Afghanistan
Data collection completed. Only 5 of 329 districts were not surveyed due to security concerns. Database verified and data analysis and drafting of final report to begin 8 January.

Angola
By mid-December 14,936 communities had been identified in 10 of the 18 provinces. Of these 2,672 (18%) were designated as mine affected or possibly mine affected and 1,798 communities have been visited, of which, 844 have proven to be mine impacted; 741 non-impacted (false positive) and 213 localities have been inaccessible due to mined roads, poor roads, broken bridges or poor terrain.
 
NGO implementers will resume operations after the holidays by 10 January.

Eritrea
Preparations for printing the final report continue with the graphic designers.

Ethiopia
Ethiopian Mine Action Office (EMAO) reviewing final report.

Somalia (Phase 2: Bari, Nugaal and Mudug Regions)
Senior staff training and pre-test completed. Interviewer recruiting now underway. Click here to view photographs of the SAC, PMAC, and senior staff involved with the training sessions. Additional photographs from the training and pre-tests will be uploaded to the SAC website in the near future.

Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World (29Nov-3Dec)
Ulrich Tietze, SAC Survey Coordinator in Angola, was part of an NGO panel discussing the link between development and mine action using SAC/Development Workshop assessment in Huambo province (Click here to view the presentation. NOTE: 5.7MB PDF file). Bethany Champagne, a SAC intern from Canada’s Youth Mine Action Ambassador Program (www.dangermines.ca), developed materials for the ICBL’s Mine Action Working Group exhibit, participated in the Non-State Actors Working Group workshop, and attended many of the sessions and follow-up meetings.

Survey Action Center
Nelly Schneider left SAC in late December after six years as Chief Administration Officer, returning to live in France with her son, Jonas. Nelly has been a mainstay of SAC since its early days, bringing diverse experience from her varied background in international finance, logistics and administration. SAC takes this opportunity to publicly thank her for her dedication and for the enormous contribution she has made to landmine impact surveys, and to extend our best wishes to her in her future endeavors. She will be greatly missed. Click here to view a photograph taken at a recent party held in her honor.