From 20-25 April, iRAP’s Safer Journeys Lead for Africa, Nathalie Chiavassa, participated in the impactful Tanzania Road Infrastructure Safety Training and Exhibition in Arusha, hosted by Tanzania Roads Safety Initiatives (TARSI). The five-day event aimed to address the urgent need for safer road infrastructure in Tanzania, bringing together over 2,000 professionals across the road transport sector to build capacity, share innovations, and promote a unified approach to road safety.

With more than 2,000 fatalities annually on Tanzanian roads, and countless injuries, the call for safer, well-designed, and inclusive road infrastructure has never been more critical. The training, designed for TANROADS, TARURA, and municipal engineers, also welcomed contractors, consultants, NGOs, enforcement agencies, insurers, and academia, underscoring the importance of cross-sector collaboration for road safety.

The Honourable Minister responsible for Local Government, Professor Riziki Shemdoe and a representative of the Prime Minister’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government representing the Minister of Works both gave a warm introduction and closure speeches to all participants, delegates and presenters emphasizing the need for safer, resilient and inclusive road engineering and encouraging Tanzanian engineers to continue building their skills.

This is the second time iRAP has contributed to this major event. For the 2026 edition, Nathalie provided a presentation on how safer roads can save lives, using evidenced-based measures and iRAP methodologies. The presentation was followed by a discussion on how to engage with iRAP and use TanRAP – the Tanzania Road Assessment Programme, led by the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) – as a platform to transform road safety, with key participants from TANROADS, TARURA and key Ministries and Agencies.

We warmly thank the TARSI organizers for the invitation to join the 2026 training and commit to continuous efforts and close cooperation with our Tanzanian partners to reduce the burden of road deaths and injuries in Tanzania.

According to the iRAP Safety Insights Explorer, achieving UN Target 4 for more than 75% of travel to be on 3-star or better roads by 2030, stands to save more than 3,400 lives and over 1 million lives and injuries each year in Tanzania with an economic benefit of $1 billion – a benefit of $4.50 for every $1 spent.

About TanRAP

The Tanzania Road Assessment Programme (TanRAP) launched in 2022 as a milestone of the Ten Step Tanzania Project. Tanzania was the first country in the world to use the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC) developed Ten Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure and received a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in 2023. TanRAP partner activity has assessed 15,744 km of roads and designs, and 4 schools, influencing the safety of US$1.3 billion of road infrastructure investment. 946 people have benefited from iRAP global/on-line training, along with 1,262 people trained in events delivered locally. Tanzania’s 2024-2027 Road Safety Plan includes the iRAP Methodology and integration of improved road design and inspection systems with iRAP Certification to improve the safety of the country’s roads.