Evaluation of the UNDP Sudan Mine Action Capacity Building and Development Project

In January 2005, the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), ending a 22-year conflict. Contamination from landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) was one of the many post-conflict challenges facing the country. Fear of this contamination inhibited the return of displaced people and constrained the delivery of humanitarian aid and the operations of international peacekeeping forces fielded through the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). Even before the CPA, the warring parties had reached agreements with the UN and international NGOs to initiate mine action operations. Beginning in 2001, a series of initiatives sought to lay the groundwork for a large mine action programme while simultaneously fostering cooperation between the warring parties. The CPA subsequently stated that the UN will assist the Parties’ demining efforts, leading to the creation of a UN Mine Action Office (UNMAO) headed by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and including UNDP and UNICEF personnel. As UNMAO had a mandate to provide demining support to UNMIS peacekeeping forces and to humanitarian operations, the initial focus of UNMAS, as lead agency, was to get operations established. However, the UNMIS Mission Plan also calls for the formulation and implementation of a transition plan to pass responsibility for management of the UN Mine Action Office to national authorities. Accordingly, the UNDP – as the lead agency for support to capacity development in the UN system – fielded a Senior Technical Advisor (STA) for mine action in March 2004 to initiate its project to support the development of mine action capacities in Sudan. In early 2007, UNMIS commissioned an evaluation of the Sudan Mine Action Programme which concluded that capacity development was the biggest weakness in the programme. At the request of UNDP-Sudan, the GICHD fielded a two person team from 22 to 30 October 2007 to evaluate the UNDP project, with the principal aim to: evaluate the performance and overall approach of the project; to take stock of the achievements made; identify major gaps and lessons learned; and make recommendations for the future direction for the project.