Sometimes small changes can have a big impact.
The Zusha! sticker intervention is a perfect example.
Zusha! is a road safety project by the Georgetown University Initiative on Innovation, Development and Evaluation, funded by USAID and implemented locally by DDD Kenya, a Nairobi-based business process outsourcing provider.
Zusha! partnered with Ma3Route to test if access to a digital reporting platform would lead to a reduction in accident rates.
Ma3Route logo was placed on half of the stickers distributed, prompting passengers to report on Ma3Route real-time web and mobile platforms.
Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among children and young adults in Sub-Saharan Africa. Every day, people die on the road, and many of those deaths occur in matatus. Zusha! aims to empower matatu passengers to demand and receive better service.
To achieve this goal, stickers (see above) that encourage passengers to speak up when their drivers are driving recklessly are placed inside matatus and buses.
Zusha! was publically launched in May 2015 under the auspices of its local partners, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the National Road Safety Trust (NRST).
To date, the campaign has successfully distributed stickers to 22,000 public service vehicles throughout the country. There has also been complementary messaging through television advertisements, radio advertisements, billboards, and digital media.
And it worked! After the intervention, the number of total accidents dropped by 30%. Georgetown researchers were able to measure the accident reduction using insurance claim data from Directline Assurance. Based on the success in Kenya,
Zusha! is now expanding pilot studies into Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.
Learn more about Zusha! in this working paper, the Zusha! website—and don’t forget to speak up!
About the author
Christina Gossmann is Acting Director of Marketing and Communications at DDD. DDD delivers high- quality, competitively priced business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions to clients worldwide. At the same time, DDD’s innovative social model enables talent from underserved populations to access professional opportunities and earn lasting higher income. Learn more at DDD.
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