FSD

Getting FSD’s HQ operations team in the same room can be a logistical operation in itself! Today, we managed it in rainy Geneva — for a day of updates, ideas and a catch-up between field trips.

"Our aim is to make mine action the first stage of reconstruction, not a separate job that comes before it." — Angela De Santis, FSD Deputy Head of Operations.

Angela De Santis joined the panel “Survey and Clearance in Urban Areas – Case Studies” at the GICHD Innovation Session, where she presented FSD’s experience in Ukraine and explored how rubble removal and mine action connect to reconstruction.

Ukraine’s reconstruction needs are vast. Yet contractors cannot safely begin work on sites where explosive ordnance may be buried beneath rubble. Clearing these hazards therefore needs to be considered as an integral part of the reconstruction process.

In her presentation, Angela highlighted several practical challenges:
🔹 Unknown contamination: Where troops were based or am******on was stored, the type and amount of explosive ordnance is hard to predict. That drives risk, pace and cost.
🔹 Funding and timing: Clearance and reconstruction are usually funded separately and on different timelines. A cleared site that waits a year for a builder is a wasted investment – and a site awaiting clearance holds up the builder.
🔹 Scale: The need across Ukraine is immense and will extend well beyond the current 2028 horizon.

Thank you to the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining - GICHD for organising this insightful panel and creating space to discuss how innovation and mine action can support recovery in urban areas.

📷: © GICHD/Antoine Tardy

💥 FSD’s EOD Team Completes Its First Operational Task

After months of training, certification, and practical preparation, FSD’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team successfully carried out its first operational task in Ukraine.

During a clearance operation, the team of four safely disposed of an anti-tank shaped-charge round which had been discovered by FSD deminers.

This is an important milestone for FSD: with its own certified EOD team, the organisation can now manage the entire process using its own resources, making operations faster and reducing risks to people on the ground.

"Previously, we had to call in the State Emergency Service or the police for final disposals — this took time, and in the meantime the discovered items remained on the site, posing additional risks. Now, we have a complete closed-loop cycle: from survey and the decision to clear an area, to the detection, identification, and disposal of explosive ordnance," says Serhiy Kolobylin, FSD Operations Officer.

It is important to us that our partners and donors do more than just receive reports on mine action results; we want them to see the process and the almost daily changing challenges firsthand. Such visits foster a deeper understanding of our teams' daily work and the tangible results achieved through demining.

Recently, representatives of our long-standing partner, the World Food Programme, visited several sites in the Kharkiv region where FSD teams are clearing agricultural land.

During the visit, the guests observed the teams working directly in the field and learned more about the sites, the landowners, and the farmers who cultivate these lands. We also discussed their future plans once clearance is complete — some farmers are already prepared to sow their fields as soon as the work is finished.

A second visit took place in a presentation format for representatives from Austria — specifically, Österreichisches Außenministerium and the Austrian Development Agency.

During the meeting, we presented the progress of mine action activities within the project, highlighting key achievements and current results, and provided an overview of the operational situation at the worksites.

We continue our work, step by step returning contaminated land to safe use and creating the conditions for its further recovery.

This is part of a joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) mine action initiative to support Ukrainian farmers in frontline regions.

🌾 21 Million Square Metres Released in Ukraine’s Sumy Region

In this agricultural region of Ukraine, land previously considered potentially contaminated by explosive ordnance can once again be used for farming. Since the beginning of the year, FSD’s non-technical survey team has been working to verify where contamination may actually be present.

Through field visits, interviews and the collection of evidence, the team has built a clearer picture of which areas were affected. Sometimes, this process provides enough evidence to determine that an area is safe, allowing it to be released without the need for demining activities.

In this case, 47 plots were released through this process. Previously used to grow grain and oilseed crops, these fields can now be cultivated again, allowing machinery to return and supporting local livelihoods.

This milestone marks an important step towards recovery for communities affected by the war.

📊 Better Data for Safer Communities

As part of FSD’s ongoing support to the Operations Centre for Explosive Hazard Management and Response in Mindanao, Philippines, a newly contracted database operator has received specialised Excel training from FSD to ensure that all information received by the Operations Centre is accurate, consistent and complete within their database.

The database operator's role is central to the Operations Centre's mission. A well-maintained and accurate database ensures that all reported explosive hazard items are prioritised and processed efficiently, with the target of clearing all items within 48 hours of reports being received. This directly contributes to making communities across Mindanao safer by ensuring explosive hazard threats are identified, recorded and actioned as quickly as possible.

This training is part of FSD’s broader support to strengthen the capacity of the Operations Centre, which coordinates explosive ordnance clearance across the region with personnel from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Project supported by 🇦🇺 Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia in The Philippines.

🕊️ Working towards lasting peace

Peace is more than the absence of fighting. It also means rebuilding trust, restoring a sense of safety and creating the conditions for communities to move forward together.

That is where humanitarian mine action can make a very concrete contribution. By reducing the threat of mines and other explosive ordnance, it helps people return home, access land, rebuild livelihoods and regain confidence in their surroundings.

In Mindanao, in the Philippines, FSD’s work also supports the ongoing peace process. Mine action activities bring former parties to the conflict together around a shared humanitarian objective: making communities safer. In this way, practical cooperation can help strengthen dialogue, trust and longer-term stability.

On this International Day of Peace, we recognise that lasting peace is built step by step, through cooperation, safer communities and the shared effort to create a future beyond conflict.