We are pleased to share with you our latest progress report, which covers the period from July to December 2012. As you will read in the attached document, the SSATP team has been busy fulfilling its mandate and expanding its outreach as specifically requested by key stakeholders and donors during previous annual meetings.

One of the highlights of this reporting period has been the acceptance of the African Union Commission to become a full-fledged member of the SSATP Board in August 2012. This is an important development for the program because it further grounds the SSATP leadership in Africa and provides a vital voice to promoting the creation of strong transport policies and capacity across the continent.

In the fall of last year, SSATP co-hosted four high-level meetings as part of its advocacy and dissemination strategy: a Cities Road Safety Conference in Lusaka, a meeting on Urban Mobility in Addis Ababa, a Road Safety Workshop also in held in Addis and a Regional Transport Coordination Committee meeting held in Cotonou (Benin).

Two more countries have joined the SSATP in the last six months: South Sudan and the Comoros, bringing the total number of participating countries to 38. Furthermore, as a first step to opening the SSATP to all of Africa, two North African countries participated in the road safety meeting in Addis Ababa..

The SSATP annual meeting in Addis Ababa in December 2012 was well represented with participation from 27 countries. The meeting focused on the review of progress made in the second phase of the program, agreement on a new institutional framework for the next phase (DP3), and the identification of priority areas for the proposed Third Development Plan (2014-2018).

Our publications unit was quite busy during this last reporting period as five new reports were produced. These include a document on Rural Transport: Improving its contribution to growth and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa; one urban transport fare collection toolkit; a railway transport framework for improving performance of the railway sector in sub-Saharan Africa; a document on Transport Governance Indicators; and the French version of the document on Progress on Commercialized Road Management in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Our new website (www.ssatp.org) was made public and we are continuing to work on it to make it more interactive. All publications are available on the site. A LinkedIn Account was created and those who are not registered yet are invited to join the SSATP group.

Finally, the progress report also details specific advocacy results that have occurred over the last six months. These include the planning of a multi-sector Safe Road Corridor in Zambia, a proposal for capacity building of the Federal Traffic Police in Ethiopia, and the provision of technical assistance to the Road Safety Department and the Ministry of Transport in Cameroon in redefining its roles and responsibilities. SSATP became a member of the Sustainable Low carbon Transport (SloCaT) partnership and organized a number of events to create awareness on the creation of the Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum for Africa, an initiative lead by the SSATP.

It is our sincere hope that you will enjoy reading the attached report. This is an exciting year for SSATP as we continue to refine our mandate and get ready to enter a new operational phase. We look forward to your continued support and will keep you abreast of upcoming events and activities.

Best regards,

SSATP Team

See file: SSATP Progress Report – July-December 2012 Final.pdf