Long
after combat ends, landmines and unexploded ordnance continue to maim and kill,
preventing people from safely returning to their homes, tilling their fields,
collecting water, as well as preventing governments from reconstructing
powerlines and industrial infrastructure. Mine action is an integrated approach
to addressing the mine problem and consists of a range of activities that create
a safer environment for people to resume a normal and productive life.
In
15 of the world's most heavily mined countries, UNOPS acts on behalf of its
major clients (the United Nations Mine Action Service – UNMAS, the United
Nations Development Programme – UNDP, and the United Nations Office of the
Iraq Programme – UNOIP), providing the project management services
necessary to deal with immediate urgent needs and to help develop national
capacity to resolve the problem over the long term, combining the flexibility
and innovation of a private sector firm with the principles and objectives of
the United Nations.
UNOPS PROJECT MANAGEMENT SERVICES FOR MINE ACTION
UNOPS has been designated as a principal provider
for mine action project services within the United Nations system. The UNOPS
Mine Action Unit, established in early 1998, is directly responsible for all
UNOPS involvement in mine action, including the execution of nearly all of the
UN mine action support projects. The MAU includes specialized project
management, technical and legal expertise, as well as appropriate support for
fielding personnel and procurement of supplies. This unique combination of
skills enables UNOPS to efficiently provide mine action project management
services tailored to our clients needs. UNOPS acts in many
ways:
Behind the scenes: Before mine action begins,
UNOPS brings together the elements required to set up a mine action programme,
including international expertise, specialized equipment, complex agreements
with donor governments for the provision of "in-kind" personnel, as well as
necessary management and administrative support.
In the
country: Depending on the scope of the project, UNOPS specialized
project personnel advise officials of the national mine action authority or
directly coordinate the work of all actors, launch nationwide mine surveys and
work with the responsible authorities to set priorities to meet local needs.
In the minefields: UNOPS contracts the world's
leading demining companies and NGOs through competitive bidding, and ensures
that they follow the international standards for humanitarian mine clearance. As
areas are cleared, certification is provided to let civilians know it's safe to
move back home.
In the community: UNOPS supports
networks of prosthetic and rehabilitation centres, mine-awareness campaigns, and
training programmes to lessen the risk of living in mine affected areas and to
teach new skills to those who have lost limbs and livelihoods.
When
requested to do so, UNOPS will:
orchestrate the many resources required to start up and carry out effective
mine action;
identify and recruit international and national expertise in mine
action;
rapidly procure and deploy demining and other equipment to the field;
conduct tenders and draft contracts and agreements to suit any country
situation;
provide technical backstopping on all aspects of mine action;
ensure exchange of experience and best practices among programmes;
prepare grant agreements for support to victim assistance; and
train nationals and develop local institutions to ensure
sustainability.
Through the provision of mine action services,
UNOPS has been able to assist UNMAS, UNDP, OIP and national governments in
the:
establishment of national mine action centres and development of national
mine action plans and policies covering standards and quality assurance for
survey, clearance, accreditation, and victim assistance;
establishment of mine action information systems for priority setting,
tasking and reporting;
launching of mine survey and clearance operations through the use of manual,
mine detection dogs and mechanical systems in mine-affected areas; and
strengthening of medical treatment, rehabilitation and vocational services
for mine victims.
UNOPS CLIENTS / PROGRAMMES
UNOPS has been entrusted to manage mine action
projects for various UN agencies since the early 1990s. The Mine Action Unit
delivers a range of management and procurement services valued at about $25
million in 1999, $40 million in 2000, and expected to reach $50 million in the
year 2001.
UNOPS’ major clients include UNMAS, UNDP and the UNOIP.
UNOPS’ involvement varies, depending on the country and the project.
Sometimes funders of mine action call on UNOPS to assume full operational
responsibility for an entire programme (e.g., Kosovo and N. Iraq). At other
times, UNOPS is given responsibility for all UN support to a national programme;
whereas in some cases UNOPS may be hired to manage only a single component, such
as hiring international technical expertise in mine action. The programmes,
listed below, are described in more detail in the country update sections of
this Report.
UNMAS is the focal point for mine action within the UN system,
as designated by the UN Secretary-General, and is responsible for coordinating
all mine-related work funded by eleven UN departments and agencies, and for
launching emergency mine action activities such as in Kosovo, or when natural
disasters severely impact on a country’s mine problem as in the floods in
Central America and Mozambique. Over the past few years, UNOPS has worked with
UNMAS by providing the programme management services necessary to implement
programmes in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Eritrea, South Lebanon, Kosovo,
Mozambique, Nicaragua, and Yemen and on global projects such as the Landmine
Survivors Directory and the Land Mine Safety Handbook. Key new activities over
the past year included startup of the programmes in Eritrea and South Lebanon,
and extension of Quality Assurance Monitoring activities to Level One Impact
Surveys in Cambodia, Mozambique and Thailand.
UNDP is generally responsible
for mine action projects in stable development contexts, which generally focus
on strengthening national institutional capacity to enable mine-affected
countries to manage mine action programmes on their own over the long-term.
UNOPS provides project management services necessary to support implementation
of UNDP programmes in Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cambodia,
Chad, Croatia, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and
Yemen and the UNA-USA “Adopt-a Minefield” programme. During the
past year, the preliminary phase of capacity building support to the Government
of Ethiopia’s mine action programme was begun, while the UNDP support
programmes in Angola and Sri Lanka were both largely suspended due to local
political conditions.
The UN Office of the Iraq Programme manages the "Oil
for Food Programme" established under Security Council Resolution 986. Since
1997, UNOPS has managed the integrated mine action programme in Northern Iraq on
behalf of the UNOIP. Under this programme over 700 deminers have been trained
and deployed, with the majority of teams now operating under local supervision,
a mine action information database has been established with a Level One Survey
conducted in all of the accessible territory, over 5 square kilometers of mine
fields cleared (50% of which was cleared in 2000), a network of emergency
medical and prosthetics centers established and supported, and special efforts
have been taken to develop a full range of local capabilities, including an
indigenous mine detection dog programme, development and production of local
mini-flail systems, and development of local mine action NGOs.
OTHER UNOPS ACTIVITIES
UNOPS is actively involved in the efforts of the
United Nations and the mine action community to develop the information, tools,
and infrastructure to increase the effectiveness of mine action, and is an
active member of the Interagency Coordination Group on Mine Action chaired by
UNMAS. In addition to the provision of project management services for the
specific country programmes referred above, UNOPS executes other projects for
UNMAS, including the Landmine Safety Handbook and Training Programme, and the
Landmine Survivors’ Directory, and quality assurance of the Level One
Survey process. UNOPS participates in the development of international
standards for mine action, in the discussion of the specification and use of
appropriate indicators for priority setting to increase the impact and
efficiency of mine action activities, and in the further development of the
IMSMA database to enable its use for the full range of operational and
information management needs of mine action programmes. UNOPS seeks to ensure
that international and national staff involved in the daily management and
support to programmes take part in all such discussions. UNOPS actively
encourages exchange of information among programmes and learning from best
practices, and has developed startup kits including model documents and
guidelines that enable the new programmes with which it is involved to benefit
from the experience accumulating in the field.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
UNOPS Mine Action Unit
405 Lexington Avenue,
4th floor
New York, NY 10174
USA
Fax:
1-212-457-4049
Email: mau@unops.org