of maternal and new-born health services.
The initiative – which was funded by Comic Relief – is unique as its success relies heavily on the use of bicycle ambulances, which are paramount to ensuring pregnant women in rural Africa get the appropriate help they need for a safe delivery.
She said: “Going out and visiting the areas where the bicycle ambulances work from and meeting the people in those communities who help make it happen was a very heart-warming experience. An unbelievable amount of hard work goes in to running the MORE MaMAZ project, and having the opportunity to spend some time with the Transaid team which played such a key role in delivering it was truly life-changing for me.”
Reflections
Now that Raquel has returned to her position in Indianapolis, she is able to look back on what she has achieved through her hard work in Zambia.
“During my secondment I was able to establish a heightened sense of awareness of the overall safety culture at ITC, and also offer a helping hand to implement a clear vision that can be measured and sustained throughout the duration of the programme. I have learnt so much from this experience, and I look forward to sharing what I have learnt with others to hopefully raise awareness about the importance of driver training programmes, but to also encourage them in how they can become involved.”
The road safety projects that Transaid delivers are continually growing, and there is still a need for a high level of support in implementing the programmes. The support received from the UK transport and logistics industry – and now even further afield thanks to Raquel’s involvement – is paramount to the success of these projects. With the continued support of trusted partners like NX, Transaid will be able to take road safety in sub-Saharan Africa from strength to strength.[/wlm_ismember]
