Our Partners Over The Years
Over the years from the beginning of the founding of the Roj Organization and carrying out its activities from the Iraqi borders and the areas of Al-Hol and following in the footsteps of the liberated areas from terrorist groups, which left behind the impact of conflicts and clashes many remnants of war that threaten the lives of innocent residents of villages, cities and infrastructure on the Turkish-Syrian border strip From the city of Ras al-Ain to the city of Raqqa, al-Tabqa, Kobani and the regions of al-Hasakah and al-Shaddadi governorates, and currently Deir ez-Zor governorate, Roj was the first to assume its humanitarian tasks in terms of removing mines and war remnants and raising awareness of their dangers, which left a positive impact on the local and international community and as a result, Roj was recognized as an active organization Scalable, reliable and transparent.
RMCO is the only local organization that bears the duty to remove mines and raise awareness of their dangers with a local cadre that includes both genders and all nationalities of the region, as it has not stopped its activities despite all the circumstances it has gone through and the lack of capabilities and financial support, and recently completed its activity within an organized schedule and taking into account health and preventive methods since The beginning of the outbreak of the Corona virus epidemic, and it remained the only effective organization in this field despite the absence of all organizations related to demining activities during the year 2020.
From this standpoint and by establishing close relations with local authorities and local and international humanitarian organizations, partnerships and cooperation have been established between Roj and several organizations to date, including:
DCA is a humanitarian organization active in several fields, the relief sector, awareness raising, and the demining sector in more than 22 countries around the world, including Syria, where it focuses its efforts and resources in order to support stability and rebuild a productive society, especially in areas that have suffered from conflicts.
Among the methodology of its work within the framework of supporting the local community sector lies the support of local organizations as well, as RMCO has been active within the demining sector in the regions of northern and eastern Syria since late 2016 and has a close relationship with international organizations and partners in the demining sector with regard to sharing activities and risk analysis, and the use of available resources within the capabilities of all partners in the service of achieving the best results in building a safe environment by conducting clearance activities in the contaminated areas.
Based on the experience gained over five years of RMCO and the partnerships that achieved excellent results with international partners over the years, we started building connections with DCA by signing a memorandum of understanding in 2021 that aims to exchange data and experiences gained between the two organizations, as DCA provided support that includes security development and construction of RMCO headquarters in Al-Hasakah city. The support also included the construction of a warehouse for storing unexploded ordnance, which is considered the safest according to international standards for mine preservation, RMCO organization shares this warehouse with partners within the sector in the regions of north and east Syria to store UXO that they remove Until the demolition operations are carried out
In continuation of the development of relations between the two organizations and in order to achieve DCA’s goals in supporting the local community and local organizations, a partnership contract was signed between us in April 2022 to fund a project aimed at building the capabilities of RMCO at the administrative and field levels so its structure and activities meet international standards within the demining sector.
Where the partnership contract supported establishing a new branch of RMCO in Raqqa city and building the capabilities of an integrated administrative staff and three field teams to carry out mine risk education activities and non-technical surveys in Raqqa governorate.
The teams began to attend training by DCA organization regarding mine risk education activities and non-technical surveys in order to prepare the team and enable it to carry out the tasks assigned to it. Where the training continued for two weeks, and the team was able to pass the training successfully and started work after the approval of conducting activities from the Mine Action Office in Al-Hasakah and the Organizations Affairs Office in Raqqa to work in several locations in Raqqa and its countryside.
Where these multi-tasking teams within the awareness section aim to hold sessions in several neighborhoods on a daily basis to increase community awareness against the contamination and explosive ordnance that the local population faces after returning to their homes in the conflict areas, and in the non-technical survey section, the teams search and locate war remnants in the areas of activity, collecting all the data in a report to be delivered to the demining department for later clearance.
The support staff also participated in extensive training and kept permanent coordination with the same departments in the DCA organization, including logistical, financial, human resources, and data entry.
Our team was able to show a spirit of commitment, hard work, and rapid development by following the procedures and steps required to complete any process in these departments according to the privacy policies of each department, In accordance with international standards and the requirements of the donors supporting the project.
During the partnership contract period, the teams achieved all project goals planned by the partner organization and the donor in terms of the number of beneficiaries for all activities carried out by the teams, whether awareness sessions – non-technical surveys – community communication points – training of trainees – a protection brief in the neighborhoods of Raqqa city and its countryside.
The outcomes of the project in terms of activities and objectives achieved:
Where the mine risk education team was able to hold more than 924 awareness sessions with families and residents in the neighborhoods of Raqqa City, and its countryside, and the total number of beneficiaries from the awareness sessions reached 9899 beneficiaries of all age groups.
The teams also conducted non-technical surveys of twenty-four sites in Raqqa and its countryside, and they were responded to by mine clearance teams in those sites.
Information was collected on 115 victims of war remnants, in order to share these results with the international community and to show the extent of suffering and the danger posed by mines to the local community.
The teams also carried out additional activities, including giving training in the field of mine risk education to a number of local and international organizations and community leaders in all the targeted sites.
RMCO focuses on joint work between organizations working in the demining sector and always seeks to spare no efforts in order to reach the contaminated areas to safety with the aim of rebuilding a healthy society that is able to manage its life affairs free from the threats posed by mines, based on being A local organization that includes within its staff the components of all regions of northern and eastern Syria, Therefore, if the community lives in safety then our staff is safe.
At the beginning of 2017, a partnership contract was signed by the local Shar Development Organization
To start the MRE project, where the partnership was the first of its kind between two local organizations, to serve the local community by launching the MRE project.
The project achieved excellent results in terms of covering villages, cities and countries where civilians lost their lives by holding awareness sessions in areas that are considered more dangerous due to the presence of mines in them, which are areas where conflict and wars intensify, where war remnants remain a threat to the innocent.
We, in turn, undertake to raise awareness of its risks, as the project lasted for three months, until the staff of our organization gained experience and capabilities, then we launched our own project and established the risk awareness and non-technical survey section of RMCO.
In 2017, a partnership contract was signed with MAG International for a period of one year.
It financed our field operations in Al-Hasakah (along with a portion of our office costs). After the liberation, we made a strategic decision to move the clearance activities to Raqqa Governorate, and thus we moved our headquarters to Ain Issa.
At the time, MAG’s funding and strategic focus was on Hasaka, so the grant was not renewed. The Battle of Raqqa left 80% of the city in ruins, with countless mines and explosives buried under the rubble, given the catastrophic nature of the situation the right decision, even if it meant giving up one of our sources of income.
Spirit of America, an activist organization in the field of humanitarian support.
It provided us with field equipment and high-tech mine detection devices, while the equipment used by Rogue Organization was limited and not all to cover the needs of demining teams.
This support was a major reason for saving the lives of thousands of civilians in Raqqa Governorate and its countryside, as it enabled the Roj organization to train more demining staff and provide them with this equipment.
At the end of 2018, a partnership contract was signed with HAMAP Humanitaire
A French humanitarian NGO that works in relief and supports local organizations in several countries, it has funded RMCO’s salaries and operating expenses for nearly two years.
The contract also included the training of REMCO teams in terms of awareness, demining and medical teams. The training was documented with experience certificates by the international organization HAMAP.
Over the course of two years and with the availability of capabilities, the Roj organization has made great achievements in terms of its distribution in the regions of northern and eastern Syria and targeting the most mine-contaminated areas such as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor,
where the activities achieved great results in terms of the number of mines removed and cleared areas of agricultural lands, schools, infrastructure and residential areas, which saved lives Thousands of civilians.
In September 2020, HAMAP established its own headquarters in Raqqa and began to carry out EOD activities and work independently.