Binh Xuyen District is at the epicenter of Vietnam’s northern industrial zone, leaving a significant part of the population at risk as they commute into the District for work. Vietnam Garments Manufacturing, Ltd. (VNG) has been taking the lead in mitigating these risks with AIP Foundation by delivering safety equipment and imparting road safety skills for over 400 students, teachers, and school administrators through the Helmets for Kids (HFK) program at Son Loi A Primary School.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – January 25-28, 2021

As part of the Commuting Safety for Cambodian Workers (CSCW) program, funded by USAID and in partnership with Solidarity Center, AIP Foundation will host a two-day workshop series for technical staff of union federations and trade unions, focusing on commuting safety training. The workshop will have two groups, on January 25-26 and January 27-28, 2021, as a safety measure in light of the pandemic. Following the workshop series, participants will practice training in factories.

Every day, around 700,000 factory workers in Cambodia put their lives as risk commuting to work on high-traffic, dangerous roads in order to provide for their families. Cambodian workers make up almost 20% of all crash-related casualties, many of whom are women.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—December 30, 2020

Young people are very vulnerable road users. In 2018, 45% of all road fatalities in Cambodia were road users between the ages of 15 – 29. This vulnerability is echoed across the globe, with road crashes the leading cause of early death and years spent living with disabilities for people aged 10 – 24 in 2020. These statistics indicate an immediate need for intervention to instill better road user behavior and practices in young people.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – 14 December 2020

Protec, a Vietnamese social enterprise and producer of personal protective equipment, donated 20,000 medical masks to provide life-saving support to healthcare workers and residents in Washington, D.C.

The donation of the 20,000 masks have been directed to healthcare workers and patients at Unity Health Care, the largest network of community health care centers in the District.

AIP Foundation, in collaboration with the National Traffic Safety Committee and the Ministry of Education and Training, expands the Helmets for Kids (HFK) program, supported by Johnson & Johnson, delivering life-saving interventions to rural communities in Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang provinces, Vietnam. Each of these provinces are home to a significant number of ethnic minorities. The life-saving interventions include helmet distribution and education activities focusing on safe helmet use.  The very first event of the program expansion will be hosted in Yen Bai Province on November 13, 2020.

Tragedy strikes in a quiet village 

It was early morning, around 6 AM on March 18, 2019. On a street in Pleiku City, a peaceful city with a population of less than 500,000 people, two 13-year-old girls rode their bicycles to school, a road they had memorized as part of their daily commute. One of those girls, Ngoc, would be tragically killed before ever stepping foot into the classroom.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – 7 October 2020

In order to implement the Prime Minister’s Directive 04 / CT-TTg dated January 19, 2018 on accelerating the application of solutions to improve the effectiveness of legal regulations on mandatory helmet wearing for motorbike drivers, motorcyclists, and electric bicyclists, AIP Foundation and the National Traffic Safety Committee co-hosted a program mid-term review forum. The event will discuss strategies to improve the use of quality helmets, with the engagement and support of national and local government representatives, road safety and public health experts, and private sector stakeholders, including helmet manufacturers in Vietnam.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – 27 August 2020

The USAID Labor Rights in Cambodia (LRIC) project, implemented by Solidarity Center, is supporting a series of leadership workshops for 80 trade union representatives to promote more equitable factory working conditions, including safer commutes for employees. Solidarity Center’s partner, the AIP Foundation, conducted the second workshop today, articulating a vision of safety policies to protect factory workers on the roads as part of the Commuting Safety for Cambodian Workers program. This includes driver training, access to life-saving helmets for workers who commute via motorcycle, free motorcycle safety trainings for all workers, a transition from trucks to passenger vehicles, and the adoption of road safety policies implemented factory-wide. The workshop generated discussions among union leaders, who planned actions to support these outcomes.