An evaluation of Dutch-funded humanitarian mine action programmes delivered by MAG over a five-year period found they had a significant impact on humanitarian, development and peacebuilding outcomes, including increased food production for communities reliant on agriculture.
The programming, delivered across nine countries, resulted in fewer landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) related deaths and injuries; enhanced resilience and improved conditions for socio-economic development; and strengthened stability, peace and social cohesion.
The portfolio comprised projects in three core countries (Iraq, Lebanon and South Sudan) that were funded for the full period of the grant and five countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Somalia and Zimbabwe) that received short-term contingency funding, as well as Ukraine, which was financed through a dedicated funding stream.
The core activities conducted during the period included explosive ordnance risk education (EORE), survey and clearance of contaminated land and support for capacity development within national mine action authorities and national mine action centres as well as national non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In addition, MAG received contingency funding to strengthen its approach to conflict sensitivity.
Funding for the programming came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands, one of the world’s leading supporters of humanitarian mine action, under its Mine Action and Cluster Munition Programme II (MACM II).
In one case study, based on a village in northern Iraq, the evaluation noted that following clearance, natural resources including land, water, firewood and wild plants were made accessible to local communities reliant on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods, with people reporting an increase in food production following clearance operations.
People said that the amount of land used for agricultural production had increased and that the number of livestock had increased from 100 to 2,000. The evaluation also found that improved livelihood opportunities in farming were boosting population growth by attracting families to the village from elsewhere in Iraq.
Land clearance had also enabled reconstruction because it was safe to build, and the construction sector had provided new employment opportunities. Infrastructure including roads, electricity and communications towers had been reinstated, local markets had reopened, and essential community assets such as schools and health centres had been repaired or rebuilt.
Clearance had also improved safety and security and enabled displaced households to return home, reducing tensions between host and displaced populations that had been forced to flee during conflict.
The resumption of daily activities was found to have supported stabilisation processes, with improved access to services and community facilities contributing to social cohesion. Children were able to socialise when they attended school and prayers at the mosque and villages were less isolated because they were re-connected by transport and communications networks.
In Magwi County in South Sudan, meanwhile, the clearance of land has enabled the local population to re-establish their traditional practices of farming a small plot of land for their household and farming larger areas of land in groups, bringing people together. Income generated from communal farming has been used to support local amenities such as a health clinic and school.
The evaluation found that a key component of the wider programmes’ success was MAG’s working practices, in particular its close engagement with the government, local authorities and local populations, its inclusive and transparent approaches, the appointment of staff with appropriate skills and experience and the power to take decisions at the country level to ensure that interventions were tailored to a specific context. It was also noted the flexible approach of the donor enabled the programme teams to respond to new and emerging needs.
Sebastian Kasack, the head of MAG’s Programmes Performance and Learning Unit, said: “The evaluation presents compelling evidence of the positive impact of our work in communities recovering from conflict or afflicted by insecurity – helping to normalise and stabilise communities, creating the conditions for economic development, and changing and saving the lives of ordinary people whose lives have been shattered by war and armed violence.
“Evaluations such as this take both a detailed view of the impact of our work in particular communities as well as aggregating the learning from a wide range of very different contexts – this makes them essential tools for us as we seek to continuously improve the quality and the impact of our work.
“We will use this report to apply lessons across our programming globally and would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people living in communities that assisted with our evidence-gathering and, of course, the Dutch government for its commitment to humanitarian mine action.”
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