Ensuring Further Success: Campaign and Research Training Meeting

Ensuring Further Success: Campaign and Research Training Meeting

Aden, Yemen
4-7 February 2007

Over 65 campaigners and researchers from all over the world met in Aden, Yemen from 4-7 February 2007 to participate in the Ensuring Further Success Campaign and Research Training Meeting. Unlike the Global Research Meetings held in years previous, the idea was to bring together a smaller, select group of researchers and campaigners to discuss their plans for the year, to orient new researchers and campaigners, and to provide them with specific training to facilitate their work this year.

Participants in the opening plenary on 4 February, and those who attended the reception to close the week’s events on 7 February, included hosts Mansour Al-Azzi, Director of Executive Mine Action Centre, and Aysha Saeed from the Yemen Mine Awareness Association, Landmine Monitor researchers, ICBL campaigners and staff, and representatives from international NGOs.

Individual meetings, issue-specific workshops, and field visits in the different thematic areas were carried out over the course of the four-day meeting. Members of the Editorial Team met with the researchers with whom they will be working with in the coming months to address questions and concerns, and to establish relationships with those who are new to Landmine Monitor.

The workshops were a mix of introductory workshops for new researchers, workshops on research skills, advocacy skills, communication skills and issue-specific sessions to enhance knowledge of various aspects of Mine Action. The workshops ran consecutively over the four days, allowing researchers and campaigners ample opportunity to attend as many sessions as possible on an array of topics, including ‘How to Write Research Reports,’ ‘How to Take Photos Like a Pro,’ ‘Introduction to Cluster Munitions,’ as well as on treaty-related topics.

The ICBL and Yemen Mine Awareness Association (YMAA), co-organized a series of field visits to mine action projects in and around Aden. Researchers and Campaigners were given the opportunity to visit a mine clearing site and operations base, a rehabilitation centre, a Mine Risk Education program being run in a school, a land handover ceremony, and a statue commemorating Yemen’s ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty.

The objective of the Aden meeting was to orient new and old researchers to the work they will be carrying out in 2007, and to facilitate workshops and field visits aimed at increasing their knowledge of the research process. Our goal was also to build capacity among researchers in order to strengthen this year’s research network. The event was significant as it was likely the only opportunity in this year’s research cycle for the Editorial Team to meet with researchers.

Landmine Monitor is grateful to the ICBL and Yemen Mine Awareness Association for organizing and hosting this year’s meeting with great success. We would like to extend our appreciation to Mansour Al-Azzi and Aysha Saeed for their tireless work in hosting and helping coordinate this ambitious and effective meeting. We would also like to thank Natalie Abdou and Daiana Savage for all their hard work in organizing this meeting and ensuring the week ran smoothly. The meeting took place at the Hotel Mercure in Aden.

Draft research reports are due on 15 April, and will then undergo rigorous editing by the Editorial Team over the coming months. The Editorial Team and select Researchers will meet the last week of April in Geneva during the week of the Intersessionals.

Landmine Monitor is a unique civil society initiative by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). Its ninth report, Landmine Monitor Report 2007, along with an Executive Summary and CD-ROM, will be released globally on 14 November 2007 ahead of the Eighth Meeting of States Parties taking place from 18-22 November 2007 in Aman, Jordan.

For more information about Landmine Monitor please visit www.icbl.org/lm or contact lm@icbl.org.