Ensuring the quality of mine action products and services is crucial, particularly from a safety perspective, as it can save lives and limbs, but also in terms encouraging confidence in the end user, and meeting the requirements of beneficiaries, donors and national and local authorities.

Currently, the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) recommends quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) of cleared land, which includes accrediting organisations, internal and external monitoring inspections and carrying out sample inspections of cleared land.

However, the GICHD’s experience, gathered from project and programme evaluations over the past eight years, indicates that this approach:

(i)    may be too costly, threatening the sustainability of a nationally run programme;
(ii)    does not address quality management (QM) aspects within an organisation, which is crucial for efficiency and effectiveness; and
(iii)    does not address QM on a programme-wide level to improve overall performance.

To address these shortcomings, the GICHD has launched a QM project, which seeks to analyse and produce useful research and advice on QM in national mine action programmes, and enhance overall QM capacity. The GICHD plans to publish guidance and research on the topic soon.

For more information about the GICHD’s QM support services, please contact Vera Bohle.