The
indiscriminate laying of landmines has created a long term development problem
in many countries across the globe. The United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) has a growing role in supporting Governments of mine affected countries
and local communities to address this problem.
The United Nations Policy on
Mine Action[1] confirms the need for a
fully integrated response to the problems caused by landmines and UXO,
incorporating mine awareness and risk reduction education; minefield survey,
mapping, marking and clearance; victim assistance, including rehabilitation and
reintegration; and advocacy to stigmatize the use of landmines and support a
total ban on antipersonnel landmines. The policy outlines the roles and
responsibilities of each of the relevant UN Agencies, coordinated by the UN Mine
Action Service.
UNDP is responsible “for addressing the
socio-economic consequences of landmine contamination and for supporting
national/local capacity building to ensure the elimination of the obstacle they
pose to the resumption of normal economic activity, reconstruction and
development. When applicable, UNDP will have normal responsibility for the
development of integrated, sustainable national/local mine action
programmes...”
To do this, UNDP helps:
Establish policy frameworks, management infrastructures and institutional
arrangements in mine affected countries through providing information and
technical support, as well as management and training support for national
personnel;
Arrange training for technical teams, managers and other support staff, to
build the national capacity to manage mine action programmes in the
future;
Set up national data-bases and provide input into management information
systems (normally the standard UN Information Management System for Mine Action,
or IMSMA) through coordination with national landmine surveys and the
identification and marking of dangerous areas, so that there is clear data on
the extent of the problem. This survey data provides the basis for setting of
priorities for all aspects of Mine Action;
Develop tasking systems which take account of humanitarian and development
priorities, and address specific needs within mine affected
communities.
Ensure public education campaigns form a part of overall capacity building
in collaboration with UNICEF, so that local communities are empowered to
minimize exposure to risk in their everyday life;
Support victim rehabilitation projects at the field level, in coordination
with UNICEF and WHO, providing rehabilitation and socio-economic
reintegration;
Empower governments and communities to carry out their own advocacy and
resource mobilization efforts to raise support from donor communities, and to
assist with the establishment and management of Trust Funds, and the submission
of programme information to the UN Mine Action portfolio;
SUPPORT TO COUNTRY PROGRAMMES
UNDP’s role is not to engage in mine clearance
itself, but to assist Governments to develop long term capacity to manage,
prioritize and coordinate their Mine Action Programme. UNDP, with its network
of offices in 132 countries and its multi-sectoral approach to development, is
able to provide appropriately targeted support and training for the
establishment of national Mine Action Programmes.
UNDP supports mine action
capacity building projects in various stages of development in the following
countries:
Existing Programmes
Pilot Programmes
Initial Planning
Angola
Eritrea
Albania
Azerbaijan
Ethiopia
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Guinea Bissau
Cambodia
Lebanon
Chad
Thailand
Croatia
Lao PDR
Mozambique
Somalia
Yemen
As at May 2001
The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) has been
contracted to provide project services for many of these programmes. Further
information on the specific achievements of each programme is contained in the
relevant country information provided in this report.
UNDP’s Mine
Action Team, established in 1998 to provide a small team of specialist staff
based at the headquarters in New York, continues to provide direct support to
UNDP’s regional bureaux and country offices who, in turn, assist National
Governments in dealing with the problems caused by landmine and unexploded
ordnance contamination. The team provides advice in areas such as capacity
building, technical matters, training, resource mobilization, addressing the
socio-economic impact of landmines and advocacy for a fully integrated approach
to mine action. The Mine Action Team coordinates with the UN Mine Action
Service, other UN partners, the World Bank, non-government organizations and
donors, and represents UNDP at international meetings as appropriate.
MANAGEMENT TRAINING
In 1999 UNDP, with financial support from several
donors, undertook a study which assessed the global training need for management
and supervisory staff and proposed options to address it. In 2000, Cranfield
University in the UK developed a senior managers’ training course and
sixteen managers from thirteen countries attended the pilot course conducted at
Cranfield in August-September 2000. The Course was very successful, both in
upgrading the skills of the participants, as well as providing a forum for
exchange of experiences between programmes, and the development of a real
network between the participants, which has remained following the conclusion of
the course. A second central course will be held in August –September
2001, and a number of regional courses are planned. A middle management
training course is also under development by Cranfield University, with the
first module being piloted in Portuguese, in Maputo, Mozambique in June 2001
with participants from Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique. The remaining three
modules will be delivered in October 2001, March and June 2002.
In order to
assist national Mine Action Programmes to prioritise their activities, and to
provide better information on their impact, UNDP commissioned the Geneva
International Centre for Humanitarian Demining to conduct a study into the
assessment of the socio-economic impact of mine action. The study was conducted
through literature research as well as case studies in Kosovo (emergency),
Mozambique (transition society) and Laos (development). The study report was
released at the Intersessional meetings of the AP Mine Ban treaty, held in
Geneva in May 2001. The main lesson drawn from this study is that mine action
managers need to understand the principal social and economic features of the
mine-affected countries and their communities and identify the specific factors
that limit economic growth and bind people in poverty. Mine action that
addresses these binding constraints should be accorded priority. An
operational handbook will be introduced in June 2001, after field testing in
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The World Rehabilitation Fund (WRF) has been engaged
to conduct UNDP’s three year project for the socio-economic reintegration
of landmine victims. Following field research, and identification of needs in
Cambodia, Laos, Lebanon and Mozambique, WRF has initiated partnerships with a
number of locally based NGO’s in Cambodia, Lebanon and Mozambique to
conduct a number of pilot projects. Examples of these projects are the
enhancement of vocational training and job placement through increasing employer
involvement, with over 60 landmine survivors and other disabled placed in work
in the first 6 months of the scheme, and a project in Lebanon supporting
landmine survivors and their families to operate roadside kiosks on major
highways. Plans exist to expand this project by providing start up funds on a
revolving funds basis, allowing an increasing number of kiosks and other small
enterprises to be developed.
In addition to the pilot projects, WRF has
developed a “prototype” or template of mechanisms and services which
should be in place to support the socio-economic re-integration of landmine
victim, which will be presented to the intersessional meetings.
RESOURCE MOBILISATION
UNDP works in close cooperation with the national
Mine Action Programmes that it supports to coordinate resource mobilisation for
the entire country programme. Although precise figures are not yet available for
2000, in 1999 UNDP contributed approximately US$ 6 million of its core resources
for mine action activities, with these seed funds attracting a further US$ 20
million in cost sharing or contributions to UNDP Trust funds. Also in 1999, an
additional US$ 50 million was contributed by host governments or directly by
donor communities for mine action programmes in these countries. UNDP’s
own contributions for 2000 is lower than in 1999, reflecting UNDP’s
overall reduction in available core funding. However this has been offset by
donor contributions of non-core funding for specific, mine action
activities.
PARTNERSHIPS
Through an agreement with UNDP, the United Nations
Association of the United States continues to be an active UN partner raising
resources for mine clearance through the Adopt-A-Minefield® Campaign (see
www.landmines.org).
By the end of May 2001, over $3 million had been raised towards mine clearance
in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia, and Mozambique. It
is anticipated that the programme will be expanded to cover Vietnam this year.
The Adopt-A-Minefield® Campaign expanded this year to include two satellite
campaigns in the United Kingdom and Canada.
UNDP and UNMAS are partners
with the Survey Action Centre, a consortium of NGOs, managed by the Vietnam
Veterans of America Foundation, to perform Level One Impact Surveys as an
integrated component of on-going mine action programmes in several countries.
Collectively, these partners are involved (either directly, or by providing
quality assurance) in surveys currently underway in Chad, Mozambique, Cambodia,
and Thailand. The Level One Impact Survey in Yemen (UNMAS/SAC) was completed
and handed over to the government in September 2000, and discussions are
underway for providing support to Azerbaijan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia in
their ongoing survey work.
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