MINE RISK EDUCATION: KEEPING NEIGHBOURS SAFE

RENEW is continuing every day to clean up cluster bombs, landmines, and other ordnance, working toward the goal of making Vietnam safe. However, removing "every bomb and mine" may never be done – even in 1,000 years. What is most important for today's generation is making Quang Tri Province safe, even while the cleanup and destruction of ERW continue for some years to come.

That's why Mine Risk Education or MRE is so important. MRE teaches children and adults who must live with the danger of unexploded ordnance how to be safe. Project RENEW has added another dimension to that effort, which involves the entire community in identifying the threat and reporting it on a timely and accurate basis. Their reports activate an EOD team that responds immediately, at most within 72 hours. The Community Reporting Network (CRN) has become an integral part of the MRE program, and is now an essential element of EOD team scheduling on a daily and weekly basis.The CRE collaborators encourage all members of the community to be fully involved and to report life-saving information to the EOD teams.

RENEW's beginning efforts in Trieu Phong District in 2001 consisted of a range of activities organized and implemented by the Youth Union, our main partner in this effort. Trained Youth Union volunteers went from village to village organizing community workshops, classroom presentations, parades and rallies, campouts for teenagers, and children's performance troupes who presented a variety of music and entertainment, always with the theme of safety and awareness of the threat of ERW.This was later expanded into Hai Lang, Cam Lo and Dakrong.

RENEW has also enlisted the professional help of Quang Tri Television and Radio, whose staff produced a series of TV public service announcements and lengthier, more extensive programs about UXO safety. Some included broadcasts translated into dialects of the Pac Co and Van Kieu ethnic minorities.

In addition, the ripple effect of TV and newspapers and other mass media has reached far beyond RENEW's target areas into the whole province. Surveys report that 81 percent of the population in Quang Tri are now clearly aware of the danger of ERW, and they know what to do to keep their families safe.

Booklets, brochures, children's comic books, and other publications are also widely used to spread the MRE message. RENEW has sponsored children's art contests, with participation of more than 20,000 primary school students who have painted their interpretations, and the messages they wish to share, about the dangers of UXO and how to be safe from injury.

RENEW survey data shows a reduction from 22% to 3.6% between 2002 and 2010 in the level of unawareness about the dangers of UXO, and the numbers of people who say they have not been exposed to warning signs or other safety messages. Today less than 2% of Quang Tri residents overall are unaware of the "safe behaviors" they need to follow to prevent accidents, or don't know what to do when they encounter dangerous ordnance. The result has been a measurable reduction in accidents, injuries, and deaths over the past 10 years both in RENEW's project areas and province-wide.

Contact person:
Ms. Le Thi Thuy Hang
Tel: (+84) 53 3858 445 (ext.109) - Mobile: (+84) 935 338 009
E-mail: thuyhangqt@gmail.com

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