Vietnam Veteran Memorial Fund

Established in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is the nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.  Today, the Memorial Fund is an international nongovernmental organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of The Wall, promoting healing and educating about the impact of the Vietnam War. VVMF is the primary partner with the provincial government in sponsorship of Project RENEW.

Read more about the VVMF at http://www.vvmf.org

Norwegian People’s Aid

Founded in 1939, Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) is one of Norway's largest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with extensive experience in the field of Humanitarian Mine Action. NPA has been working in over 30 countries with involvement in over 300 projects worldwide. In accordance with the spirit of its founding principles, NPA not only tackles the physical problem of ERW, but the social and political factors that make ERW such a detriment to the development process of recovering countries.

Since establishment of its partnership with Project RENEW in November 2008 via an MOU signed between NPA, VVMF and Quang Tri DoFA and approved by Quang Tri PPC, NPA has been integral to the rapid growth of a community based quick response Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) capacity for Project RENEW, providing management and technical advice ensuring growth to international standards.

After one year of field operations, and under close supervision and assessment by an NPA international Technical Advisor, both EOD teams have been approved to conduct limited tasks on their own without the supervision of Technical Advisors.

Following our successful partnership of the past two years, a funding pledge from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will enable NPA to continue its support to Project RENEW through 2011. New areas of cooperation will likely include Battle Area Clearance, Database Management, and Land Release protocols. NPA will continue to focus on capacity building for the local staff of Project RENEW, intended to approve more independent taskings and aimed toward preventing additional ERW deaths and injuries, particularly among children, farmers, and scrap metal collectors and dealers.

Read more about NPA at http://www.npaid.org/

Golden West Humanitarian Foundation

Established in 1998, Golden West Humanitarian Foundation (GWHF) is dedicated to the development of innovative, appropriate technologies to overcome operational limitations encountered by the humanitarian mine action community. GWHF has introduced these technologies in the heavily mine-affected countries of Angola, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Mozambique – and now, Vietnam.

GWHF’s mission is to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of men, women and children residing in areas contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance, through the development of innovative and practical materials and technologies designed to combat these life threatening munitions.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, Project RENEW and GWHF agreed in September 2007 to implement a clearance research and development (R&D) program in Quang Tri Province. With technical assistance from GWHF, a team consisting of BAC (battle area clearance) searchers and other support staff was trained and deployed. Significant progress in the team’s operations has been achieved with introduction of the tractor-mounted Modular Detection Array, which has resulted in accelerated clearance and unprecedented speed in “area reduction”, thus saving substantial time and human resources normally required by conventional clearance methods.

Read more about GWHF at: http://www.goldenwesthf.org/home.php

The Humpty Dumpty Institute

The Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI) was established in 1998 by a small group of innovative and successful business entrepreneurs to tackle a few tough international problems – to “put the pieces back together" through the creation of unique public-private partnerships. HDI and its founders have always had a strong passion to engage in the battle against landmines and other explosive remnants of war. HDI has directly managed nearly $20 million worth of landmine clearance and agriculture/livestock development projects in Angola, Armenia, Laos, Mozambique and Sri Lanka.

In a partnership with Project RENEW, HDI has launched the “Mushrooms with a Mission” (MwM) project as a unique, innovative business model that will:
• grow, process, package and market organically certified mushrooms
• create jobs for families of ERW survivors, and increase their incomes
• produce revenues to fund Project RENEW’s continuing ERW clearance work.
Read more about The Humpty Dumpty Institute at: http://www.thehdi.org

Taiwan Government

The Government of Taiwan, via its Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hanoi, is providing initial funding to implement the MwM project through the partnership between the Humpty Dumpty Institute and Project RENEW. As part of a wide range of cooperative programs between Taiwan and Vietnam, the government of Taiwan will provide the services of an experienced professional to help with technical quality, sales, and innovative marketing of the mushrooms, possibly to include exports to Taiwan.

Read more about The Government of Taiwan at: http://www.gio.gov.tw

UNICEF

UNICEF‘s mission is to address the most serious impediments to the fulfillment of children's and women's rights in Vietnam. In addition to nutrition and health programs to reduce malnutrition, morbidity and mortality from common childhood diseases – especially in rural and ethnic minority areas – UNICEF is active in preventing childhood accidents, which include tragic loss of life and limb resulting from ERW.

Funding from UNICEF has enabled Project RENEW to conduct a Level One Landmine Impact Survey in Trieu Phong District in 2002, and later a survey on knowledge, attitudes, and practices and landmines/ERW victims data in the entire province. From 2004 to 2008, UNICEF provided annual funding for Project RENEW’s child-to-child MRE activities, publication of MRE materials, and MRE training and capacity building. UNICEF also participated with NPA and Project RENEW to survey and report on scrap metal collectors and dealers in three provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Thua Thien Hue. The findings may point the way to safe economic alternatives to discourage the dangerous practice of searching for explosive ordnance to sell as scrap.

Read more about UNICEF at: http://www.unicef.org

U.S Department of State

The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) creates local, regional and international conditions conducive to peace, stability and prosperity by curbing the illicit proliferation of conventional weapons of war such as light automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades, and removing and destroying others, such as persistent landmines and abandoned stocks of munitions, that remain and pose hazards after the cessation of armed conflict.

PM/WRA started providing joint funding with Norway’s Trauma Care Foundation (TCF) to launch Project RENEW’s mobile outreach prosthetics and orthotics unit during 2007-2008. This mobile service provides artificial limbs, other prosthetic and orthotic devices, and rehabilitation services to ERW survivors and people with disabilities in rural and mountainous areas of the province, who are isolated from medical and rehab services in more urban areas.

In March 2008, PM/WRA awarded a grant to Project RENEW to conduct ERW clearance activities at a site called Vung Ha in Quang Tri Town, to allow for residential and commercial expansion of the town. PM/WRA also funds MRE activities in Cam Lo District, in support of the Community Reporting Network and EOD quick response teams.

Read more about PM/WRA at: http://www.state.gov/t/pm/wra

Trauma Care Foundation

Trauma Care Foundation (TCF) of Norway is a movement of professional trauma care providers working in mine fields and war zones in rural areas of the world. Together with partners, TCF operates rural trauma systems in Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Vietnam, with the aim of helping people cope with wars and mine fields and cluster bombs they did not ask for.

Apart from being the major funding agency for Project RENEW’s prosthetics and orthotics program, TMC is also providing funding for trauma care programs and rehabilitation services conducted within the framework of Project RENEW’s Mine Victim Assistance program.

Read more about TCF at: http://www.traumacare.no/Default.aspx