27 July 2026, Cairo, Egypt – UNITAR in close collaboration with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and with the support of the FIA Foundation, formally launched the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional edition of the Safe Mobility for All and for Life (SM4A4L) initiative.

The primary objective of the SM4A4L Programme is to equip FIA Club Members and local government authorities with evidence-based methodologies, training, and specialized technical mentorship. Through this joint effort, it aims to empower mobility leaders to co-develop and implement concrete projects tailored to the specific road safety needs of their respective countries.

The launch session, held on 8 July 2026 in Cairo, brought together key representatives from local authorities and delegates from 18 federation clubs from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the State of Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Despite recent progress in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, the region maintains one of the highest road traffic fatality rates in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the main challenge lies in overcoming the fragmentation of efforts, as many countries still operate through isolated initiatives. This underscores the urgent need to adopt coordinated governance and the Safe System approach to halve road traffic deaths by 2030.

The workshop provided an interactive space for technical exchange focused on the Safe System approach, which anticipates that human beings make mistakes and shifts responsibility toward the design of forgiving infrastructure. Through interventions by global experts, such as Global NCAP, methodologies applied to vehicle safety standards were explored. Furthermore, the latest technological trends in the region were showcased through presentations by Strategy & Middle East, alongside an analysis of the Saudi NCAP programme and the Vehicle Safety Center led by SASO.

A central segment of the event was dedicated to the United Nations session which featured the active participation of the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Egypt, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS). The session delved into the operational applications of UN initiatives on the ground, highlighting:

• People-Centred Cities Approach: Promoted alongside UN-Habitat to integrate safety and inclusivity into urban design.
• Road Safety Management: Led by UNDSS through the oversight of official personnel movements using digital tools (the UNDSS Trip Website and the eTA application) to verify pre-safety-cleared routes and approved transport.
• Safer Vehicles and Road Users: Active monitoring of fleet compliance under UN standards and the continuous delivery of webinars and safe-driving guidance.
• Forgiving Driving Environments: Ongoing assessments to mitigate infrastructure risks and prevent human errors from turning into tragedies.