EASST partners meet in London to mark 20 years of the FIA Foundation
Last week, our EASST partners met in London to attend the 20th anniversary celebration events organised by the FIA Foundation. We offer our sincerest congratulations and best wishes to the FIA Foundation as they mark this wonderful milestone.
We were extremely proud of our partner Oksana Romanukha of Impact NGO, Ukraine who gave a moving and powerful opening presentation – thanking the FIA Foundation for their recent support in Ukraine [since the Russian invasion] and contributions towards the FIRE AID donations of Fire and Rescue equipment to the Ukrainian State Emergency Services.
The FIA Foundation have been a core supporter and friend of EASST and our partners since our establishment in 2009. Marking our 10-year anniversary in 2019, EASST Founder and Director Emma MacLennan talked about this special bond:
“Ten years ago, my main focus was to organise the FIA Foundation Road Safety Scholarship Programme. I had many friends in Eastern Europe and countries that were once part of the Soviet Union – talented young leaders I had worked with as one-time Director of the John Smith Memorial Trust, a good governance leadership course attracting the best and brightest young professionals from the region. These included road safety leaders supported by the FIA Foundation: people like Poghos Shahinyan from Armenia and Gela Kvashilava from Georgia, who worked tirelessly but found it an uphill struggle to get their governments to act to reduce high road casualties.
EASST grew from these talented young leaders. They asked us to build a regional network to support their efforts – allowing an exchange of international expertise and building a forum for sharing best practice. They asked, and the FIA Foundation listened. With the backing of the Foundation, EASST was established in June 2009 and successfully registered as a UK charity in January 2010. Starting from just five countries, our network has expanded to include 14 countries, growing in its regional influence and reach. The link with the FIA and their work to support road safety remains strong: five of our partner organisations are FIA-affiliated clubs and others have strong working links with local clubs in their countries.”
We are indeed indebted to the FIA Foundation and would not have achieved the successes we have over the past 13 years without their support. We are proud to be one of their core partners, collaborating on the Child Health Initiative and many other campaigns. We look forward to continuing to work together for many years to come.
While in London, we took the opportunity to gather our partners for our first in person All-EASST partners meeting in over two years. We met with representatives from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to map potential new projects and showcase our work together over the past few years including improving road safety around Bank projects in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Ukraine.
