Canada’s feminist foreign aid in action in Ukraine

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[HALO is an NGO operating in Ukraine. Women are clearing the land after Russians mined it.]

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Until 2017, demining was on Ukraine’s list of 450 occupations prohibited for women. Today, women make up 30 per cent of HALO’s 1,500 Ukrainian staff.

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[HALO is also] training Ukraine’s women to make their country’s land safe again. Canada has played a part in this work. In early 2024, the Trudeau government — which had a feminist foreign-aid strategy — provided HALO with a $5-million grant to support its female demining efforts. Today, the future of such grants look uncertain.

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For years, even before all-out war began, Russia has been littering Ukraine’s fields, roads and forests with mines, booby-traps and trip-wire explosives.

These efforts have turned Ukraine into one of the world’s most contaminated countries, some reports say. It is estimated that as much as a quarter of Ukraine’s territory — equivalent to the Canadian Maritimes in size — is mined.

The effect is devastating. As of May, explosive ordnance had killed nearly 500 people and injured another 1,000.

The contaminated lands mean farmers cannot plant crops, families cannot rebuild their homes and children cannot play safely outside. It also threatens global food security, undermining Ukraine’s agricultural output and role as Europe’s so-called “breadbasket.”

In 2023, Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy set a goal of clearing 80 per cent of Ukraine’s contaminated lands within 10 years.

This is where HALO comes in.

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For nearly four decades, HALO has been clearing landmines, cluster munitions and other explosives from some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones.

Its work began in Afghanistan but today spans 30 countries. The non-profit employs more than 11,000 people and generates roughly US$200 million in revenue.

Its expansion into Ukraine has been supported by international donors, including Canada.

Samuel Fricker, a Canadian projects officer with HALO who is based in Langley, B.C., says he is glad to see Canadian dollars being put toward HALO.

“As someone who pays taxes in Canada, I’m … happy with where the money goes,” he tells me in a HALO team video call days later.

“The reason I work in this field is because of how tangible the impact is. You are seeing landmines being removed. You’re seeing genuine lives saved,” he says.

Canada’s $5-million contribution accounts for a small fraction of HALO’s $60-million annual Ukraine budget.

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Daria Hapirova, a gender expert at HALO, says training women to demine is crucial because hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men have joined the military.

“Unfortunately, there is no time for us to act in a gender-neutral way,” she says on the call. “[W]ithout women right now, Ukrainian mine action wouldn’t function.”

Hapirova says there are halo effects to promoting gender equality in a niche sector like demining.

“We started to change our uniform sets, for example, to make it more inclusive, and not only suitable for female bodies, but also to be more practical and more inclusive for different shapes of man’s bodies,” she says.

Fricker says HALO is also more effective at its work when women are included.

Households headed by women — often widows or those whose husbands are fighting — are more willing to share information with female surveyors, he says.

“The interactions are much, much improved by having that diversity,” he says.

Canada’s $5-million grant ended in August, and HALO currently has no ongoing Canadian funding for Ukraine. “We are in discussions with [Global Affairs Canada] about potential future options for follow-on funding,” Shustova says.

But the political winds have shifted. On Nov. 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney said at a press conference in Johannesburg that Canada no longer has a feminist foreign policy.

He added, however, that gender equality will remain an “aspect” of Canada’s broader international agenda.

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