On 7 May in Leipzig, iRAP joined an official side event of the 2026 International Transport Forum (ITF) Summit on Multi-stakeholder Engagement for Resilient Transport Investment co-hosted by the Alianza Oriental para el Transporte Seguro y Sostenible (EASST), el European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), y el Federación Internacional de Carreteras (IRF).
The 90-minute session, titled “Aligning multi-stakeholder engagement for resilient transport investment,” brought together multilateral development banks, government representatives, civil society, and technical practitioners to discuss how collaborative approaches can strengthen the resilience and cost-effectiveness of transport projects.
The event featured two panel discussions exploring how engaging the right stakeholders at the right time identifies risks, integrates diverse expertise, and delivers infrastructure that serves genuine community needs.
The first panel focused on regional Multi-lateral Development Bank (MDB)-government collaboration, with representatives from MDBs discussing stakeholder engagement approaches alongside national stakeholders from Azerbaijan and Ukraine.
The second panel broadened to multi-stakeholder interaction, examining how civil society, private sector, and practitioners work with MDBs throughout project lifecycles.
“Early investment in stakeholder engagement reduces costly project delays and community opposition while building social resilience alongside physical infrastructure,” said Corrine Vibert, EASST Director of Communications and Advocacy. “Yet systematic approaches to upstream engagement remain inconsistent across institutions and regions. This session aimed to change that by showcasing what works and building commitment to collaborative practice.”
EBRD’s Debbie Cousins, Director of Operations, Environment & Sustainability Department, shared institutional leadership and closed the session by synthesising recommendations for advancing collaborative, resilient transport investment across MDB operations.
Other speakers included Ines Fejzic, Senior Environmental and Social Specialist at the OPEC Fund for International Development, and Ilkin Dashdamirli, Lead Advisor of International Cooperation Department at Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Transport and Digital Development.
Joining the panel, Samar Abouraad, iRAP’s Global Safer Journeys Specialist said, “The Stakeholders’ commitment early-on in projects is a key enabler to the success of a road safety action mainly because each actor will have ownership and accountability towards their involvement”.
The session also featured representatives from construction firm ORIS, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) demonstrating the breadth of stakeholder perspectives needed to strengthen transport project outcomes.
The event aligned with the ITF Summit’s focus on “Funding Resilient Transport” by demonstrating how systematic stakeholder engagement enhances resilience through road safety and inclusive design, improves cost-effectiveness by identifying risks before construction, and strengthens governance through transparent, participatory decision-making.
The side event directly supports EASST’s new Coalition for Safe Routes to School initiative, supported by the FIA Foundation Advocacy Hub.
El Toolkit recommends for the use of iRAP Star Rating for Schools, an evidence-based tool for measuring, managing and communicating the risk children face on their journey to school.
The Coalition aims to strengthen links between school safety advocacy and large-scale road investments made by multilateral development banks and international financial institutions.
By engaging with IFIs to ensure child road safety principles are systematically reflected in major transport projects, and by working with national partners to build the enabling environment needed for safe school zones, EASST is putting into practice the collaborative, upstream stakeholder engagement approaches discussed at the ITF Summit.
The dialogue established through the ITF side event provides a vital platform for advancing these goals across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.
From left to right: Reinaldo Fioravanti, Group head at IADB, Alice Yiu Head of Advocacy and Outreach at IRF, Gonzalo Alcaraz, CEO IRF; Samar Abouraad, Global Safer Journeys Specialist at iRAP; Manuel Rodriguez Porcel Regional Transport Coordinator at IADB
Samar Abouraad, iRAP’s Global Safer Journeys Specialist
Article credit: EASST
Header image: From left to right – Ines Fejzic, Senior Environmental and Social Specialist at OPEC Fund for International Development; Nicolas Miravalls, CEO of ORIS Materials Intelligence; Debbie Cousins, Director Operations, Environment & Sustainability Department at EBRD; Gonzalo Alcaraz, CEO IRF; Viktor Zagreba, Consultant and Road Safety Policy Expert, Ukraine; Samar Abouraad, Global Safer Journeys Specialist at iRAP; Mr. Towshikur Rahman, Investment Officer, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); Emma MacLennan, President of EASST