Date: February 19-21, 2025
Location: Lusaka/Siavonga, Zambia (border area with southern Zimbabwe)
Workshop Overview:
Mines and unexploded ordnance remain not only during conflict, but also for a long period of time after the conflict has ended, and they can hinder reconstruction and development. In order to effectively address the problem of landmines and UXOs, it is important to increase national ownership of mine action and strengthen national capacity in mine and UXO control. The following is a brief overview of the National Mine Action Plan (NAM).
JICA has been cooperating with the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) since 1998, and since 2010 has focused on sharing CMAC’s knowledge and technology with other mine- and UXO-affected countries, and has provided training to more than 500 mine action personnel from around the world. The “Japan-Cambodia Landmine Initiative” announced by then Foreign Minister Uekawa in July 2024 includes the promotion of international knowledge sharing on Cambodia’s mine countermeasures technology and organizational capacity.
In collaboration with CMAC and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), JICA shares its technologies and knowledge on mine countermeasures (survey, exploration, clearance, etc.) and related institutional and organizational operations to African countries. As a result, UNMAS aims to strengthen the capacity of each country (National Capacity) and promote effective mine and UXO countermeasures.
A three-day workshop on mine and UXO countermeasures was held in Lusaka, Zambia, February 19~21, 2025, with the participation of CMAC, UNMAS, and participants from the previous several workshops, Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria, and South Sudan. (For more information on past workshops, please refer to the following website. (Click here to see past workshops.)
Group photo of workshop participants and Zambia’s Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
Zambia, the host country for this year’s conference, will hold the chairmanship of the 2026 Conference of the Parties to the Ottawa Convention. This year (2025), Japan held the chairmanship, and last year, Cambodia held the chairmanship. The three countries connecting the chairmanships took the lead in sharing knowledge with landmine-affected countries in Africa.
On the first day, we visited Siavonga, a border area with Zimbabwe in southern Zambia. The landmines and unexploded ordnance in Zambia originated from the independence struggle of the southern African countries (Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Namibia) between 1960 and 1980, and almost all the contaminated areas are located along the border.
During the community visit, a woman who was a victim of a landmine shared her story. She lost her right leg when she stepped off the sidewalk to pick fruit from a tree on her way home from elementary school and was struck by a landmine. In order to reduce the tragic damage caused by landmines, Zambia is implementing mine avoidance education in the community. The countries participating in the workshop said that the key to sustainability is to implement such mine avoidance education in strong partnership with the community.
JICA International Cooperation Specialist Komukai expresses his gratitude to the residents who shared their stories of landmine damage in their community.
On the second and third days, the participants analyzed the current status of mine action organizations in the five participating African countries and discussed the activities needed to strengthen their capacity in the future. After learning about the history of CMAC’s long-standing knowledge of the transitional stages of organizational development, the participants discussed the next actions to be taken in light of the current status of mine action organizations in each of the participating countries.
Workshops
After two days of active discussions, a roadmap for strengthening the capacity of mine action organizations in Africa was finally formulated. The roadmap clarified the items to be addressed at each stage of capacity building for each organization, and also outlined the cooperation to be considered by JICA, CMAC, and UNMAS. Participants also commented on the practical nature of the discussions and the fact that the roadmap was created as a document that could be shared upon their return to their home countries.
After returning to their home countries, the participants will use the discussions at this workshop as a basis for developing a sustainable system that will enable them to take the initiative in clearing landmines in their own countries and link this to reconstruction and development, and JICA will continue to support such efforts.
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