Empowering Women for Safer Communities: She Demines Programme Increases Women’s Participation in Ukraine’s Humanitarian Mine Action
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The registration for the program is open and free for the development of professional skills of future female deminers.
Kyiv, Ukraine, April 14, 2026 — UN Women’s She Demines capacity-building program is expanding women’s participation in humanitarian mine action in Ukraine (HMA). The initiative seeks to address the critical shortage of qualified personnel to work in mine action and emergency services while advancing gender equality in these traditionally male-dominated sectors.
The joint programme is implemented by UN Women Ukraine in partnership with Ukrainian Deminers Association, NGO “Girls” and BBC Media Action in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine and funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada, and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia.
As a result of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine remains one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world. As of February 2026 132,000 km² of Ukraine's territory is estimated to be mined and affected by explosive ordnances. Even as Russia’s large-scale invasion continues, humanitarian mine action is essential to save lives, enable displaced persons’ safe return, restore agricultural land, and accelerate economic recovery.
Today the sector faces an acute workforce gap, requiring thousands of additional trained specialists. Despite women making up around 30% of humanitarian demining workers in Ukraine, only 12% of women are directly involved in operational field work and more are needed.
“Barriers continue to block more women from working in humanitarian mine action including discrimination, insufficient skills, and lack of knowledge about opportunities in the sector. With Ukraine needing thousands of additional deminers, UN Women with its partners is proud to support Ukraine's efforts to create opportunities for women in this sector in line with the country’s new National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security. We warmly invite women to participate in this programme,” Sabine Freizer Gunes, UN Women Representative in Ukraine.
"The Ministry is systematically working to attract more women to the sector. This includes both cooperation with humanitarian mine action operators who directly hire deminers, as well as expanding training opportunities. The most recent HMA course for veterans and their family members was completed by 13 women. In my view, this is a strong example encouraging other women not to hesitate to knock on these doors. From the operators’ side, I can already see these changes — women who initially joined in administrative roles are growing into team leaders in demining operations. Such examples are changing the mindset of both employers and women who previously did not consider applying for these positions. This is a direction we will continue to actively pursue,” Ihor Bezkaravainyi, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine.
The programme was developed to expand women’s access to training and employment opportunities with a focus on long-term, systemic change in the humanitarian mine action sector. It supports women in Ukraine by strengthening pathways into humanitarian mine action nationwide with a specific focus on six regions, including Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions.
During the programme, participants will be recruited to bring their skills in line with the requirements of national humanitarian mine action standards. 3000 women will receive mental resilience support and leadership development opportunities; among them 300 women will be trained in technical courses.
The programme provides participants with:
- Certified technical training, including non-technical survey, tactical medicine and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD).
- Career guidance and introductions to accredited humanitarian mine action operators.
- Leadership development, peer support and psychosocial support for women entering a traditionally male-dominated professions in humanitarian mine action and emergency services.
- Networking opportunities with national operators and state actors.
“Today, Ukraine is facing an extraordinary scale of contamination by explosive ordnance, and at the same time, the humanitarian mine action sector is experiencing a severe shortage of personnel. That is why involving women is not a symbolic step, but a strategic decision for the sector. Without their participation, we will not be able to handle the scope of work that the country faces. It is important to understand that humanitarian mine action is a civilian profession with clear, global-level safety protocols. It is not about risk, but about professionalism, responsibility, and systematic work that returns land to people and brings Ukraine’s recovery closer,” Tymur Pistriuha, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Demining Association.
"Humanitarian mine action is a large ecosystem that requires female analysts, drone operators, logisticians, risk education specialists, team coordinators, and many other professionals. For us, it is important that women feel confident. That is why we provide psychosocial support, leadership development, financial literacy training, and support throughout the employment process,” Kateryna Titchenko, NGO “Girls” Project Manager.
By investing in women’s skills, leadership and empowerment, She Demines contributes to safer communities, gender-responsible and more inclusive recovery — demonstrating that women are not only affected by mine contamination but are also essential actors in clearing the land and rebuilding Ukraine’s future.
For more details about the project, including participation modalities, is available at https://she-demines.org.
"She Demines" programme is implemented by UN Women Ukraine in partnership with Ukrainian Deminers Association, NGO “Girls” and BBC Media Action in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine and funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada, and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia.
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