IMSMA was installed in Uganda in March 2006. This was first done on a MAT (Mine Awareness Trust) laptop, which was to be used mainly in the field for data collection. A gazetteer of Uganda was then entered into the system with districts and their respective counties, sub-counties and parishes. Along with this gazetteer, a satellite map of Uganda was also imported into IMSMA. This process was also performed on a desktop at the Mine Action Centre, with its soul purpose being, the handling of all information collected in various districts of Uganda with regards to suspected hazardous areas. A brief training on the basic operations of this system was then performed for different bodies involved in mine action by Jean Paul Rychener of GICHD.
All hard copies of previous data were then collected and entered through MAT for a number of districts in Uganda, which included, Amuru, Gulu, Kasese, Kitgum, Lira and Soroti. An update of IMSMA was later performed on J.P. Rychener’s second visit, with version 4.1 being installed. During this process maps of Uganda on a scale of 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 were obtained and input into the system. A much broader training of the new system was then held by J.P. Rychener at UMAC for various organizations that dealt with de-mining, victim assistance and mine risk education in Uganda. Organizations present at the training included names such as AVSI, CPAR, MAT, Ministry of Health, and World Vision.
The Mine Action Centre database now holds over 200 hazard and location forms from the different districts. More detailed maps of Uganda on a scale of 1:250,000 have also been purchased and are already within the IMSMA system. Bilen Haile has also been recruited as the IMSMA Officer for the UMAC and he has attended a training workshop for a new and improved IMSMA system in Geneva, in April, 2007. The training covered topics such as developing tools for data collection and entry as well as provides a hands-on feel for the new system. In late August, 2007 J.P. Rychener conducted a more advanced training at the UMAC on the newest version of IMSMA for the respective mine action operators within the country. Training was also conducted by Bilen Haile for the actual team leaders along with a representative from Danish Demining Group on data entry of IMSMA and its various reporting forms in late October, 2007 in Gulu district.
