🕒 Article read time: 3 minutes
Transaid project paves the way for female drivers in Uganda
Transaid, a London-based international development organisation which transforms lives through safe, available and sustainable transport, is helping challenge the assumption that truck driving is a male profession.
The Professional Driver Training – Uganda project (PDT-U) is an initiative implemented by Transaid and Safe Way Right Way (SWRW) aimed at improving road safety through professional driver training for HGVs and passenger vehicles.
Nelima Muyobo is one of the female drivers who expressed an interest in learning how to drive trucks. Despite only being able to drive automatic cars, she went back to a driving school to learn how to drive manual vehicles and returned to the Safe Way Right Way driver training centre in Mukono ready to take on the challenge.
Muyobo went on to complete an HGV driving course in four weeks and currently holds a CM driving licence. She hopes to drive trucks through East Africa and beyond. “When I first came to the school,” she said, “I was a little scared and did not know what to expect, but the team was very supportive, the instructors were very professional and patient with me, and this filled me with confidence. I had been driving for a long time but when I enrolled, I realised that I still had so much to learn to be a better driver. I strongly recommend that every driver goes through this training.”
The 36-year-old mother of two encourages more women to take up this opportunity: “There is still a mindset in Uganda that truck driving is for men only, but having done it myself I don’t see what should stop fellow women. I would encourage women who have this passion to use this opportunity and increase their chances of employment.”
The driver training is based on the standardised East African Community (EAC) Curriculum for drivers of large commercial vehicles and is conducted by experienced trainers who are deemed to be some of the best in the region. To maintain the quality of training, the trainers also undergo regular remedial training delivered by experts in the field seconded from the UK by Transaid. The training is currently free for women and men receive a 50% discount.
The PDT-U project was set up with support from GIZ E4D/SOGA, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation, the UK Department for International Development and the Norwegian Agency for Development.
★www.transaid.org
Published On: 02/03/2020 14:41:26
Comments Section
If you are a Logistics UK member login to add comments.
