MAG began in 1989, following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, where the problems of landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) were most evident.
In those early days our role was as an 'advisory' group seeking to influence the international community to respond to the needs of countries affected by the remnants of conflict. Between 1989 and 1991 MAG conducted several surveys and assessments beginning with Afghanistan and later in Cambodia. The subsequent reports had a profound international impact: further missions were conducted and MAG published or contributed to much-needed reports on northern Iraq, Somaliland, Angola and elsewhere.
As a leading exponent in bringing about a ban on the production, use and export of landmines, MAG and other key non-governmental organisations (NGOs) founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) in 1992. MAG conducted research and provided the technical field expertise required when speaking about the issues on an international platform. In addition, MAG was a founding member of the UK Working Group on Landmines. As the campaign gathered momentum, MAG had already begun providing assistance in several countries affected by landmines and UXO.
Following its mission to northern Iraq in 1991, MAG was successful in raising funds for its first clearance programme there which began in mid 1992. In the same year we set up our programme in Cambodia and by 1994 had started programmes in Lao PDR and Angola. Ever-innovative in our approach, we introduced the concept of Mine Awareness, which has now developed into Mine Risk Education (MRE) ensuring that those living with the threat of being maimed or killed, both during and following conflict, could learn and understand how to minimise that risk. Not only did MAG use MRE in its programmes but it also provided this support in countries such as Rwanda and in refugee camps in Zambia and the former Zaire.
Internal Governance
By the end of 1996, MAG's board of trustees invited Lou McGrath, who had administered the charity in its early days and played a key role in its technical research, to become its executive director. What followed was a period of reconstruction where internal governance, management, policies and procedures were introduced, reviewed and adjusted. At the same time MAG's programmes continued to develop. As an incorporated charity, governed by both English Charity and Company Law, the organisation moved its international headquarters to the city of Manchester. Its business-like approach met with wide approval from donors, partners and the Charity Commission of England and Wales.
Humanitarian Mine Action
In 1997 MAG played a leading role in bringing together mine action NGOs to define the objectives and role of humanitarian mine action (HMA). This specified the need for a comprehensive and structured approach to clearance including surveying and education in the process. MAG has been a forceful advocate in calling for HMA to be a key part of peace-building and development in all countries where mines and ordnance restrict populations. In the mid 1990s, MAG introduced to its HMA operations the concept and practice of Community Liaison. Teams co-ordinate with local authorities, those dealing in health, food security, relief and development and the communities themselves, to ensure that clearance work is focused in the most urgent areas. In essence MAG undertakes a people-focused solution to clearance.
Our strategy is simple: we recognise and implement the most effective methods to assist populations of countries and communities affected by conflict, in particular through the clearance of landmines, weapons and explosive remnants from past and existing conflicts that restrict or affect their development, health, economic opportunity, safety and security. This enables MAG's management and staff to develop innovative plans in order to achieve this.
Mainstreaming
MAG integrates its operations into a wider security context, to achieve results that support post-conflict recovery, reduce the availability of weapons and minimise the leakage of weapons into unauthorised hands and across borders.
When humanitarian mine action, in its broadest form, is integrated into a country’s development programme, the humanitarian, social and economic impact of clearance can be maximised. Innovation is not only feasible in technical deliverables and achievements but also in developing, adapting and applying new ideas and approaches to field operations.
This ensures the reduction of threats to fragile peace in the countries concerned and beyond their sometimes porous borders: for example the global availability of small arms and light weapons (SALW) is increasingly recognised by all stakeholders as a real hindrance to peace and security and to relief and development activities.
The approach to remove and destroy small arms and light weapons has run parallel to the mine action sector. Since 2005, MAG has continuously been looking for more effective ways of dealing with the overall risks and there are several areas where common approaches to mines and SALW are valuable.
The synergy is especially apparent in the operational area of clearing the threat (i.e. storage and destruction) and educating communities on the nature of the threat through risk education and community liaison programmes. The clearance of both threats and subsequent impact on poverty alleviation is remarkably similar despite the difference in interaction, risk taking and technical analysis of the nature of the problem.
By mainstreaming its activities MAG has become a key player in the field of clearing remnants of conflict and an important actor in assisting communities to fight poverty caused by insecurity.
Methodologies
With over 40 members of staff at its international headquarters in Manchester, UK, and around 3,000 across a dozen countries at present, MAG has developed a broad range of methods to its work including; the multi-skilled, flexible and mobile Mine Action Teams, the use of mine detection/explosive detection dogs, a variety of manual and deep-search detectors, midi/mini flails, mechanical vegetation cutters, agricultural and plant machinery, new explosive ordnance disposal technologies and more recently the pioneering village assisted clearance teams in Laos. MAG continues to carry out research and trials in all areas of its work, and provides survey and assessments on request.
As well as receiving independent monitoring and evaluation at the request of donors MAG also has its own internal team, the International Development and Evaluation Team, which works independently from the operations function and carries out evaluations of MAG on behalf of the executive director.
Donor Recognition
In recognition of the support donors provide, MAG's public education and visibility section - part of its communications function - distributes high quality information for people from all backgrounds. Raising awareness in plain language is of key importance, so too is raising the profile of the operations donors fund.
Today, MAG has become one of the most respected humanitarian agencies involved in mine and UXO clearance; it has not done this alone. Through its work MAG knows that it is the donors and partners who are some of the most important achievers in HMA.
To all of our donors we say thank you for your trust and support; together we have achieved so much.