Senior Mine Action Managers Training Course
Welcome friends and colleagues!
This website provides information on the course goals and objectives, curriculum, and James Madison University. While most of the information contained in these pages is intended for prospective students, others who may find it useful include country planners and national program staff, researchers, and educators.
A 1997 United Nations study into the development of indigenous mine action capability identified a need for the improvement of management skills among national managers of mine action programmes. In 1999, the UNDP commissioned a study of "Management Training Needs" for mine action programme managers. The report found that the implementation of management training has the potential to significantly improve the productivity and effectiveness of mine action programmes throughout the world.
In response to these studies, the UNDP developed training courses for senior and middle managers of mine action programmes. Over the period of 2000-2006, 10 Senior Manager and 40 Middle Manager Training Courses were conducted for national staff of mine action programmes, with over 800 graduates.
The UNDP awarded the Mine Action Information Center at James Madison University the contract to teach the Senior Managers Course beginning in 2004. To date, the MAIC has hosted four courses and trained more than 84 managers from over 31 countries. The MAIC is now planning for its fifth course, scheduled for October 15-November 16, 2007.
The MAIC provides course participants a friendly yet challenging classroom setting in which they learn the keys to managing a successful mine action program. James Madison University is a highly rated public educational institution with a distinguished faculty organized into seven colleges, offering a broad array of degree programs to its more than 17,000 students. The Senior Managers Course draws on the expertise of faculty from several of these colleges, particularly the College of Business and the College of Integrated Science and Technology.
Course participants have access to a full range of university facilities and activities, including the library and computer labs; student recreation center with indoor pool, gymnasium and athletic training equipment; and fine arts performances. Past participants have enjoyed various opportunities to interact with JMU students and staff. These opportunities have enabled participants to learn about U.S. culture and society through excursions to historical sights, social events with local civic organizations and churches, and informal forays into the community to enjoy shopping and local entertainment venues.
JMU is located in the "Friendly City" of Harrisonburg, a bustling commercial crossroads in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The university is approximately 200 km SW, or 2 hours driving time, from Washington, DC. Harrisonburg's 45,000 residents include a growing immigrant population that has made the city one of the most ethnically diverse in Virginia. However, the city and the surrounding agricultural areas remain rooted in a long history tied to the Valley's physical location between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah National Park to the east and the Allegheny Mountains to the west.
The UNDP Mine Action Senior Managers Course, as taught at JMU, is organized using a modular approach and drawing on the expertise of a number of university professors and subject matter experts. The course seeks to integrate the latest thinking in the field of business management with the practical experience of mine action operators. The goal is to hone the skills of senior managers of national mine action programs so that countries can more effectively and efficiently clear their lands of landmines and other explosive remnants of war that adversely affect their citizens' well being and impinge upon economic development.
The curriculum of the five-week course has three main objectives:
- To develop the personal skills needed by effective managers, such as oral and written communication, time management and media relations.
- To provide training in business management practices and their applications to the field of mine action, encompassing such topics as strategic planning, project management, leadership skills and human resource management.
- To enhance managers' knowledge of humanitarian mine action challenges, techniques and requirements, including the application of mine action standards and international law, the latest developments in GIS and information management software, and risk management and insurance needs, among others.
The course culminates with a week-long strategic planning exercise that challenges the participants to apply what they have learned in the previous four weeks. The participants benefit during the exercise from collaborating with their classmates as they work in small groups.
One hallmark of the course is the learning that takes place not just from the interaction between the instructors and the participants but from the interactions among the participants, who all have considerable field experience themselves and have much to share and learn from each other. All participants are asked to make a presentation to the group that explains their country's mine action situation and program. The course is organized to promote interaction and foster beneficial personal relationships among the participants and between them and the course instructors and staff.
