Saving lives, improving humanitarian access and building community resilience through Humanitarian Mine Action In South Sudan insecurity and lack of protection are caused by complex and interlinked factors, including on-going fighting between the government and opposition forces, abuses by armed actors and criminality fuelled by a prevalence of small arms. This in combination with acute economic shocks and a staggering rate of food insecurity continues to force hundreds of thousands from their homes and into unknown territory. The many years of civil war have resulted in extensive contamination by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). According to the most recent IMSMA data, the states having by far the highest numbers of ERW are Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria and Jonglei. These states also see a high number of people moving through them in search of food and a safe haven. The contamination further impacts negatively on the ability of humanitarian actors to deliver much needed assistance.

DCA will deploy a roving/mobile Multi Task Team (MTT) and a Risk Education (RE)/Community Liaison (CL) team. The MTT will be responsible for non-technical surveys, emergency clearance of temporary relocation sites and return areas, clearance of other hazardous areas, including minefield and battle areas, and handing over cleared land to the beneficiaries. The RE/CL team will provide support to the MTT by gathering information from the beneficiaries to ensure community involvement in identifying and prioritising tasks for clearance and to ensure that communities are kept informed of the work being carried out. Experience shows that provision of RE in at-risk communities present an avenue for dialogue in addition to furthering community members coming forward with information about threats in an area. Further, Community Focal Points will be trained to disseminate and maintain community knowledge of safe behaviour and through them the project will be able to obtain additional information on ERW contamination. The RE/CL team will also provide ERW Safety Briefings to humanitarian personnel in field locations to ensure their safe operations in contaminated areas. RE activities will focus on both ERW and SALW risk awareness – for the latter purpose, DCA will build synergy with another DCA Mine Action project funded by the Dutch MFA.

The MTT consists of one international Technical Advisor, 1 national Team Leader, 12 Searchers, 2 Medics and 2 Ambulance Drivers. To support the MTT as well as to conduct independent Risk Education activities is a Risk Education (RE)/Community Liaison (CL) team consisting of 1 Team Leader, 3 Assistants and 1 Driver in addition to locally hired cooks and guards. The team will be supported by DCA technical and operational staff in Juba.

The roving MTT is trained in EOD spot tasks, Battle Area Clearance (BAC), Manual Mine Clearance (MMC) and Non-Technical Survey (NTS), thus providing for flexibility both geographically and in terms of registration and completion of tasks. The RE/CL team provides a best practice approach to ensuring that vulnerable communities, including IDPs and returnees, are involved at all steps of the project such as planning, implementation and monitoring. The DCA teams will provide generate Hazardous Area Reports carry out Battle Area Clearance (BAC), Manual Mine Clearance EOD Spot Task Clearance, Non-Technical Surveys (NTS) and Risk Education.

The MTT will prioritise the emergency clearance of ERW from areas, which have seen recent fighting, and areas, which have high concentrations of returnees and IDPs. Further, the team will prioritise and support clearance of areas where humanitarian organisations require access and are planning to work.

Operations will be coordinated with UNMAS/NMAA and are foreseen to be implemented predominantly in Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria and Jonglei States, moving according to identified needs, and as tasked, provided that road and security conditions allow safe deployments.