DDG/MAG global landmine initiative 2015-2017

Addressing the threat to the civilian populations in collaboration, Danish Demining Group (DDG) and Mines Advisory Group (MAG) implemented Humanitarian Mine Action activities through the years 2015-2017 in Iraq, South Sudan, Libya, Myanmar and Lao PDR funded by Sida. The intervention consisted of six parallel projects implementing the following four activities: Mine Risk Education, awareness raising and Community Liaison activities to affected populations;Participatory and impact driven clearance programmes through manual demining, Battle Area Clearance (BAC) and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD);Non-Technical and Technical surveys combined with land release to restore livelihoods, economic development and recovery;Capacity strengthening of national authorities and civil organisations in Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA). Below follows a summary of the partner’s engagement and results in each country.   Iraq The operations in Iraq has met severe challenges as a response to limited security, weak state capacity and little political will. That said, examples of implemented projects by both DDG and MAG are presented below. MAG Iraq has mostly been active in Dohuk Governorate, but the team also worked in areas of Ninewa when needed. Throughout project implementation, MAG Iraq and DDG Iraq have undertaken widespread clearance, non-technical surveys (NTS) and technical surveys (TS) and carried out assigned EOD spot tasks. In the project period DDG Iraq faced delays with clearance activities due to the stalled accreditation process, which hence did not start until September 2016. Previously, DDG was mostly active in Southern Iraq, but under this grant the focus shifted to the Kurdish areas, which complicated the accreditation process. By the end of 2017, DDG managed to clear more than twice the target of 25,000m². MAG Iraq increased the target for 2017. By the end of the project period, MAG managed to release back 1,251,718m², which is 272% from the original target and 84% of the revised target. DDG conducted a mass media campaign as part of their Mine Risk Education activities by airing radio broadcasts on three radio channels amounting to a total of 810 broadcasts. These were aired in areas chosen by the government. In addition, direct Mine Reduction Education was done in 12 IDP camps in Duhok. The country programme of MAG Iraq has not gathered information on agreed indicator, according to the partner due to a lack of use of some of the indicators on the ground which has complicated Sida’s assessment.   Libya In Libya, most of the operations have been undertaken in Sabha in the southern part of the country. Late autumn 2016, DDG Libya got accreditation to commence its project on Community Liaison and Non-technical survey and prepared for an Explosive Ordnance Disposal to start in 2017. By the end of the project period, DDG Libya had been able to conduct surveys in six communities covering 154,154,953m², and ultimately confirming that 142,988,848m² were released to the respective communities. DDG further managed to maintain and expand its presence despite the challenging security situation and attained accreditation to launch Non-Technical Surveys and a team working with Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) in 2016. Only half of the total MRE sessions planned has been realized, which according to the partner is due to the importance to use those funds for clearance. Furthermore, the partner experienced a high turnover of key personnel during the implementation of the project in 2017 which, along with clashes in the area, affected the operation. That said, radio channels were used to broadcast risk education in Shabha. Mobilizers, in this case mostly boy scouts, were also used to convey the message to local communities. DDG has worked closely with a local partner through mentoring and training (during the project period 5 staff were trained in MRE/CL and NTS funded by Sida). The target of 10 trainings was met, however not only through Sida support. Two females were hired as NTS staff.   South Sudan The MAG team began working in Jonglei in early 2015, before deploying to Gogrial, Warrap State, where they were operational until May as a national fuel crisis prohibited work so far from the main operational base. The team was thereafter deployed in June to Magwi, Eastern Equatoria, before having to terminate all activities due to security concerns. Operations resumed in Year 2 on two consecutive BAC tasks in Magwi. Despite the cessation of field activities in South Sudan, from January to June, the MAG team achieved 207% of the total land and clearance target for the total three years. Due to the security situation, several targets for MAG South Sudan were changed from specific numbers to 100% completion of the tasks found/referred, in particular on Hazardous Area tasks and NTS from BAC and/or minefields completed, and ERW disposal requests. All tasks found and referred were completed within the project period.   The DDG team has operated in Yei River and Lainya Counties (Yei River State), Mayom County (Northern Liech State) and Maban County (Eastern Nile State) during the project implementation. Overall productivity for the project was high in relation to project targets. However, sporadic periods of particularly heightened insecurity did mean that the team was at times non-operational. Security has been, and remains, the greatest impediment to productive operations in South Sudan, the partner claims. The DDG team had to focus on meeting objective one and two, namely to improve the physical safety of communities affected by ERW and to release land back to communities. Where the outcome of objective one was overachieved throughout the three years, only 16% of the project target was met in relation to objective two. This is due to that the teams were evacuated from the area of which they had planned to undertake this work after an ambush leading to the death of two team members. The team subsequently relocated to the Northern regions were this type of land release programme were not deemed appropriate. DDG also undertook a survey showing that 95% of DDG beneficiaries explicitly stated that they had directly benefitted from DDG’s activities. Lao PDR In 2016 serious security issues arose in South Sudan that directly impacted MAG’s programme. Due to these issues, MAG sought Sida permission to reallocate SEK 1,638,000 from South Sudan to support the Lao programme for a four-month period, November 2016 – February 2017. The swap to Lao proved to be productive and beneficial, as in Feb 2017, the teams in Lao cleared more land than expected and completed 190 EOD roving tasks instead of the target of 140. The operations undertaken by MAG was able to clear close to 200,000m2 village and agricultural land in Khammouane province in Lao during these four months. The reallocation of funds to Lao shows the benefit and importance of continuous partner dialogue and flexibility in country allocation of funds. Also, the short-term funding to MAG’s Lao programme helped bridging a funding gap and from March 2017 MAG continued the work with other donor funds.   Myanmar Throughout the three-year Sida funded project, the aim has been to provide enhanced security in Kayah, Kayin and Southern Shan state through mine risk education, relationship-building with key authorities, and evidence-based research of at-risk communities. MAG was able to conduct a needs analysis in Southern Shan in July 2016 and Sida funded teams began work in Taungyii in December 2016. Though humanitarian mine clearance activities are yet to commence in Myanmar, the activities funded by Sida to date have aimed to prepared future demining activities. The method of Community Safety Mapping was applied in Myanmar. This involves discussing with the community about potential hazards in their area and drafting a map to highlight their location. The final version is displayed in a central location, along with MRE messages. This approach enables mapping of landmine contamination in areas where a full non-technical survey is not yet possible and contributes to lowering the risk of mine accidents. MAG has delivered 596 RE sessions to 15,566 direct beneficiaries. The knowledge enhancement following the MRE is on average higher in Myanmar than in the other countries. This is according to the partner due to that the general knowledge of affected communities before the trainings took place was very low. The targets set for each respective year in Myanmar was changed from 474 to 600 sessions. Of the new total, 99% was achieved upon finalization of the project. However, the target of visiting villages three times was underachieved across the three-year period (84% of target achieved). Furthermore, MAG uses mass media for Mines Reduction Education, and the information is tailored for specific contexts and contaminations. The partner has further conducted conflict sensitivity analyses. These are done through stakeholder interviews and analysis, risk matrix and security assessment, as well as a desktop review of conflict history. The partner has during the implementation phase worked with Saferworld to produce a conflict sensitivity assessment for a specific area in Kayin State.

Conflict-affected populations are supported by promoting a safe and secure environment conducive to stability and recovery.