UNICEF: A Leader in Mine Awareness
As the United
Nation’s lead
agency on mine awareness/mine risk education (MRE), the United Nations
Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has done work in about 30 countries
that suffer from the effects of landmines. Their programs help
affected populations cope with the problems of landmines and give them
the means to carry out their daily lives as safely as possible until
their land can be cleared and returned to productive use.
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Two instructors conduct a
UNICEF-assisted mine awareness session for children in an
Angolan camp for displaced persons. |
by Nicole
Kreger, MAIC
Introduction
UNICEF is the UN
focal point for mine awareness. As such, its mission is to “provide
appropriate guidance for all mine awareness programs, liaising closely
with concerned partners.…”1 In many cases, this means that UNICEF
oversees or provides funding for projects that are actually
implemented by other already established in-country organizations.
While UNICEF’s mine awareness responsibilities encompass all groups
regardless of age, the organization tends to conduct most of its
awareness programs in school-based settings and other locations in
which children are the main target audience.
Examples of
UNICEF Programs
The following
highlights the country programs in which UNICEF has been instrumental
over the past year. While the list provided here is not exhaustive, it
is meant to emphasize the broad range of impact that UNICEF has on
mine awareness around the world.
Afghanistan
UNICEF supports
an extensive mine awareness campaign in Afghanistan, which involves 12
districts in Kabul. Mine awareness messages are spread in mosques, on
the radio and in schools, where they are being incorporated into the
curriculum. Currently, UNICEF is supporting a “quick-impact” mine
awareness campaign that targets 3,800 schools in Afghanistan. This
program teaches students directly and also trains teachers how to
teach students about the risks of landmines.
With the
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance
to Afghanistan (UNOCHA), UNICEF has developed a mine awareness country
plan and has begun to implement it this year. Some of the objectives
include building local capacities for sustainable community-based mine
awareness programs, incorporating mine awareness into the health and
education sectors, and reallocating resources to meet the needs of
those communities that are the most affected. UNICEF is providing
support for radio programs on mine awareness and conducting a
nationwide mine/UXO impact survey that includes information on mine
awareness. Additionally, UNICEF is assisting local NGO META in
developing train-the-trainer courses and materials; this information
is then being used to teach trainers who will in turn instruct health
workers, teachers and community volunteers. META and UNICEF are also
developing a system to monitor and evaluate mine awareness in
Afghanistan.
Albania
UNICEF is
currently the lead agency for mine awareness in Albania. The NGO CARE
carries out mine action activities in the northern districts of the
country, and UNICEF provides support for their activities. These
programs have included a two-day seminar for 84 Tropojë-district
teachers. UNICEF is also developing capacity building within the
Ministry of Education by training supervisors and teachers through a
train-the-trainer program that targets the 11 areas with the highest
risk from mines and UXO. Furthermore, UNICEF conducted a needs
assessment survey from 2001–2002, which led to the development of a
national mine risk education strategy for 2002.
Angola
Partnering with
Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA), UNICEF has trained 180 instructors on
mine awareness in Angola. These people have in turn spread awareness
to over 300,000 people. UNICEF has also funded an Angolan theater
group to teach mine awareness through theatrical productions. This
method of information dissemination is popular because it is
entertaining to the audience and costs relatively little in comparison
with other teaching methods.
Along with
the Angolan National Institute for the Removal of Obstacles and
Explosive Ordnance (INAROEE), UNICEF has created mine awareness
messages for television and radio. UNICEF is also focusing its efforts
in Angola on getting the community involved by encouraging local
leaders and teachers to disseminate the messages to others. UNICEF has
educated almost 1,000 teachers using the train-the-trainer method. By
February of 2002, over 140,000 students had received mine awareness
education through this method. Continuing the trend of teaching mine
awareness in schools, the Ministry of Education formally incorporated
mine awareness into the national curriculum this year.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
UNICEF is
implementing a three-year project targeting all Bosnian
schoolchildren. This involves producing and distributing updated Mine
Awareness Education Kits to all pre-schools, primary schools and
secondary schools. UNICEF has also recruited an experienced adviser to
assist the Bosnia-Herzegovina Mine Action Center (BHMAC) with mine
awareness by providing technical assistance. This adviser will help
the BHMAC develop a national mine risk education policy and be
UNICEF’s focal mine awareness person. Other projects to which UNICEF
provides support include an interactive puppet theater in the
Republika Sprska and mine awareness summer camps.
UNICEF is
also emphasizing the need for community involvement in spreading mine
awareness in Bosnia. In order to increase involvement of community
members, UNICEF’s program involves developing a community action kit
with mine injury prevention tools for use by local communities. UNICEF
is working on training select communities in its use. Community
involvement like this is important, because without it, “there is
little hope of maintaining these activities at a high enough level.”2
Burundi
UNICEF is the
only organization in Burundi conducting mine awareness education. Thus
far, they have trained 100 people and developed five educational
posters. UNICEF is helping the government of Burundi build up its
technical capacity for carrying out mine awareness in affected areas
of the country. They have planned to develop Burundi-specific mine
awareness materials and use a train-the-trainer approach to educate
the population. Unfortunately, as of May, UNICEF said in a press
release that its fundraising efforts for the program had been
unsuccessful. They also stated, “Highlighting the current intensity of
fighting in Burundi, UNICEF insists that it is urgent to fund this
sector that would enable the implementation of advocacy, mine risk
education, victim assistance or mine data collection.”3
Cambodia
In late 2001,
the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) began a pilot project
supported by UNICEF and Handicap International Belgium to conduct
community-based mine/UXO risk reduction. This phase ended in May,
after which an evaluation was conducted and recommendations were made
for a second project. Additionally, UNICEF has been providing
technical support to the Cambodia Mine Action/Victim Assistance
Authorities’ (CMAA’s) newly appointed Mine Awareness Focal Point.
In a
program targeting 30 districts, UNICEF has planned to teach mine
awareness to children in the most affected areas in Cambodia. Known as
the “Children in Post Conflict Project,” this three-year program will
allow for primary school teachers to provide children with mine risk
education. The program aims to educate children both inside and out of
schools and hopes to incorporate community participation in mine
action.
UNICEF
also chairs a recently formed mine risk education working group that
consists of all parties in Cambodia involved with such work. The group
determined that Cambodia still has a need for mine risk education,
since there is still a high number of incidents and the rate of
clearance is slow. One recommendation from the group was to expand the
approach of MRE from traditional methods in order to get community
participation and make use of community human resources.
Eritrea
Recently, UNICEF
and the Eritrean Mine Action Program (EMAP) established an
inter-agency MRE Working Group in order to create an MRE program for
Eritrea. Together they determined what was necessary for a long-term
national MRE strategy, which includes creating a process for
accrediting MRE trainers, distributing MRE materials to returning
refugees, and organizing MRE activities for IDPs in camps. These
projects will be carried out through the end of 2003.
Additional
mine awareness activities in Eritrea include weekly and bi-weekly
radio broadcasts and a roadside billboard program. An MRE program for
schoolteachers has been completed, and by now, almost all teachers in
highly affected areas of the country have received training. UNICEF
has also gotten the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
(UNMEE) Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC) to integrate mine
awareness into its Quality Assurance process.
Ethiopia
UNICEF’s support
for Ethiopian MRE activities began in 1999, and they are carried out
by a local NGO. Current efforts are focused on mine-affected
communities in 10 districts of the Tigray and Afar regions. Their
current project is implementing a community-based approach involving
civil administration, religious groups, women’s and children’s
organizations and local radio. Since 2001, UNICEF has focused its
support on building the country’s technical capacity in MRE based on
the International Mine Action Standards by working with the UN Mine
Advisory Team and Ethiopian Mine Action Office (EMAO).
Guinea-Bissau
UNICEF is one of
three organizations that provide support to mine risk education
activities in Guinea-Bissau. One of UNICEF’s biggest roles in the
country was in establishing a Mine Awareness Committee (COAM), which
has met bi-weekly since April 1999. The COAM focuses its efforts on
information, training and logistics, which has included the production
of tools such as marking ropes and triangles, billboards, posters,
labels, T-shirts and comic books. Plans for 2002–2003 include
increasing community involvement in mine awareness, incorporating mine
awareness into school curricula and disseminating mine awareness
messages via radio and TV.
Kosovo
UNICEF helped
fund Operation Normal Life (ONL), a project that helped “make all
communities in Kosovo aware of the extent of mine action in their
area.”4 Its aim was to make up for the fact that mine awareness had
previously been conducted independently of other mine action
activities, which had often caused confusion among villagers about
what work was being done to clear minefields. This project, managed by
the MACC and involving most of the over 20 mine awareness agencies in
the country, concluded in April 2002.
Along with
the Department of Education and Science (DoES), UNICEF ran a pilot
program earlier this year called Life Skills. The program included
mine awareness training and was scheduled to enter into the curricula
of 100 schools and surrounding communities in September. The program
will continue through September 2003.
Laos
The Lao National
UXO project (UXO LAO) carries out mine/UXO risk education through its
Community Awareness (CA) teams. Much of the funding for such awareness
programs comes from UNICEF. A study conducted by the two agencies
revealed that citizens in villages visited by CA teams had a high
level of understanding regarding UXO issues. The study also showed,
though, that understanding does not necessarily lead to behavior
change; thus, a new study is planned to investigate UXO awareness and
the factors related to UXO incidents.
UNICEF is
also collaborating with the Ministry of Education (MOE), UXO LAO and
the Lao Youth Union on a two-year project to educate children on UXO
awareness. Targeting children both in and out of school, the project
began as a pilot program in four provinces of the country, and plans
to expand nationally. The program will encourage participation from
the children by having them help create and later disseminate the
safety messages. Children not in school will receive messages with the
creation of safe play environments. Other parts of this program will
include “Sport-in-a-Box” activities, which incorporate games and
recreational activities with UXO awareness, and puppet shows and songs
performed by children.
Nicaragua
Working in
conjunction with the National Demining Commission (CND) and its
Sub-Commission on Education, Prevention and Re-Integration, UNICEF has
plans to establish national standards for mine risk education during
2002 and 2003. The organizations hope this will lead to improved
coordination between clearance and education activities as well as
better synchronization among mine action organizations in Nicaragua.
The standards will encompass the following areas: planning,
methodological approaches, community participation, material
production, monitoring and impact evaluation. They are also developing
curricular modules on MRE and create mine/UXO awareness materials.
Another of
UNICEF’s ongoing projects in Nicaragua is a community liaison project
to be implemented by the Organization of American States (OAS). The
plan for the project is to “identify those key community members who
could act as focal points for further mine action activities in the
most affected communities.”5 This project will later merge with the
efforts of the CND in order to integrate mine clearance and mine
awareness activities nationwide more effectively.
Russia
(Chechnya/Ingushetia)
UNICEF’s main
role in Chechnya and Ingushetia is as the coordinator of all
mine-related activities both of the UN and of NGOs. A number of
organizations, including UNICEF, the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) as well as local NGOs, have begun a comprehensive program for
MRE and survivor assistance. The program focuses on training over
190,000 children in the region. This began with a train-the-trainer
course for 460 teachers, who will in turn pass this information on to
children ranging in age from 6 to 17. These children will receive an
MRE course plus booklets, posters, T-shirts, sweatshirts, pens,
pencils, notebooks and drawing sets with relevant messages. This
yearlong program will conclude at the end of 2002.
Vietnam
UNICEF Vietnam’s
mine awareness activities in Vietnam aim to make an immediate impact
on the population’s level of awareness, but more importantly, they
hope to develop “long-term, sustainable approaches to this issue.”6 In
order to accomplish this, UNICEF proposed a survey to be conducted in
Quang Tri province that will determine the level of mine-safety
knowledge among local people. Through this survey, UNICEF will be able
to determine what messages they should send to the population and who
the target audience should be. UNICEF plans to carry out the survey by
the end of 2002, and a national MRE media campaign will follow,
including print ads, radio spots and TV commercials. Most messages
will be aimed primarily at children.
UNICEF
Vietnam, with the help of the Ministry of Education and Training, has
also introduced a school-based mine/UXO safety program. Teachers at
schools in 15 provinces are incorporating MRE messages into their
curriculum. Additionally, UNICEF is supporting child-to-child learning
activities that the organization hopes will bring the messages to
children out of school as well as other members of the community.
International
Guidelines
Due to
widespread belief that mine awareness programs were insufficiently
structured, UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programs began developing the
International Guidelines for Landmine and Unexploded Ordnance
Awareness Education. The Guidelines, released in 1999, were created “in order to promote the effective planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of mine awareness programs.”7 They are
designed as a reference for people involved in mine awareness.
The
Guidelines, taking into account that mine awareness is “a process that
encourages populations to become involved rather than…an imposed
solution,”8 aims to apply a fully integrated approach to mine action.
This means making sure that mine clearance and mine awareness operate
in conjunction instead of separately, as they have in the past. Issues
are addressed in four sections, namely:
UNICEF
intended the Guidelines to be an overview of issues that are central
to mine/UXO awareness, primarily for policy makers and donors. The
publication has been endorsed by the Ottawa Treaty States Parties’
Standing Committee on Victim Assistance, Socio-Economic Reintegration
and Mine Awareness and translated into French and Spanish for
widespread dissemination.
Conclusion
UNICEF has
proven from its past and current activities to be a world leader in
bringing mine awareness to populations in mine-affected areas. The
programs listed above are only a few examples of how UNICEF has helped
prevent mine incidents. Continuing in this tradition, UNICEF will be
releasing some publications in the next few months about mine
awareness programs. The first is a new portfolio of their programs
with updates from the past few months, which will be released by the
end of November. The second is a “Lessons Learned” publication that
will include information gained from the experiences of people
involved in mine awareness programs. UNICEF hopes to release this
document by January of 2003.
*All
photos courtesy of UNICEF
Endnotes
- “United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).” Online Document:
http://www.icbl.org/lm/2002/appendices/unicef.html. Landmine Monitor
Report 2002. October 7, 2002.
- “Mine Injury
Prevention in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Online Document:
http://www.mineaction.org/misc/dynamic_overview.cfm?did=14
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Projects. October 7, 2002.
- “Burundi.”
Online Document: http://www.icbl.org/lm/2002/burundi.html.
Landmine
Monitor Report 2002. October 7, 2002.
- Qtd. in “Kosovo.” Online Document: http://www.icbl.org/lm/2002/kosovo.html.
Landmine Monitor Report 2002. October 7, 2002.
- “Landmine and
UXO Awareness Education in Nicaragua.” Online Document:
http://www.mineaction.org/misc/dynamic_overview.cfm?did=14
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Projects. October 7, 2002.
- “Mine Risk
Education and Awareness in Viet Nam.” Online Document:
http://www.mineaction.org/misc/dynamic_overview.cfm?did=14
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Projects. October 7, 2002.
- International
Guidelines for Landmine and Unexploded Ordnance Awareness Education.
Online Document: http://members.iinet.net.au/~pictim/unicef/unicef.html.
September 19,
2002.
- International
Guidelines for Landmine and Unexploded Ordnance Awareness Education.
Online .Pdf Document: http://members.iinet.net.au/~pictim/unicef/mineawar.pdf.
September 19,
2002.
Contact
Information
Gianluca Buono
Project Officer
UNICEF Landmines & Small Arms Team
Humanitarian Policy & Advocacy Unit
Office of Emergency Programs (EMOPS)
3 UN Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212-326-7498
Fax: 212-326-7037
E-mail: gbuono@unicef.org
Website: http://www.unicef.org
Nicole Kreger
MAIC
Tel: 540-568-2810
Fax: 540-568-8176
E-mail: kregernx@jmu.edu |
