Transaid is preparing to support refresher training for at least 400 heavy goods vehicle drivers within small and medium-size enterprises (SME) in Mozambique, just a few months after securing a contract to extend its professional driver training work into yet another sub-Saharan country.
It follows a period of intense work by the Transaid team within the southern African nation, where it has been working to assess the supply and demand of local drivers and driver training. This has included developing a suite of demand-orientated road safety, defensive driving and soft skills courses to be offered by local driving schools and in-house trainers.
Transaid’s heavy involvement is part of an initiative led by GIZ Employment and Skills for Development in Africa (E4D), which is funded by the German government with support from the Norwegian government, Appload, and EnergyWorks.
Neil Rettie, Road Safety Project Manager at Transaid, explains: “HGV driver training is currently limited in Mozambique, and it raises concerns that drivers are not sufficiently trained for the demanding roles they undertake. This in turn puts both them and other road users at serious risk.”
Transaid’s brief is to train a minimum of 10 driving instructors from four to five training schools, who will then deliver training to at least 400 existing HGV drivers.
Rettie adds: “We are confident our proven ‘train the trainer’ model will help to deliver a sustainable change to driver training standards in Mozambique, just as it’s already doing in countries including Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
“This is a really important project for Transaid, as it directly supports our belief that drivers should be able to leave for a day’s work without the fear they may not come home because of a lack of training, or dangerous vehicles and roads.”
There are currently no standardised training materials for driving schools and other training providers in Mozambique, and training is largely aimed at fast acquisition of driving permits – rather than imparting high quality skills. As a result, many professional drivers depend largely on peer-to-peer or self-learning methods, and do not undergo structured and comprehensive practical and theoretical training.
This initial project to deliver training to at least 400 drivers is scheduled to be completed by July 2023.
For more information and to find out how you can support the organisation visit www.transaid.org.
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Note to Editor:
About Transaid
Transaid transforms lives through safe, available, and sustainable transport. Founded by Save the Children, The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), and its Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, the international development organisation works with communities, partners, and governments to solve transport challenges throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Transaid works in two core areas, road safety and access to health, to solve two of the biggest transport challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. Transaid’s road safety work focuses on influencing safe driver behaviour with long term programmes in Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, responding to local needs for improved training for drivers and riders of trucks, buses, motorcycles and forklift trucks. On the access to health side, Transaid is working with local partners and communities to strengthen access to health services, primarily in rural areas. They are also working to strengthen health supply chains in collaboration with local partners and governments.
Transaid enjoys strong backing from the transport and logistics industry and the active involvement of its patron, HRH The Princess Royal.
For further press information:
Florence Bearman at Transaid +44 (0)20 7387 8136
James Keeler at Garnett Keeler +44 (0)20 8647 4467, or by email to james.keeler@garnettkeeler.com
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