iRAP would like to congratulate Said Dahdah, who has been appointed the new Head of the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) and Global Lead for Road Safety at the World Bank.

Recognised as an international road safety expert, Said brings to this position more than 15 years of development experience, including policy dialogue, program development, and portfolio management in the transport sector.

Said played an important role in iRAP’s initial Star Rating, fatality estimation and Safer Road Investment Plan financial modelling development in 2006 that focussed on LMIC needs.  That work has now been used to guide over US$80bn of investment on over 1,000,000km of assessed roads across 100 countries.  Said was also an author of the True Cost of Road Crashes (with Kate McMahon) which created a simple method for estimating the cost of a fatality and serious injury that is used worldwide to help value the benefits of reduced road trauma.

In this role he will lead the Bank’s efforts to scale up road safety investments, operationalize good practices in Bank operations, as well as the delivery of innovative road safety solutions through grant funded research, technical assistance, and knowledge exchange that will inform country-level engagements.

iRAP CEO, Rob McInerney said “Said’s extensive experience, expertise and passion in road safety and World Bank operations means he is very well placed to help countries make deep and lasting cuts in road trauma through results-based financing partnerships and technical assistance.

“We look forward to continuing to partnering with Said and the GRSF and the World Bank teams and client countries to achieve the Global Road Safety Performance Targets and make the goal for a 50% reduction in road deaths and injury a reality throughout the 2nd Decade of Action for Road Safety.”

Said’s recent road safety achievements include the formulation of the Road Safety Requirements in Bank-financed Transport Projects (adopted by the Management Team in June 2020);  the development of the Road Safety Screening and Appraisal Tool (RSSAT) that is now being mandated for use across all transport projects; the implementation of the International Road Assessment Program in various World Bank projects; the development of the Road Safety Good Practice Note for ESS4; chairing the Road Safety Working Group of the South East Europe Transport Observatory; and his vital road safety engagement with several South Asian countries.

Read full announcement from GRSF here