The United Kingdom and Switzerland are allocating half a million dollars for a pilot project on prioritization in humanitarian demining. The corresponding memorandum of understanding and cooperation was signed by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Eastern Europe Foundation (EEF) as the implementing partner of the Swiss-Ukrainian Program "E-Governance for Accountability and Community Participation" (EGAP), and the Humanitarian Demining Center.
The agreements to support the pilot project on prioritization in humanitarian demining were reached at the Mine Action Conference in Ukraine (UMAC-2024), which took place on October 17-18, 2024, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"Modern technologies and analytical solutions will help effectively determine priority zones for humanitarian demining. This is critically important for the safety of people and the swift restoration of economic activity in the region. We hope that this innovative project will serve as an example of successful international cooperation in the field of mine action," said Volodymyr Baida, Director of the Humanitarian Demining Center.
The allocated funds will be used for implementing the pilot project in Kharkiv region for prioritizing areas for humanitarian demining. The project began on January 6 of this year and will last three months, until the end of March. The Humanitarian Demining Center is managing the project, coordinating the involved parties, and ensuring the sustainable development of the initiative.
This project aims to improve humanitarian demining processes through data analysis automation and resource optimization. Specifically, the prioritization methodology will rely on a clear algorithm based on a wide range of data, taking into account economic, social, environmental, and security factors for each specific area.
Based on the results of the pilot project, the prioritization approach may be applied in all regions of Ukraine affected by mines and other explosive remnants of war.
