The Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) is a Virginia-based non-profit organization committed to helping war-torn countries help themselves. Our current focus is eliminating the humanitarian dangers & the destabilizing effects of landmines. MLI assists war-torn countries in building humanitarian, sustainable & affordable programs to eradicate landmines & alleviate the suffering caused by these instruments of war. To date, MLI has assisted 13 severely mine-contaminated countries by donating more than 200 privately sponsored lifesaving dogs to sniff out mines. Programs also include robust Survivors' Assistance projects that provide medical assistance & vocational training to victims of landmines, as well as Mine Risk Education classes that are given to tens of thousands living in mine-affected countries. Through education & cultural exchange programs, MLI engages thousands of American and international youth in the landmine problem, encouraging them to get involved and help others.

A mine-free world where all can walk, run, learn, live, and play without the threat of landmines.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: Increase the quality & quantity of mine & explosive detection dogs working in existing & new mine and explosive-contaminated countries to accelerate the pace of clearance operations.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: Retain focus on humanitarian mine action efforts, through current & new programs by pursuing & building on public-private partnership opportunities.

Goal Type: Invest in the capacity of our organization (financial, management, technical, etc.).

Goal Three: Grow intercultural connectivity & peacebuilding by fostering global citizenship among youth, engaging students in the landmine issue & empowering them to be part of the solution.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Describe an investment in leadership

Over the past 12 months, MLI has invested in specific training for employees to expand their knowledge on their programmatic work, grant writing, & program implementation. MLI program staff participated in two (one virtual & one in-person) U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor workshops on program & grant management. The workshops focused on programming in Iraq & the following topics were discussed: monitoring & evaluation; program challenges and successes; & program design. MLI staff attended the Stevens Initiative 2023 Virtual Academy, a six-week course connecting 100 participants from around the world to learn & discuss best practices in virtual exchange. MLI held a staff-wide training on M&E practices and procedures to instruct staff members on including M&E in grant applications & properly implementing the practices in the field.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

-MLI's programmatic model is based on strategic partnerships, engaging international governments, in-country non-profit organizations, & public & private funders to implement our life-saving programs. -Staff presented at three mine-action conferences in Azerbaijan & Iraq, discussing our unique public-private partnership model with other mine-action colleagues. -MLI engages the U.S. educational community in landmine awareness, organizing demonstrations & presentations with our K9 Ambassador. We organize fundraisers for major giving days, holidays, & country-based initiatives, assisting with personal & school-based campaigns. -Staff are part of the Conventional Weapons Destruction Network, attending joint meetings on mine action & participating in mine-action advocacy events at Capital Hill, Department of State, etc. -MLI uses social media, online newsletters, mailings, & online campaigns to raise proceeds & spread information on the needs of our humanitarian cause.

Working with in-country partners in war-torn countries, the political and economic landscape of the areas we work can significantly impact the nature and ability of the work our programs can accomplish. Throughout 2021-2022, MLI worked to nurture the establishment of a Mine Detection Dog (MDD) capacity in Kosovo; however, the mine action agency was not yet able to secure the proper infrastructure to support a K9 initiative. Although MLI was ready to donate two trained MDDs to the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) in the fall of 2021, we had to adapt a new plan when the KSF was not prepared to receive them. In 2021, The Mine Action Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan requested assistance in growing their MDD capacity in an effort to address new mine contamination from the 2020 conflict with Armenia. MLI was able to reorganize plans & work with our partners & funders to donate the dogs destined for Kosovo to help fill Azerbaijan's need instead. In 2021, MLI staff recognized that the Ministry of Peshmerga (MoP) was not utilizing all of their MDD capacity & needed to make improvements to the K9 Unit. Despite multiple MLI visits in late 2021 & 2022, the Ministry of Peshmerga (MoP) leadership had not yet fulfilled requests for the provision of vehicle support for the dog teams, provision of Explosive Detection Dogs (EDD) refresher training, & provision of retraining for the MDDs to work as EDDs. In November, MLI staff visited Northern Iraq to meet with MoP leadership, making the requests directly to the new general. He immediately signed an order to provide the vehicles & build a larger kennel for the K9s. Additionally, the MoP agreed to allow the retraining for their unused MDDs to train as EDDs to better suit their needs & properly utilize the dogs. MLI is currently working with our trainer to source the funding & full fill this training requirement. The EDD retraining will enable the MoP to effectively carry out needed work by reestablishing the unused MDDs as assets.