IRF Special Sessions at PIARC 26th World Road Congress

Abu Dhabi will be hosting the 26th World Road Congress of PIARC on 6-10 October 2019. Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander

of the UAE Armed Forces, the theme of the PIARC Congress is “Connecting Cultures enabling economies”.

Building on the current momentum that sees road safety high on the global agenda, the IRF is hosting a foresight session on “Building Partnerships for Better Road Safety”. Scheduled on 7th October in the morning, the session will explore the importance of inter-agency collaboration and of multi-stakeholders’ partnerships and will provide concrete examples of the strength of partnerships and provide guidance on concrete steps to be undertaken to set up partnerships that deliver, especially in the case of LMICs. Multi-sector partnerships have great potential if efforts and resources are aligned with global goals.

The International Road Federation is also organising with World Bank and International Transport Forum a second special session on “Transport is not Gender Neutral: From Increasing Mobility to Enhancing Employment in the Road Sector”. This second IRF Session is scheduled on 7th October afternoon and is organised under the leadership of the World Bank and in collaboration with the International Transport Forum. The session aims to showcase that transport and road infrastructure are not gender neutral and that the Road Sector has a key role designing and planning for roads that meaningfully address women’s mobility, which will be relevant for enhancing their accessibility to economic opportunities and services, whilst boosting development in general. In this context, this event adopts a holistic approach towards “gendered” road transport and infrastructure and discusses three key issues. From the employment side it will portray what can be achieved in the road sector by hav ing (gender) diversity in the workplace. From the user perspective it will highlight how (rural) transport infrastructure can be developed in a way to maximize social and economic gains to society through user centered methods for data collection that will inform road transport and infrastructure that properly address g   ender considerations. Lastly, the event will also discuss whether it is possible to develop and implement a universal (bidding and implementation) standards to address social risks during construction stage of infrastructure projects. Please contact IRF Secretariat for more info on these sessions at info@irfnet.ch and for more information about the PIARC 26th World Road Congress, click on the button “Event Website”.