Quality Management in Demining Organisations
Journal of ERW and Mine Action
Quality Management in Demining Organisations
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0 Mr. Kerei Ruru Chief of Staff United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan P. O. Box 520 Kabul / Afghanistan
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Geneva Diar y: Report from the GICHD
The GICHD provides operational assistance to mine-action programmes
and operators, creates and disseminates knowledge, works to improve
quality management and standards, and provides support to instruments
of international law. The author discusses changes that have occurred
at the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, including
a redesigned Web site and new publications.
by Ian Mansfield [ Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Demining ]
I a new look for its Web site and
publican January 2007, the GICHD unveiled
tions. The GICHD implemented these
changes to give the organization a modern,
fresh appearance, and to increase the utility
of the Web site as well as reduce the cost of
publications. The redesigned Web site can be
seen at www.gichd.org and includes a
number of new features such as
shortcut buttons, an improved search
function, an evaluation
repository and a training calendar.
One of the first publications
to be issued in the new style was
the Metal Detectors and PPE
[Personal Protective Equipment]
Catalogue,1 published in March
2007. This catalogue features
handheld, large-loop and
vehicle-mounted detectors, as well
as the relatively new
multi-sensor systems. In April, the third
edition of the Guide to Mine
Action and Explosive Remnants
of War2 was published. This
edition provides updated
information, such as the text of the Convention on
Certain Conventional Weapons’3 Protocol
V on explosive remnants of war; it also
includes new chapters on mine action and
development, as well as capacity building
and evaluation.
Tenth Annual Meeting of Programme
Directors and U.N. Advisers
In March 2007, the GICHD hosted
the “Tenth International Meeting of Mine
Action Programme Directors and U.N.
Advisors” on behalf of the United Nations
Mine Action Service. The meeting brought
together over 200 people from 35
mineaffected countries, along with
representatives from the various U.N. agencies,
nongovernmental organizations and donor
countries involved with mine action.
Since the first annual meeting was held,
attendance has increased tremendously;
in March 1998 only 40 people from seven
countries attended. The idea for the
meeting came about as there was a growing need
for better standardization, coordination and
Redesigned GICHD homepage.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF GICHD
sharing of experiences among the emerging
mine-action programmes. The initial
meeting focused only on U.N.-conducted or
supported programmes, but since then, the
meeting has expanded to include nationally
run programmes.
Over the years, the topics discussed at the
meeting have included U.N. policy updates,
capacity building, national ownership,
information management, standards, resource
mobilisation and technology. Since the
beginning, all meetings have been funded by
Switzerland and hosted by the GICHD.
Evaluations
The GICHD continues to provide
training and advice on the conduct of
mineaction evaluations, as well as undertake
selected evaluations itself. Early in 2007 the
GICHD undertook an evaluation of the
United Nations Development Programme’s
capacity-building project in Albania and
also completed an independent assessment
of the residual threat in Kosovo on behalf
of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo.
Later in the year, the GICHD will
undertake a thematic evaluation in the Caucasus
as part of a rolling series of evaluations for
the European Commission.
See Endnotes, Page
Ian Mansfield is the Operations
Director at the GICHD and is respon
sible for all operational, technical and
research activities of the Centre. He is
also responsible for analyzing existing
and potential areas of activity for the
Centre, as well as all evaluation, as
sessment and consultancy activities.
Mansfield holds a Master of Business
Administration and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
Ian Mansfield
Operations Director, GICHD
7bis Avenue de la Paix PO Box 1300
CH-1211 Geneva 1 / Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 906 1674
Fax: +41 22 906 1690
Mobile: +41 79 337 9809
E-mail:
Web site: www.gichd.org
Loxton: Quality Management in Demining Organisations
Qua l it y Management in Demining Organisations
In this article, the International Standards
Organization 9001:2000
is compared to what leading actors in quality management and business management deem to be
current best practise. The aim of this paper is to show the universal application of the ISO 9001:2000
system as a quality-management system and that it complies with best practises in business and
quality management around the world. This article will high (...truncated)