Surveys - Background

After a decade of international humanitarian mine action, a more standardized and systematic approach to the execution of landmine surveys is of tremendous importance to both potential donors and mine-affected communities.

Objectives

Data collected during the Landmine Impact Survey (LIS):

• Defines the problem in terms of scale, type, location, hazard, and social/economic impacts experienced by affected communities.

• Improves in national planning efforts that support clear prioritization of resources.

• Fosters development of national plans with well-defined immediate, intermediate, and end objectives.

Establishes baseline data for measuring the performance of mine action programs.Lessons LearnedLessons have been learned since the start of this initiative and three lessons that stand out are:

Lesson I - The most effective mine action programs result from close collaboration among:

• National authorities Donors Implementing agencies

Lesson II - Mine action programs should have three integrated components:

• Mine awareness and risk reduction education

• Minefield survey, marking, and clearanceVictim assistance

Lesson III - The life span of a mine action program has three general growth phases:

• Planning/Initiation:
  
  Define the problem and create a plan Immediate post-conflict; crisis atmosphere; high up-front expenditures on training and equipment.

• Consolidation:
  
  Control the terror: Relatively high international presence; large-scale operations with high costs.

• Clean-Up:
  
  Long-term clean-up of low-priority fields International presence reduced or eliminated; phase back on resource requirements; sharply reduced expenditures; “fire-brigade” cleanup

The three lessons above concern process, program design and strategy respectively. All three lessons call for better and more standardized information than is currently available.

Survey Database

The Landmine Impact Survey will provide the three major partners of mine action – national authorities, donors and implementing agencies – with a common database.The database is constructed to give national authorities the ability to manipulate the data n a transparent way that is responsive to national priorities.

Donors will have data that conforms to an international standard that will put individual countries in a global perspective. And implementing partners will have detailed information for tasking resources and measuring progress across all areas of mine action.

The LIS data provide all three major sectors of mine action – risk reduction education; minefield survey, marking and clearing; and victim assistance - with vital, nationwide data that will facilitate sector planning and integration. Perhaps most important, the survey data will provide a clear picture of the social and economic impact of minefields on communities. With this data national priorities can be established and resources targeted that appropriate to the three phases of mine action.

More Information

If you would like more information about the background and history of the Landmine Impact Survey Initiative feel free to contact us.