Partners Allocate Half a Million Dollars for a Humanitarian Demining Prioritization Project
The United Kingdom and Switzerland are allocating half a million dollars for a pilot project focused on prioritization in humanitarian demining. A memorandum of understanding and cooperation was signed by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), the East Europe Foundation (EEF) as the implementing partner of the Swiss-Ukrainian EGAP Program ("E-Governance for Accountability and Participation"), and the Humanitarian Demining Center.
The agreement to support the pilot project for prioritization in humanitarian demining was reached during the Ukraine Mine Action Conference (UMAC-2024), held on October 17–18, 2024, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"Modern technologies and analytical solutions will help effectively identify priority zones for humanitarian demining. This is critically important for ensuring people’s safety and for the rapid restoration of economic activity in the region. We hope this innovative project will become an example of successful international cooperation in the field of mine action," stated Volodymyr Bayda, Director of the Humanitarian Demining Center.
The allocated funds will be directed toward implementing the pilot project in the Kharkiv region to prioritize territories for humanitarian demining. The project began on January 6 of this year and will run for three months, concluding at the end of March. The Humanitarian Demining Center is overseeing the project, coordinating the involved parties, and ensuring the sustainable development of the initiative.
This project aims to enhance the processes of humanitarian demining by automating data analysis and optimizing resources. Specifically, the prioritization methodology will rely on a clear algorithm based on a broad range of data, which will consider economic, social, environmental, and security factors specific to each territory.
Based on the results of the pilot project, the prioritization approach could be applied across all regions of Ukraine affected by mines and other explosive objects.