SAFE WAY RIGHT WAY GRADUATES OVER 150 PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS
Safe Way Right Way (SWRW) held the first professional driver graduation on 13th November 2019, in an event that saw over 150 drivers of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) graduate as professional drivers. The graduation ceremony held at Makerere University Business school is one of its kind in Uganda and was held to celebrate the Women and men who have taken part in the professional driver training in a move to enhance driving skills, increase employability and most especially make them advocates for safe driving. The event was also an opportunity to recognize the efforts of Safe Way Right Way and its partners and supporters in the move to professionalize Heavy Goods and Public Service Vehicle driving through the Professional Driver Training Uganda project (PDTU).
The graduates who included drivers and instructors were delighted by this achievement and the prospects and opportunities that this training presented. Ms. Judith Nambuya, one of the trained drivers narrated her story of how she managed to save the lives of 2 people because of the first aid training skills she had obtained through the driver training and she continued to encourage women to join SWRW and start their training, because like her they could have a great career turnaround.
Our partners, Total Uganda Limited were represented by the Total Uganda Managing Director who is also the SWRW Board chair, Mr. Obi Imemba highlighted the need for strong partnerships “the challenge of road safety in Uganda is everyone’s responsibility because of the extent of the problem and the urgency it presents so I encourage individuals, companies, Civil Society and Government to continue in a concerted effort to make Uganda roads safer for all”. He also he continued to applaud the efforts of SWRW in engendering the previously male dominated profession by training and empowering women as professional drivers of HGV and hopes there will be more women drivers by the next graduation.
Mr. Sam Clark from Transaid, a UK charity Organisation that has been supporting SWRW in the driver training and quality assurance stated that the 16 instructors that graduated were the only instructors equipped with the knowledge and expertise to train drivers according to the EAC standard and this is a great achievement for the PDTU project.
The Guest of Honour Hon. Aggrey Bagiire, State Minster for Transport was represented by the Commissioner of Transport, Mr. Winston Katushabe. He thanked the efforts of the partners and reechoed Government commitment towards the drive to safer roads and increasing employment opportunities prospects for Ugandans in the Oil and Gas Sector “The ministry of Works and Transport, is committed to continuing this partnership with Safe Way Right Way, Transaid and your implementing partners including GIZ, Total Uganda, Total Exploration and Production, Toyota Uganda, Bollore Logistics, Tullow Oil among others. To address the need for professional drivers in the Oil and Gas sector, to meet the gap of 1,800 HGV drivers”. He also applauded the drivers that were able to complete their training and have graduated, sending them out to be ambassadors of safe driving to reduce on the accidents that are happening regularly in Uganda and the whole region.
Mr. Eric Olanya the Country Director, Department of International Trade, British High Commission, stated that DFID was proud to be part of this achievement of having the first professional driver graduation, he thanked Transaid for sending out experts to train trainers and promised that DFID will continue to support the work of SWRW in professionalizing Heavy Goods and Public Service Vehicle driving.
SWRW was established in 2016 as a result of collaboration between the World Bank’s “Global Road Safety Partnerships” and Total SA to improve road safety on Africa’s roads economically critical corridors. It is funded by a number of private sector companies which include Total Uganda Limited, Total Exploration and Production, Toyota, Bollore Logistics, Tullow Oil, CNOOC, Hima Cement Ltd.
Empowering Women Through Professional Driver Training, Here Is Annet Tuhirirwe’s Story.
Professional Driver Training Uganda (PDTU), a project under Safe Way Right Way is working towards bridging the gender inequality gap and to encourage women to sign up for Heavy Goods Vehicle Driver Training. Safe Way Right Way has as such offered the training of women drivers for free but this is only for a limited period of time. This has attracted very passionate and committed women like Annet Tuhirirwe.
Annet Tuhirirwe is a 38-year-old mother of one. She is very passionate about transport and also very adventurous; always ready to try something new whenever the chance presents itself. “Whatever comes along I will always give it a try and so I thought why not give professional driving a try” Annet has worked in various jobs over the years and she describes herself as a versatile person always ready to take up a new challenge.
“I found out about PDTU from my brother who had completed his training at the facility. When he got to know of the offer that was being given to women, and he asked if I would be interested”, Annet says her family was very supportive when she informed them of her decision to start the training. She then visited the driver training center in Mukono where she was assessed and enrolled to begin her training in driving Heavy Good Vehicles in April 2019.
During the four weeks training course, Annet learnt so much about safe driving which she had not learnt in her initial driver training. She says “it was a fresh experience for me. I managed to learn more about driving, the instructors were very professional and friendly. They always highlighted the possible outcomes of any error done while driving. They taught with a lot of passion, often sharing their personal experiences since they have been in the industry longer”.
Annet now holds a CM driving permit and is looking for jobs where she can drive CM trucks. She says she is patient and she knows that the job will eventually come through.
Annet says Safe Way Right Way’s initiative of giving women free training is a good one and she hopes that other women can take her example and join the training because it will upgrade their driving skills and boost their chances for gaining better employment. She however says that women fail to join the training because they are afraid of big trucks and most of them consider professional driving as a job for men. Annet says that companies should also look at competence and stop focusing on the gender as this reduces the chances of women getting Jobs.
Safe Way Right Way is committed to improving road a safety in Uganda and driver training is one of the ways that this will be achieved therefore would like to encourage men and women who may be interested to drive Heavy Good Vehicles to sign up for this training which is based on the Standardised EAC curriculum.
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