HMA staff in Albania clearing a minefield.

DCA has been involved in humanitarian land mine and cluster munition clearance operations in Albania since 2002. As such, DCA has the distinction of being the longest serving operator in the mine action field in Albania.

National staffToday, the DCA programme in Albania employs 102 national staff organised into eight clearance teams (five manual teams, two Battle Area Clearance teams and one Technical Survey team) and a small administrative and support team (medics, administrators and logistics staff). The programme is almost completely managed by national staff â€" with just one international staff member (the Programme Manager) to provide guidance and oversight as necessary.

850,000 sqm cleared in one yearAt the start of 2009, there was approximately 850,000 sqm of mine and cluster munitions contaminated land left to clear in Albania. This broke down into 14 minefields and 11 cluster munitions sites. DCA has cleared seven minefields and six cluster munitions sites by the end of July. The programme will be complete by December 2009 and there is very good progress towards ensuring all contaminated areas will be cleared by that time.

Demining staff is clearing the path where people and cattle are walking.

From local to global demining staffPlanning is underway for the transition of the demining staff from humanitarian mine action tasks back to the mainstream civilian work force. This transition will occur once the operations have been completed. A number of the DCA national staff are being considered for deployment to other DCA humanitarian mine action programmes globally.

Post Impact SurveyDCA has been developing a system where the long term effects of the clearance activities can be gauged. A Post Impact Survey is conducted, normally once the land has been handed back to the local inhabitants and has been in use for about 12 â€" 18 months. The Post Impact Survey has multiple uses; it allows DCA to judge the validity of the original priority that was laced upon clearing that particular area, it permits the estimate of the socio economic benefit to the local community from the clearance activities and it allows a more complete reporting system back to the donors so they can see, how their contribution has helped Albania. The Post Impact Survey has been developed by DCA Headquarters in Copenhagen and trialled in Albania and other DCA mine action programmes. All in all, 2009 will be a very successful year for DCA Albania.   Read more about HMA in Albania