GICHD: Activities January to July 2005 - IM Training
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NFORMATION MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND OUTREACH11. During the reporting period, the GICHD carried out five editions of the “Introduction Course to Information Management in Mine Action”. These courses aim to assist operations and management staff of local mine action centres with understanding the role and implementation of integration of information management into their daily operations, with an emphasis on the sustainable use and support of IMSMA in the field. In total, 29 participants from Burundi, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Peru, Thailand and Zambia attended these courses.
12. A sixth course was provided within NATO’s Partnership for Peace framework. This course served the above aims, and the participation six of trainees from Argentina, Azerbaijan, France and Switzerland.
13. Furthermore, the first course entitled “Introduction to Information Management for Operations in Mine Action” was held in late June. The goal of this training is to familiarise operations staff with key information that is needed in order to make the use of the IMSMA system possible and also with what IMSMA can offer in relation to their specific tasks within a mine action operation. Seven participants from Argentina, Guinea-Bissau, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon were present.
14. Finally, the GICHD organised and carried out two Regional IMSMA Outreach Meetings for mine action programme managers and their operations officers. Participants were provided a comprehensive update on the status of the IMSMA re-engineering project and a demonstration of the new system (Version 4). The meeting also included a training session focused on information management in mine action and the successful integration of IMSMA into mine action operations.
a) The first of these meetings was held in Panama City, Panama and included representatives from Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.
b) The second meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya and included representatives from Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Burundi, Uganda, Mauritania, Rwanda, Somaliland and Zambia.
15. Other on-site training is carried out by the Regional Support Centres.
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Information management plays a key role within mine action providing managers and operations staff with support for a wide variety of analysis and decisions support tasks. In support of these activities, the Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Demining has developed and fields the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA). It is a tool to improve the operational management and recording of identified threats, ongoing and completed work at field level.
IMSMA is a software-based data management tool designed for use by mine action centres. It combines a relational database with a geographic information system. The system is used in almost all mine action programmes worldwide, as well as for training by a number of armed forces.
Training in IMSMA, which is provided free of charge, aims to assist programmes with the integration of information management into their daily operations with an emphasis on the sustainable use and support of IMSMA in the field. In order to achieve these objectives training focuses on the specific needs of individual programmes and staff members. Currently, areas covered by IMSMA training are: management; operations; database administration; data entry and data use; and peace support operations staff (as part of the Partnership for Peace framework).
In order to ensure that operational IMSMA installations are provided training on a timely basis, participation in IMSMA training is by invitation only. In addition training is normally restricted to staff who currently work with the system or who will work with the system in the near future. Invitations are extended by the IMSMA Training Team based on the result of close coordination with national mine action authorities, and a detailed process of staff identification and needs assessment. For further information or to request IMSMA training, please contact the GICHD\'s Regional Support Coordinator in your area.