United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
Introduction
Long after combat ends, landmines and unexploded ordnance continue to maim
and kill, preventing people from safely returning to their homes, tilling their
fields, collecting water, as well as preventing governments from reconstructing
power lines and industrial infrastructure, blocking efforts to proceed with
normal socio-economic development. Mine action is an integrated approach to
addressing the mine problem and consists of a range of activities that create a
safer environment for people to resume a normal and productive life.
Over the past year, UNOPS has been active in 14 of the world's most heavily
mined countries, on behalf of its major clients: the United Nations Mine Action
Service (UNMAS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United
Nations Development Group/Iraq Trust Fund (UNDG/ITF). UNOPS provided the project
management and technical services necessary to deal with immediate needs and
helped develop national capacity to resolve the problem over the long term,
combining the flexibility and innovation of the private sector with the
principles and objectives of the United Nations.
While UNMAS is the general UN focal point for mine action, UNOPS is the
principal provider for mine action project services within the United Nations
system. The UNOPS Mine Action Unit (MAU), established in early 1998, is
responsible for UNOPS involvement in mine action, including execution,
cooperation or partnership arrangements in nearly all of the UN mine action
projects. The MAU provides specialized project management, technical and legal
expertise, as well as support for fielding personnel and procurement of services
and supplies. This combination of skills enables UNOPS to efficiently provide
mine action project management services tailored to its clients’ and host
countries’ needs:
Behind the scenes: UNOPS brings together the elements required to set
up a mine action programme, including international expertise, specialized
equipment, complex agreements with donor governments for the provision of
"in-kind" personnel, as well as necessary management and administrative support.
In the country: UNOPS’ specialized project personnel advise
officials of the national mine action authority or directly coordinate the work
of all actors, launch nationwide mine surveys and work with the responsible
authorities to set priorities to meet local needs, according to the scope of the
project.
In the minefields: UNOPS contracts the world's leading demining
companies and NGOs through competitive bidding, and ensures that they follow the
International Mine Action Standards (IMAS). Certification is provided to let
civilians know it's safe to move back home as areas are cleared.
In the community: UNOPS supports medical services, prosthetic and
rehabilitation centres, mine risk education campaigns, and training programmes
that lessen the risk of living in mine- affected areas and teach new skills to
those who have lost limbs and livelihoods.
UNOPS can:
orchestrate the many resources required to start up and carry out effective
mine action;
identify and recruit international and national expertise in mine action,
management, administration, finance, logistics, information systems, etc.;
train nationals and develop local institutions to ensure
sustainability;
rapidly procure and deploy state-of-the-art demining and other equipment to
the field;
conduct tenders and draft contracts and agreements to suit each country
situation;
prepare grant agreements for support to victim assistance and mine
awareness;
provide technical backstopping from Headquarters on all aspects of mine
action; and
ensure exchange of experience and best practices among
programmes.
Through the provision of tailored mine action services, UNOPS has assisted
UNMAS, UNDP, UNDG/ITF and national governments in the:
establishment of national mine action centres and development of national
mine action plans and policies covering standards and quality assurance for
survey, clearance, accreditation, mine risk education, and victim
assistance;
establishment of mine action information systems for priority setting,
tasking and reporting;
launching of mine survey and clearance operations through the use of manual,
mine detection dogs and mechanical systems in mine-affected areas; and
strengthening of medical treatment, rehabilitation and vocational services
for mine victims.
UNOPS Clients / Programmes
UNOPS has managed mine action projects for various UN agencies since the
early 1990s. The Mine Action Unit delivered a range of management and
procurement services that have grown from about $25 million in 1999 to roughly
$75 million in 2004.
UNOPS’ major clients are currently UNMAS, UNDP and UNDG/ITF.
UNOPS’ involvement varies, depending on the country and the project, from
assuming full operational responsibility for an entire programme (e.g., Kosovo
and Northern Iraq) to responsibility for all UN support to a national programme;
while in some cases UNOPS may be hired to manage only a single component, such
as procuring specialized equipment or identifying and hiring international
technical expertise in mine action. The programmes, referred below, are
described in more detail in the country update sections of this Report.
UNMAS is the focal point for mine action within the UN system, and is
responsible for coordinating all mine-related work funded by eleven UN
departments and agencies, and for launching emergency mine action activities
such as in Iraq, or when natural disasters severely impact on a country’s
mine problem as in the floods in Central America and Mozambique. Over the past
few years, UNOPS has worked with UNMAS by providing the management services to
implement programmes in Afghanistan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea-Ethiopia Temporary Security Zone,
South Lebanon, Kosovo, Macedonia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Sudan, and Yemen and on
global projects such as the Land Mine Safety Handbook, the development of User
Requirements for Mine Action Information Management Systems and the extension of
Quality Assurance Monitoring activities to Landmine Impact Surveys in Armenia,
Cambodia, Thailand, Mozambique, Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Lebanon
and Azerbaijan. Key activities over the past year included: significant
expansion of the programmes in Afghanistan and Sudan, revision of the UN Mine
Action Rapid Response Plan, deployment of Explosive Ordnance Disposal training
and clearance capacity in southern Iraq, and startup of a new clearance project
in the Buffer Zone in Cyprus for UNDP/EU.
UNDP is generally responsible for mine action projects in stable development
contexts, which typically focus on strengthening national institutional capacity
to enable mine-affected countries to manage mine action programmes on their own.
Over the past years, UNOPS provided project management services to support
implementation of UNDP programmes in Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia &
Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau,
Mozambique, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Yemen, as well as implementing the UNA-USA
“Adopt-a Minefield” programme and several landmine impact surveys.
In the Sudan the work of UNOPS includes the establishment of a National Mine
Action Office in Khartoum, together with Regional Mine Action Offices in Rumbek
and Kadugli. UNOPS is managing contracts for survey, clearance, battle area
clearance and route verification in the Sudan. The work of the NMAO includes
coordination of mine action activities under three projects; Mine Action in
Support of UNMIS (UNMAS), Mine Action Assistance in Sudan (UNMAS) and Capacity
Building to support Mine Action transition from Emergency to Recovery
(UNDP).
Other UNOPS Activities
UNOPS is actively involved in the United Nations and the international mine
action community efforts to develop the information, tools, and systems to
increase the effectiveness of humanitarian mine action, and is an active member
of the Interagency Coordination Group on Mine Action. UNOPS participates in the
development and application of the International Mine Action Standards, in the
discussion of the specification and use of appropriate indicators for priority
setting to increase the impact and efficiency of mine action activities, and in
the further development of the IMSMA database to enable its use for the full
range of operational and information management needs of mine action programmes.
UNOPS seeks to ensure that international and national staff involved in the
daily management and support to programmes takes part in all such discussions.
UNOPS actively encourages exchange of information among programmes, with
attention to lessons learned and best practices, and has developed
administrative support systems and startup kits including model documents and
guidelines that enable new programmes to benefit from the experience
accumulating in the field.
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