Sisimpur to launch road safety programme for children

To raise the awareness of school children with appropriate road safety practice messages, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Sesame Workshop Bangladesh (SWB), the producer of Sisimpur are initiating a partnership. 

This initiative will be implemented under the ongoing 'Dhaka Road Traffic Safety Project (DRSP)', funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), raeds a press release. 

Notably, since March 2022, the DMP has been implementing the 3 years long DRSP as JICA technical cooperation project, with the main goal of enhancing its capacity to ensure comprehensive road safety in Dhaka.

SWB, an International Non-government Organization, producers of the children's television series titled Sisimpur, and it is a popular program has proven to be an effective and meaningful medium to reach children with educational and entertaining content, bringing about positive changes.

To facilitate joint initiatives and activities aimed at enhancing road safety awareness and promoting responsible behaviour among citizens, on 22 November 2023, Wednesday, DMP and SWB signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the DMP's office. 

The ceremony was attended by Md Munibur Rahman, the additional commissioner (Traffic) of DMP and the project director of DRSP, and Mohammad Shah Alam, the managing director of SWB. Additionally, Yoshihisa Asada, project leader-DRSP, Kazi Romana Nasrin PPM, ADC of DMP, Abu Saif Ansari, director-programs and business development, SWB, Nasrin Akter, director- content and creative services, SWB and other representatives from JICA were also present.

As a part of initiatives, Sisimpur will collaborate to develop audio-visual content suitable for children to encourage safe road crossing habits among students in Dhaka. Additionally, awareness-building content will be disseminated through leaflets, road signages, and storyboards on road safety practices.

Based on the results of our initiatives, the activities might be scaled up in the future.