The Humanitarian Mine Action Programme in Burundi (BURMACC) has received three times since November 2005 an update to its installation of IMSMA version 4 in its full French capacity. The new version was installed in 22 of August 2007 and has become the second African program after Sahara Occidental to run the new version, with newly implemented functionalities design to improve the performance of the system as reported by the field pilot. The main ones were the new cartographic tools in operational design use, the reconciliation process upgraded, the victims and accidents data and statistical synthesis overall view, the customs defined fields and impact -priority tools. All data currently contains in the former system have been migrated in the new version successfully.
Lessons learned from BURMACC information personnel well trained by GICHD regional coordinator, have allowed adapting the new version to the results required to local conditions and reality in the field.
As Burundi efforts are almost reaching the goals set by the Ottawa Convention to obtain a mine free country by mid 2008, BURMACC has requested assistance to the GICHD during the visit of the Director, GICHD to Burundi in July 2007, in the use of IMSMA for victim assistance surveillance and other development purposes by 2008, in order to increase information management services to the wider humanitarian community in Burundi.
