The HALO Trust

A dramatic find in Laos! In a cassava and rice plantation in Phon Hai Village, Xepon District, a 1,000lb bomb was discovered - only the second bomb of its size reported since HALO began work in Laos in 2012. The HALO team was able to safely excavate and move the bomb to be destroyed later, allowing the landowner to continue working his land. This shows the importance of our work in protecting livelihoods and allowing the local community to use their land safely. Thank you to the U.S. Department of State for continuing to support this life-saving work.

Meet the amazing Namfon! ⭐ At 24, Namfon is already supervising multiple minefields and dealing with bombs for #TheHALOTrust in Laos. She is gaining self-confidence and supporting her family while making her country safe. Her work in Laos is supported by U.S. Department of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Irish Aid.

This is an amazing story on the ethical application of artificial intelligence: with a $4 million investment, Amazon Web Services (AWS) will enable The HALO Trust to make wider use of the high-resolution drone footage it collects, using AI and ML technology to identify mines and explore new ways to map minefields and prioritize mine clearance—while saving lives and restoring communities.   The Halo Trust currently has 1,100 volunteers who are clearing explosive remnants and landmines in six regions of Ukraine. Using drone flights that collect high-resolution images and data of minefields, these images will be analyzed by AI to detect where these remnants are, simplifying and prioritizing the volunteers’ work.   Projects like this highlight the revolutionary capabilities of digital technology when applied to humanitarian causes. They build trust in AI's potential to address critical global challenges, and I'm proud of our role in this life-saving work.   For more details on this crucial project, I encourage you to read the full article: https://lnkd.in/e-UfkJNg 

“I just met some of the brave staff who are clearing explosives from their own communities so that people can live without fear, and farmers can use their land in safety.” “This work is critical in the years ahead if we are to address conflict and the suffering it causes,“ says Foreign Secretary David Lammy. It was a pleasure to welcome the Foreign Secretary to Laos last week, where he visited HALO and MAG (Mines Advisory Group) staff to learn more about our life-saving work there. Thank you once again to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for supporting our work in Laos and ten other countries around the world that are affected by conflict.

Thank you to HALO Trust board member Emma Sky for her continued support of our life-saving work, and dedication to our mission. 💙 The government of Mozambique declared the country mine free in September 2015, shortly after HALO cleared the last known minefield, and we look forward to achieving the same in Zimbabwe thanks to the incredible work of our local staff.

Massive congratulations to Lisa Davidson Chartered FCIPD, who is a finalist in the HR Director of the year category of the Personnel Today awards! ⭐ We're proud to say that the HALO HR team are also shortlisted for the Candidate Experience Award. All the very best of luck to Lisa and the rest of the team for awards ceremony in November!

“I am so happy to have joined HALO - I am rescuing my community and bringing freedom to them,” says Delight Manyange, a truly inspiring woman doing incredible work for #HALOTrust Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, and Delight is leading the charge to map and destroy the deadly landmines that robbed her of a normal childhood. Having graduated high school and university despite the many difficulties the local community faced due to the presence of landmines, Delight is returning to clear the land around Nyatsato school – her alma mater – for the next generation of children. Through the Trimble Inc. Foundation's Women in Geographic Information Systems initiative, Delight is one of 11 women who are undertaking an innovative fellowship designed to empower women from disadvantaged backgrounds, build national capacity, and make humanitarian landmine clearance more efficient. Read Delight’s incredible story: https://bit.ly/46vwwRE

HALO is helping Kosovo’s growing tourism sector to thrive! 🇽🇰 The small city of Peja is the gateway to hiking trails and mountain pursuits, but for 25 years the presence of unexploded cluster bombs on the slopes overlooking the town have prevented visitors from enjoying this beautiful area. Thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of State, HALO has been able to clear those cluster bombs and make the land safe for tourists to return. “HALO’s work gives access to people for recreation, to connect trails from Peja, to the hills and then to the mountains,” says Virtyt Morina, Head of Tourism, Peja City. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3Snyj5h

This week, #TheHALOTrust Sri Lanka was delighted to welcome Aiko Kato and Janani Thambaiah from the Embassy of Japan as they visited Mantivu island, where our clearance work has been carried out by Japanese-funded teams. To date, HALO teams have safely cleared 540 anti-personnel mines on Mantivu island. Clearance is expected to directly benefit around 460 people, mostly fishermen, who live in Gowtharymunai village. The island and surrounding coastal areas provide local communities with a vital source of income, and cleared areas will grant access to new fishing grounds that were previously inaccessible or deemed too dangerous. Thank you to The Government of Japan for funding this vital work.

We would like to thank the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy for visiting HALO and MAG (Mines Advisory Group) in Laos today, where we provided an update on our UK-funded work. This was an opportunity to see the continuing impact of unexploded bombs left behind from the Vietnam War – some half a century later - and our ongoing work to clear these threats and make the land safe to return to local communities. Thank you to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for supporting this work, to help create safe and secure environments where communities can live freely without fear of the deadly threat of landmines and unexploded ordnance.