AIP Foundation CEO Mirjam Sidik attended the Safe Kids Worldwide Childhood Injury Prevention Convention (PrevCon) in Washington, D.C., which brought together 500 U.S. and international public health officials to take part in 38 peer learning sessions as part of a global effort to address evolving perspectives surrounding child injury prevention.  

Leading up to the convention, Ms. Sidik attended the Safe Kids International Network Meeting on July 16, where she discussed best practices with other public safety leaders. At PrevCon, Ms. Sidik joined Carthy Bennett (Program Manager, Michael Phelps Foundation) in Demonstrating Impact: Introduction to Evaluation and Measurement, a monitoring and evaluation session moderated by Dr. Abdulgafoor M. Bachani (Assistant Professor of Health Systems, Director of International Injury Research Unit, John Hopkins University). 

During the session, Ms. Sidik presented on two of AIP Foundation’s school-based programs: Walk This Way, located in Ho Chi Minh City, and Slow Zones, Safe Zones, in Pleiku City, Gia Lai Province. Ms. Sidik shared AIP Foundation’s unique approach to developing materials for each phase of a program cycle, the need to move beyond process measures to demonstrate impact, and challenges in collecting outcome and impact measures. 

As a Safe Kids Worldwide’s Vietnam affiliate, AIP Foundation implements its Walk This Way program to promote the pedestrian safety of primary and secondary school students. The program involves classroom training, road safety curriculum, environmental modifications, and community engagement among other measures. One of the successes of Walk This Way was an increase in students’ sidewalk use from 87% to 97%.

Though Slow Zones, Safe Zones, students hurt in road crashes near program schools in Pleiku City fell to from 88.3% to 69%. Through the efforts of all stakeholders involved, Pleiku City has been regarded as a model city for the rest of the country whereby others can learn and adapt from it.