Dong Ha, Quang Tri (2 April 2021) – Representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam and the UK Embassy in Vietnam, the two major donors of mine action in Vietnam, and Vietnam National Mine Action Center on Monday, 29 March 2021, visited Norwegian People’s Aid/Project RENEW explosive ordnance clearance operations in Hai Lang District, as part of their joint visit to review humanitarian demining work in Quang Tri Province.

Also joining in the delegation were representatives from other mine action operators including Mine Advisory Group (MAG), PeaceTrees Vietnam, Catholic Relief Services, and United Nation Development Programme.

In Hoi Yen Village of Hai Que Commune, the delegates met with the all-woman battle clearance team, established by NPA/RENEW in 2018 to clear contaminated land defined during the technical survey in Hai Lang District. The delegates were briefly updated on task progress and had a chance to talk with the team members.

“We, female deminers, are confident to clear our homeland of explosive ordnance because we have been trained and provided with the knowledge and skills needed to undertake this work safely,” said Deputy Team Leader Trinh Thi Hong Tham when being asked whether they felt scared doing this dangerous work.

NPA/RENEW has deployed two battle area clearance teams, including the all-woman team, to clear a confirmed hazardous area of over 1.8 million square meters. So far, the two teams have completed clearance of over 1.5 million square meters, safely destroyed 391 cluster munitions and 469 other explosives. The post-clearance safe land will be released to the community for resettlement and further development, benefiting directly 1,723 local people in three villages of Hoi Yen, Don Que, and Kim Long.

Thanks to the funding from the U.S. Department of State, the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), in Quang Tri province, NPA has been deploying operations teams to conduct non-technical survey, technical survey, explosive ordinance disposal and clearance in in close cooperation with Project RENEW.

In addition, NPA also provides capacity development to Quang Tri Mine Action Center (QTMAC) and Database Unit to support the coordination and management of mine action in the province. NPA/RENEW has worked together with other mine action stakeholders to support Quang Tri to reach its goal of a safe province where there is no danger of explosive ordnances to local people and socio-economic development.

Project RENEW was established in 2001 as a joint effort between the government of Quang Tri Province and interested INGOs to “restore the environment and neutralize the effects of the war”.

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) has worked in Vietnam since 2007 and collaborated with national and provincial authorities to implement capacity development, survey and clearance projects in Hanoi, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue and Quang Binh provinces.