10.3 Team Leaders' Report

During a two-day debriefing session on April 8th and 9th, 2002, at the CMAC Training Centre in Kampong Chhnang province the surveyors were asked the following question. "If you had to redo the Cambodia National Level One Survey again, in your opinion, what activities need to be done differently or what issues need to be addressed in order to have a better survey". The surveyors were grouped into their respective teams and asked to compile their responses.

Their responses can be grouped into two categories:

1. Activities that were carried out in an exemplary manner and issues that were addressed proactively and



2. Activities that could and should be executed in a different fashion and issues that need to be considered in a more proactive manner.

Activities and issues in first category include:

Operations planning, deployment and logistics support.

The surveyors unanimously appreciated being paid on time regardless of where in Cambodia they happened to be on paydays. The efforts by the logistics coordinator to find secure, comfortable and sanitary field offices/accommodations, and to re-supply the teams with equipment, spare parts and operating capital in a timely manner were also greatly appreciated. The detailed deployment plans, which clearly defined the objectives and timetables for everybody in the field unit received praise from all of the Khmer field staff. The Khmer field staff were also very comfortable and enjoyed conducting field operations within the unambiguous SOP framework.

An Indifferent District Governor (Translated by Mom Chan Komoth) In one district we encountered a governor who is a former army officer. Usually we establish what we think is a good relationship between the surveyors and the district governor's support staff, but the leadership to establish such a relationship has to be provided by the Governor. Usually the Governor is very interested in relating to us on the subject of minefields and instructs his officials to help us as much as possible. In this case the Governor was never available to meet with us and showed in many ways that he is a very impolite person. Given this leadership we were not surprised to find that the entire administrative system was weak. This was especially the case in three communes in the district in which the officials were very lazy, disorganised and had virtually no useful information to provide us. The people administering these three communes did nothing useful for commune management. They did not even have statistical information on the numbers of people in those communes. It seemed to us that the only thing this Governor cared about is the income he receives from the many local fishing boats. Fortunately some of his junior officers realised the importance of providing us with the necessary information and so we were able to complete the survey. (By: Thy Bunthon, Team Leader T3)

Communication protocols with provincial, district and commune administrations.

The efforts to establish and maintain excellent relations with provincial, district, commune and village administrations were well rewarded. Problems with commune administrations were encountered in only one of the one thousand six hundred communes in Cambodia.

Otdor Mean Chey Province Pon Tuek Village, Ampil Commune, Banteay Ampil District: In this area which is on the border with Thailand there are still security concerns. The main concern is with an organisation known as the CFF (Cambodian Free Fighting). When we first came to this village the Village Chief was alarmed because he did not recognise our uniforms and he reported to the local RCAF (Royal Cambodia Armed Forces) commander that he thought he had just seen CFF fighters in his village. The area military commander then sent his soldiers to arrest us and of course he told all the Village Chiefs in the area not to cooperate with us, if we came to their villages. Fortunately for us it did not taker a long time for the area military commander to learn are reason for being there and then he and his soldiers helped us. (By: Siv Sothea, DT1)

Inter and intra team communication procedures.

All of the detachments greatly appreciated having communication equipment that allowed them to communicate with other detachments or their team leaders when necessary. They were also quite comfortable in working within the constraints of a clearly defined and understood daily communication schedule. During the twenty months of field operations a breakdown in communications between headquarters, the mobile office, and the teams occurred on only three occasions.

The Need For Communications Preah Vihear is the province that I can't forget in my life. This is in Chamsan district where I went to work in Anteal village, Yang commune. The path to get there is very sandy and we had to ride through dense forest and cross several rivers. On the way back I had the village leader with me as a guide but we lost our way anyway. At this time of year if is dark by about 6.00pm and we had no idea where we were as the darkness came. We had hoped to reach the village of Kantouch before it got dark. I had planned to sleep in this village before competing the survey there the next day. So here we were in the middle of way, after nightfall, with darkness covering the dense forest, blessing us with blind eyes. We could see nothing and had no food! By moving very slowly and carefully we eventually reached the inhabited village of Kantouch but not until roughly 9pm. I asked around and did find a place to sleep one night in that village. (By: Phun Sareoun, Team Leader T1)

Maintenance of team morale, motivation, efficiency and co-operation among the different teams.

Very high morale and a very high degree of motivation, efficiency and co-operation among field staff was present and maintained throughout the project life.  This is in large part due to the positive attitudes of the field staff. In the early stages of field operations the field staff rose to the challenge of attempting to do something that had never been done before. In all of the provinces and districts there were natural, technical, logistical, political and administrative obstacles that had to be overcome. Overcoming the challenges required a high degree of co-operation among the field staff. It also fostered a sense of pride, accomplishment and camaraderie among the surveyors. In the latter stages of field operations the realization that not only were they going to complete what had never been done before, but also that the Cambodia National Level One Survey was considered to be the best survey of this type by the Mine Action community greatly contributed to the high morale among the surveyors and the very high quality of the survey data. The project management team contributed to the excellent organizational spirit by consistently behaving with integrity and treating all project staff with fairness, respect, dignity and publicly acknowledging the accomplishments of the field staff.

Initial surveyor training and refresher training programs.

The initial four week training course and the frequent refresher training courses during the course of the project provided all of the field staff with new skill sets that contributed greatly to their adaptability, their ability to overcome difficulties and to the high quality of the Level One Survey.

Well written and clear SOP's that cover all aspects of survey activities.

All of the Khmer staff were very comfortable in working within the framework and constraints of very detailed and clear SOP's which regulated all aspects of survey activities.

Occupational health and safety guidelines, policies and performance record.

Considerable time, energy and training were devoted to occupational health and safety issues during the initial four week training course, all refresher training courses, and during field visits by the project management team. The realization that health and safety issues were of great concern to the project management team and the provision of health insurance coverage contributed significantly to a very low absentee rate due to accidents and illnesses and the high productivity during the life of the project. Out of 84 field staff that traveled approximately one million kilometers, most over very poor roads, one surveyor suffered a broken femur and one suffered a minor concussion in two separate motorcycle accidents.

Activities and issues in the second category include:

The purchase of second hand motorcycles at the outset, and high degree of maintenance required to keep the fleet operational.

The surveyors were unanimous in their condemnation of the decision to purchase second hand motorcycles as a cost saving measure at the beginning of the project. The effort, cost and the degree of maintenance that was required to keep the motorcycle fleet operational until the end of the project, definitely support the surveyors contentions.  Initially, motorcycles were transported to repair shops for maintenance and repairs. This proved to be very time consuming, very expensive and impractical in many provinces; and a field based motorcycle mechanic was hired by the project. For the latter stages of field operations a second field motorcycle mechanic had to be hired to keep the fleet operational.

Inter and intra team communication equipment and systems.

A reasonable attempt was made to have a single mobile communication system that could be used anywhere in Cambodia. The reality is that none of the systems (mobile phone, VHF and HF) currently deployed in Cambodia offer 100% coverage. In some of the remote parts of the country mobile communication systems do not work...there is no service. Although it was not always easy or convenient to do so, in remote areas communication between headquarters, the mobile office, and the teams was maintained by using fixed police, military or NGO radio installations.

Poor quality compasses.

At the beginning of the project a mix of brand name and generic compasses were purchased for use by the surveyors in the field. This was in part due to the implementation of cost saving measures and the unavailability of brand name compasses. Over the course of the project the brand name compasses performed well and were still usable at the end of the project.  Most of the generic compasses had to be replaced midway through field operations.

The use of 40 year old topographic maps as navigation aids and as a mapping base.

The decision to use 1960's vintage topographic maps as the topographic base was based on the fact that this was the only available set of topographic maps with nationwide coverage.  Modern topographic maps, which covered the central third of the country, became available mid way through field operations. Subject to availability, the more modern topographic maps were used as navigation and mapping aids in certain areas.

The absence of cross cultural training prior to approaching minority cultural groups.

In remote areas in the northeast part of Cambodia many of the people do not speak Khmer but a local dialect. The detachments that surveyed villages in these areas encountered difficulties in communicating with the villagers. These difficulties were overcome in a satisfactory manner by using local guides who could speak Khmer and the local dialects as interpreters.

Mine and Min (Translated by Keo Vuthy) We made our plans to survey one village in Kampong Siem district of Kampong Cham province. Before I tell you this story I have to educate you about Khmer a little bit. When we say the word for landmine in the khmer language it sounds like "Min". "Min" is also the same word for a woman's name. We met a man and interviewed him and he made the following report to us: we asked him, as we usually do if there were landmines in the territory of his village. And then, he told us yes, there was one mine in his village. But he did not think it was very dangerous because he stepped on this mine every night before he went to sleep and still to this very day it had not blown up. This was very curious to us and we wondered why he would take such a stupid risk every night before he went to sleep. We asked him further if he knew why it had not blown up, if it was damaged, or if he had some magic power over this landmine. He started laughing and then told us that his wife is named "Min" and she had never yet blown up at all at night, nor at any other time. (By: Sat Dara, DT30)

Difficulty with Language In Bantey Mean Chey and Udor Mean Chey provinces we encountered problems with language because both these provinces are close to the Thai border. So, many villagers are using the Thai language and some speak a version with a very heavy accent that we in Cambodia refer to as Khmer Surin, although it is really Thai as spoken by people who live just across the border with Otdar Meanchey, in the Thai province called Surin. We sometimes needed interpreters to understand what the village people were telling us. This was also a problem for us in other provinces next to Thailand including Koh Kong and Pailin. (By: Noun Samnang, DT3)

Questionnaire development and testing.

Many of the surveyors complained that the questionnaire changed several times during the course of field operations.  This is due to several factors.  At the outset victim data was not collected because it was intended to obtain this data from the Cambodia Mine Victim Information System database. After discovering that this database was incompatible with the Level One Survey database it was decided to collect victim data during the village survey activities and the questionnaire was modified accordingly. Similarly, at the outset of the Level One Survey the extent and significance of cluster bomb contamination was not fully realized.  When the nature and scale of the contamination became evident the questionnaire was modified to collect more information on this type of contamination.

In December 2001 a revisit to 1000 previously surveyed villages at the beginning of field operations was undertaken in order to rectify the early omissions and produce a uniform database.  Following the end of operations Team Leaders and Surveyors reviewed their experiences and made recommendations for further revisions to the questionnaire. See suggested revisions to questionnaire.

A visual catalogue of UXO types to assist villagers and surveyors determine of the nature of UXO contamination.

The most frequent problem encountered by surveyors when asking villagers about cluster bombs and other UXO in their village was the absence of local knowledge about the appearance of the different ordnance types. A visual catalogue of the different ordnance types would greatly improve the accuracy and quality of the information collected by the surveyors.