MAIC Training Programs

Current Programs

Senior Managers Training Course

The MAIC is pleased to host the fifth Senior Mine Action Managers Course for the United Nations Development Programme. The course is held on the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA and is scheduled for October - November 2007. Participants of the past four courses have come to JMU from Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. The high-level participants include government ministry and NGO officials, as well as national mine action center leaders, who are participating in the course to hone their management skills.

Visit the course's website at http://maic.jmu.edu/about/training/smc/smc.htm for more information on the course.

Past Programs

Geographic Information Systems

The MAIC represented the DoS in actions related to the "Southeast Europe 1:100,000 Project," which is a mapping project designed to update and procure adequate maps for planning and conducting mine action projects in southern and eastern Europe. Dr. Helmut Kraenzle, the MAIC's Geographic Information Sciences Team Leader, acted as technical advisor to the participants in the project and provided the DoS PM/WRA with periodic reports outlining progress to date and proposed actions for procuring required map sets. Goals of this project were to assess the proper requirements, documents, or solutions to the mapping challenge, to examine the GIS and spatial imagery needs of southeastern Europe, and to develop and implement aspects of the mapping project if necessary. This included active participation at the meetings of the Technical Advisory Group and Expert Group on the project of Geographic Information Systems for Mine Action in Southeast Europe and the Evaluation Commission of the International Trust Fund.

Vietnam Mine Risk Education

The James Madison University Mine Awareness Program (MAP) of Quang Tri Province was sponsored for two years, 1998 through 2000, by a grant from the Non-Proliferation, Anti-Terrorism, and Demining-Related (NADR) fund administered by the United States Department of State.

The Mine Awareness Program goals were to establish in Quang Tri a sustainable educational program that would change the behaviors, perceptions and attitudes of families living there. The overall purpose of this educational program was to foster a psychological environment where the eyes, limbs, and lives of those living in Quang Tri could be spared from the grim consequences of avoidable landmine/UXO accidents.