Improved human security and livelihood opportunities through the clearance of improvised mines and delivery of explosive ordnance risk education in Farah, Kandahar and Helmand provinces. Since August 2021, HALO has received multiple urgent requests from community members and the new de-facto authorities in Farah, Helmand and Kandahar to address the extensive improvised mine (IM) contamination in the region. In response to these requests, and in alignment with the priorities of the Mine-Action sub-cluster, HALO proposes to implement a project focused on life-saving IM clearance and Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) to address the emergency needs of communities living and migrating near areas of heavy IM contamination. 

HALO’s activities will seek to improve human security and livelihood opportunities through the removal of improvised mines and the delivery of risk education in Farah, Kandahar and Helmand provinces through the following activities:

Clearance of IM-contaminated land: Improved local security conditions across the country is increasing access to many new and once hard-to-reach and heavily mine affected communities. HALO will deploy five manual improvised demining teams (DT) and one mechanical demining unit (MDU) to Bala Buluk district of Farah province, and Arghandab district of Kandahar province for six months.Under this project, HALO’s activities will support the UN-HMACCA and the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) to advance towards achievement of Afghanistan's international obligations under the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty.   A week of mobilisation and refresher training will be conducted prior to the deployment of teams to the task sites.

Provision of EORE sessions to educate affected communities on the dangers of explosive items including improvised mines, and COVID-19: HALO will deploy three EORE teams (two of which will be mixed-gender) in Helmand and Farah provinces for six months. Deployment of one all-male EORE team will ensure HALO is able to deliver EORE in more conservative areas where it may be challenging to employ mixed-gender teams.  A week of mobilisation and refresher training will be conducted prior to the deployment of teams to the affected communities. Despite the dangers posed by improvised devices and other explosive ordnance (EO), many continue to use known hazardous land and access routes out of economic necessity, risking injury and death to themselves. HALO will promote safe behaviour by informing the beneficiaries on the appearance and dangers of mines, including improvised mines, and other EO, common signs of contamination, and how to respond to and report contamination. In addition to delivering EORE messaging, the EORE personnel have been trained to deliver COVID-19 messaging which contributes to the national efforts to reduce the spread of the virus and help those affected. Sessions will be divided between approximately 75 percent EORE messaging and 25 percent COVID-19 messaging. 

HALO’s proposed project seeks to achieve the following outputs:

1.	13 hazardous areas released and removed from the national database (IMSMA)
2.	At least 250,550 square meters of hazardous ground cleared of IMs
3.	4,117 (842 men, 820 women, 1,267 boys, 1,188 girls) individuals directly benefit from clearance, and 7,729 (1,722 men, 1,715 women, 2,140 boys and 2,152 girls) indirectly 
4.	24,840 individuals receive EORE (4,620 men, 3,220 women, 9,500 boys, 7,500 girls)

All beneficiary counting is in line with beneficiary definitions agreed between UN-HMACCA/DMAC and HALO.