Mine Risk Education
In December 2009, Internews launched a new program for Mine Risk Education (MRE) in partnership with UNICEF. The program supports the safe return of people displaced by armed conflict in the North of Sri Lanka. Called Kannivedi Kavanam! in Tamil, Internews MRE program’s objective is to help reduce the risk of injury from mines and unexploded ordnance among IDPs, returnees and communities in the north by raising awareness and promoting behavioral change.
In partnership with Shakthi FM, Sooriyan FM and SLBC Tamil National Service, Internews broadcasted Public Service Announcements about landmines and produced daily feature stories, interviews, radio dramas, vox-pops and short radio segments on MRE.
Internews also produced and published every week a special color insert on the MRE campaign in the Sunday editions of Tamil national newspaper, Virakesari and Uthayan. Virakesari distributed the MRE insert in 42,000 copies of its Sunday edition reaching Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu in the north, and Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara in the east. Uthayan distributed the MRE insert in 18,000 copies of its Sunday paper, which is the most widely read paper in the Jaffna peninsula.
In its Lifeline newspaper, Internews dedicated one page every week to the campaign, featuring MRE and demining news, information, PSAs, messages from the community, and some of the relevant content produced for the radio show.
Internews also made two special 4-page inserts within the Lifeline newspaper featuring an MRE “Snakes and Ladders” and a 2010 calendar with more messages on how to reduce the number of accidents and victims caused by landmines and other explosive devices.
In April 2010, Internews and UNICEF launched the second phase of their Kannivedi Kavanam! Mine Risk Education program. Internews provided vital messages in PSA form, via national radio on Tamil radio station Sooriyan FM, Sinhala radio station Hiru FM, and national SLBC Tamil radio service, as well as in print and through targeted SMS messages delivered to cell phone users in mine-affected areas.
Internews also organized a road-show that visits communities and delivers life-saving information on landmines and unexploded ordinances through short films, community broadcasts produced and transmitted during the visits, discussions and presentations. Internews partnered with local organizations Community Trust Fund (CTF), Sarvodaya, and Rural Development Foundation (RDF) to inform local communities across the Vanni region of the north about the dangers of landmines.
Internews also pioneered a new interactive electronic training approach by delivering MRE information through a computer game played by children in each mine-affected area visited during the road-show. The current phase of Internews Mine Risk Education is on-going through August 2010.
Download Internews Mine Risk Education Insert 1.
