citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message mines advisory group type non governmental organisation industry landmine relief founded 1989 headquarters manchester united kingdom area served global slogan saves lives builds futures website maginternational.org the mines advisory group mag is a non governmental organization that assists people affected by landmines unexploded ordnance and small arms and light weapons . mag takes a humanitarian approach to landmine action . they focus on the impact of their work on local communities . this approach recognises that although the number of landmines in an area may be small the effect on a community can be crippling . targets are therefore determined locally in response to liaison with affected communities and local authorities . mag field operations are managed and implemented by nationals of the affected countries with mag expatriate staff taking a monitoring and training role . mag provides work for many members of affected communities with families of landmine victims taking an active role . mag is based in manchester united kingdom and has a sister organisation mag america in washington d.c. united states . as part of the international campaign to ban landmines mag was co laureate of the 1997 nobel peace prize . contents 1 history 2 mine action techniques 2.1 mine action teams mats 2.2 survey and demarcation 2.3 mechanical 2.4 explosive ordnance disposal eod 2.5 mine detection dogs mdds 2.6 mine risk education mre 2.7 community liaison cl 2.8 salw 2.9 local capacity development 3 current operations 3.1 angola 3.2 cambodia 3.3 chad 3.3.1 partnerships and coordination 3.4 democratic republic of congo drc 3.5 iraq 3.6 lao pdr 3.6.1 community liaison 3.7 lebanon 3.8 mali 3.9 myanmar 3.10 somalia 3.11 sri lanka 3.12 south sudan 3.13 vietnam 4 past operations 4 4.1 afghanistan 4.2 azerbaijan 4.3 burundi 4.4 cyprus 4.5 republic of congo 4.6 rwanda 4.7 somaliland 5 assessments 6 external links 7 references history edit this section needs expansion . you can help by adding to it . april 2009 mag was formed in 1989 by rae mcgrath in response to landmines and unexploded ordnance uxo left by the soviet war in afghanistan . 1 the organisation initially served as an advisory group publishing reports about the problems in afghanistan and cambodia based on their assessments between 1989 and 1991 . subsequent reports included iraq somaliland and angola . 1 in 1992 mag along with other ngos formed the international campaign to ban landmines icbl . by 1992 mag had raised sufficient funds to begin its first landmine clearance program in iraq . clearance programmes extended to cambodia the same year followed by lao pdr and angola in 1994 . mag also introduced mine risk education mre alongside their clearance programs to help minimise the risk to the local populations . mre operations were extended to rwanda and to refugee camps in zaire and the former zambia . 1 in 1996 lou mcgrath became executive director and mag established its international headquarters in manchester uk . mine action techniques edit mine action teams mats edit mag s delivery of humanitarian mine action hma is centred on the use of multi skilled highly mobile and flexible teams called mats . these were developed by mag in the mid nineties in response to the varied needs of mine affected communities . drawing on multi skilled staff mats are able to quickly adapt to the many challenges presented not only by mines and unexploded ordnance uxo but also to changing environments including weather geographical and topographical conditions and the wider security and political climate . drawing on many years of operational experience mats have proven highly successful in countries such as iraq and cambodia in delivering a comprehensive and flexible hma response with multi skilling a central aspect of their success . team members are trained in community liaison cl information data gathering survey and assessment mapping logistics minefield marking landmine clearance and ordnance disposal eod . survey and demarcation edit mag has successfully implemented national socio economic landmine impact surveys lis which have consequently been published and widely distributed to mine action operators and other relevant stakeholders . mag conducted its first emergency survey in afghanistan in 1989 and conducted the first ever surveys in cambodia and northern iraq . between 1992 and 1997 mag iraq conducted one of the largest minefield demarcation programmes in the world while in kosovo mag was tasked by the un mine action coordination centre macc in october 1999 to conduct a level 2 survey along the border area with albania . in 1993 mag conducted an emergency impact assessment of the landmine problem in moxico province angola which led to the establishment of a mag clearance programme later that year . mechanical edit mechanical capacities have formed an important element of mag s hma toolbox for several years . machines have been used successfully to support manual clearance operations in a number of countries including angola cambodia kosovo iraq lebanon sri lanka and vietnam . mag uses a variety of flails heavy plant and adapted agricultural and quarrying equipment in its programmes . current mechanical assets include the tempest flail bozena 4 flail armtrac 100 flail minecat 230 flail and digger d 2 flail . these assets can be used for a variety of tasks including clearance of land area reduction and quality assurance tasks in support of manual clearance operations . explosive ordnance disposal eod edit the hazard posed by explosive ordnance is often highly significant in post conflict situations . a large percentage of ordnance fails to detonate as designed and poses an immediate threat to people trying to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of conflict . mag s eod response in countries such as laos includes categorisation ; safe handling moving of ordnance ; and destruction of items such as grenades mortars shells cluster bomb sub munitions small arms and light weapons and large air dropped bombs . mag s flexible and multi skilled approach to hma means that it is well equipped to operate successfully in countries such as laos and vietnam where the explosive contamination is mainly uxo as opposed to landmines . mine detection dogs mdds edit mag has used mdds in support of its manual and mechanical clearance operations in a number of its programmes including northern iraq cambodia and lebanon . mag technical staff have extensive experience of managing dog teams and or integrating mdds with manual and mechanical clearance operations . in particular mdds have proven a highly effective quality assurance tool for verification of manual mechanical clearance sites . rather than develop its own potentially expensive mdd capacity mag works with local and international partners such as cmac in cambodia and npa in lebanon who have existing dog capacities to provide the required services . mine risk education mre edit mag has developed the concept of mre as a form of public health education . mre offers people knowledge and alternatives for living and working safely in mine uxo contaminated areas . mre comprises a number of components that can be adapted to the needs of the target audience . considerations include the degree of impact of mines and uxo ; economic pressures on affected communities ; age ; gender ; culture ; previous exposure to mre messages ; and the resources available to disseminate messages such as local media radio television broadcasts and national networks such as schools ministries and other institutions . community liaison cl edit mag pioneered the use of cl to ensure continual linkage with affected communities throughout the process of programme design implementation and measurement of impact . this inclusive and community focused approach enables a relevant response whilst at the same time fostering high levels of community involvement . mag s cl advisors also interact with relevant agencies local authorities hma coordination bodies and other key stakeholders . cl consists of three main elements information data gathering to prioritise action according to need and impact and to allow for effective task planning information sharing networking and ongoing contact with all stakeholders to ensure that negotiation and planning occur regularly to periodically review programme effectiveness and to provide information about mine clearance activities evaluation and impact monitoring to measure the success of activities and determine how the programme has impacted on the lives of the local community and what changes have resulted . this learning process enables mag to improve refine its approaches and activities at community national and international levels salw edit a protracted series of armed conflicts have resulted in the presence of large numbers of salw in unsafe conditions in many post conflict countries ; and this constitutes a constant risk not only to life and limb for the local population but also to the current peaceful transition process in the country . mag removes and destroys unsecured and abandoned salw caches and by doing so removes the threat posed by unsecured salw . mag conducts nationwide surveys of arms deposits and warehouses puts in place specialist equipment and training of national staff to carry out the cache destruction activities and provides advice for the safe storage and control of remaining items . mag first became involved in the destruction of salw by providing technical support to demobilisation programmes in angola and cambodia during the 1990s . more recently the scale of the problem has become more apparent in the course of mag s mine and uxo clearance activities in countries such as iraq sudan and drc and items have been removed or destroyed which are outside the limited scope of the mine ban treaty but which qualify for salw status and contribute to humanitarian impacts and the proliferation of conflict . local capacity development edit as part of its mission to build local hma capacities mag employs local technical and administrative staff wherever possible . in many of the countries it operates including angola cambodia and iraq mag employs ex combatants . a facet of this work contributes to the vital demobilisation and reintegration ddr of ex combatants into post conflict society . stable employment with mag allows ex combatants and their families to adapt economically and socially to a productive civilian life . current operations edit mag has worked in approximately 35 countries since 1989 moving into current and former conflict zones to clear the remnants of those conflicts . angola edit mag has worked in angola since 1994 with the organisation s current area of operations moxico province greatly affected by fighting . the region was the birthplace and once the relative stronghold of rebel leader jonas savimbi and his national union for the total independence of angola unita . though the 27 year civil war ended in april 2002 the legacy of the conflict continues to affect the population . angola is generally considered to have about two landmines for every single person with 2.4 million people affected daily . the landmine impact survey there identified 1 968 communities in all 18 of the country s provinces as being impacted by landmines . mag s angola programme has approximately 180 angolan staff six international non angolan staff five mine action teams one rapid response team one road ops team three community liaison teams two mechanical operations units consisting of five machines and one impact assessment team . cambodia edit the office of mag in battambang mag has been operational in cambodia since 1992 and now employs approximately 475 staff members working across six provinces battambang krong pailin banteay meanchey preah vihear kampong thom and kampong cham . around 34 per cent are female and 9 per cent are amputees who are provided with metal free prostheses by the international committee of the red cross . there are currently 21 mats mine action teams 5 eod explosive ordnance disposal teams 8 cl community liaison