6 July 2021
From 26 June - 6 July 2021 - The GICHD visited the Iraqi Directorate for Mine Action (DMA) HQ in Baghdad and met with the various departments and centres, as part of the strategic planning support to Iraq. Following that, the GICHD facilitated a strategy validation workshop in Baghdad with the participation of DMA and the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA). Participants discussed the draft Iraq National Mine Action Strategy 2022 – 2028 with a focus on the theory of change including the vision, mission, strategic objectives, assumptions, and risks.
Our team headed to Basra and visited the Regional Mine Action Centre – South (RMAC-S) and met with the various departments and implementing partners. Our team concluded the visit to Basra by visiting DRC/DDG operations and the NPA Basra office.
During the mission in Iraq, the GICHD team visited the Directorate for Mine Action (DMA) Regional Mine Action Centre – North in the city of Mosul and the operational sites by GCS/UNMAS and Tetra tech and witnessed firsthand Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) clearance and residential area clearance activities.
In Erbil, the delegation visited the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA) HQ to discuss the next step of the strategic planning process in addition to visiting the Erbil Mine Action Centre and an IKMAA AP mines clearance site in Soran in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The GICHD very much looks forward to continue collaborating with DMA, IKMAA, and other stakeholders to finalise and then implement Iraq’s new national mine action strategy.
This support was made possible thanks to funding from the Netherlands and Canada.