The United Kingdom and Switzerland are allocating half a million dollars for a pilot project on humanitarian demining. The relevant memorandum of understanding and cooperation was signed by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the East Europe Foundation (EEF), as an implementing partner of the Swiss-Ukrainian E-Governance for Accountability and Participation Program (EGAP), and the Centre for Humanitarian Demining.
Agreements to support the pilot project on prioritisation in humanitarian demining were reached at the Ukraine Mine Action Conference (UMAC-2024), which took place on 17-18 October 2024 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“Modern technologies and analytical solutions will help to effectively identify priority areas for humanitarian demining. This is critical for the safety of people and the rapid resumption of economic activity in the region. We hope that this innovative project will become an example of successful international cooperation in mine action,” said Volodymyr Baida, Director of the Centre for Humanitarian Demining.
The allocated funds will be used to implement a pilot in Kharkiv region to prioritise areas for humanitarian demining. The project started on 6 January this year and will last for three months until the end of March. The Centre for Humanitarian Demining is managing the project, coordinating the parties involved and ensuring the sustainable development of the initiative.
The project aims to improve humanitarian demining processes by automating data analysis and optimising resources. In particular, the prioritisation methodology will be based on a clear algorithm based on a wide range of data that will take into account economic, social, environmental and security factors for a particular area.
Based on the results of the pilot project, the prioritisation approach can be applied in all regions of Ukraine affected by mines and other explosive hazards.