Upcoming trainings:

• Nepal, May 2008: Fact-finding training for a group of child-rights NGOs supported by Save the Children - Nepal.

Recent or ongoing training and capacity building projects:

• Geneva, May 2008: Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This course was a joint initiative of both the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) and HURIDOCS.  It provided staff from small and medium organisations (in particular NGOs) with the know-how to get started in monitoring ESC rights. More information.

• Kenya, April 2008: Documentation training for members of the Amnesty Netherlands SPA trainers pool. These trainers provide training on the Ukweli manual for fact-finding and reporting. The training focussed on documentation of violations using the WinEvsys database system.

• Geneva Advanced Training course, January 2008: the first edition brought together information management specialists from NGOs, with which HURIDOCS has been working in recent years. The main output of this workshop was to define the requirements for Open Evsys, the which will be a next-generation open source version of the WinEvsys database. The participants were also introduced to the indicators approach to documenting violations, and to the basics of information design.  Photo gallery.

• Zimbabwe, September to December 2007: HURIDOCS worked with Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP),  whose 240 field based monitors investigate and document politically-motivated violence in Zimbabwe. HURIDOCs helped ZPP assess their information handling processes, and re-designed their monitoring approach in line the Events documentation methodology. ZPP now operates a high-capacity documentation centre in Harare based on the WinEvsys database. As part of this capacity building project, Amnesty International also contributed training on fact-finding for ZPP's field monitors, using the Ukweli course materials.

• Bangladesh, August 2007 to May 2008: HURIDOCS and Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) partnered to offer capacity building. The organisations include BRAC and BLAST. The project includes a training of trainers in fact-finding, and a training on techniques for documenting violations. The project also includes a one-day workshop for managers, to introduce the techniques and tools to them, and to facilitate coordination and collaboration in the area of documenting violations. See photo gallery of managers workshop, of documentation training.
  

• Indonesia - July 2007: HURIDOCS partnered with Tifa Foundation to provide training on techniques for documenting violations to a group of Indonesian human rights organisations, including Kontras, Imparsial, Elsam, and Komnas HAM Indonesia. The training focussed on the events approach, using the WinEvsys database system to record violations. After the training, the participants formed a support groups animated by Tifa Foundation, to continue the collaboration in the field of documenting violations. See the photo gallery.
  

• Romania - April 2007: HURIDOCS trained human rights monitors from the ILGA-Europe network. The three-day course, entitled "Gathering and Using Information to Combat Discrimination", covered use of standard formats, controlled vocabularies, handling interviews, writing reports, making interventions. Participants came from all over central Europe. See the photo gallery.
  

• Maputo, Mozambique - March 2007: in partnership with Amnesty Netherlands SPA (Special Program for Africa), and the Liga Moçambicana dos Direitos Humanos (LMDH), HURIDOCS is training a group of NGOs in documenting human rights violations using the WinEvsys database system. See the photo gallery.
  

• Ankara, Turkey - March and April 2007: as part of a Netherlands Helsinki Committee project, together with two major Turkish human rights NGOs, Human Rights Association of Turkey and Mazlumder, HURIDOCS trained a team of trainers in fact-finding and reporting. These trainers will then be able to train to volunteers at branch level. Connected to November project with IHOP (see below).

• Kathmandu, Nepal - February 2007: in partnership with OHCHR and the Nepali Human Rights Commission (NHRC), HURIDOCS delivered two simultaneous trainings: a five-day training on monitoring and fact-finding for 10 NHRC protection officers, and a five-day training on documenting violations using the WinEvsys database system for documentalists from 10 Nepali human rights NGOs. See the photo gallery.
  

• Geneva, Switzerland - December 2006: in partnerhsip with OHCHR and the UNAMI, HURIDOCS organised a ten-day course on library management for Iraqi human rights librarians. These librarians work in university libraries and at the libraries of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. The course was given in Arabic, included modules on how to use and adapt of CDS-ISIS, and several study visits: UNHCR and OHCHR documentation centers, UNOG library, library of law faculty of Geneva University. See the photo gallery.

• Ankara, Turkey – November 2006: in partnership with IHOP, HURIDOCS provided training in documentation to a group of human rights NGOs. IHOP is joint platform bringing human rights NGOs in Turkey, and its strategic aim is to enhance monitoring and alternative reporting capacities. The participating NGOs are setting up the HURIDOCS WinEvsys database system to pool together data collected on human rights violations. IHOP translated manuals and software into Turkish. See the photo gallery.

• Geneva, Switzerland - July 2006: in partnership with doCip, Chirapaq and RAIPON, HURIDOCS provided two simultaneous trainings on documenting human rights violations to a group of indigenous peoples' organisations. The first group brough together participants from all over Latin and Central America; the second group brought together documentalists working for indigenous peoples organizations in Russia and Ukraine. The training took place in Geneva, so that the participants could also participate in the discussions at the United Nations related to the rights of indigenous peoples. Drawing on the resources of its international trainers pool, HURIDOCS was able to provide these trainings in both Russian and Spanish. See the photo galleries of the Spanish-speaking course and the Russian-speaking course. Read the report of the Russian-speaking course (at the website of Tribal Links, which provided useful support).

• Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia – July 2006: in partnership with the OSCE, HURIDOCS provided training on documenting human rights violations to a group of NGOs working in favor of refugees. Up to now, these organizations have mainly been providing their beneficiaries with legal assistance and information, mainly with regards to problems relating to access to housing and property. They wish to move to a more active advocacy effort, and will use the HURIDOCS WinEvsys database system to build a synthetic analysis of problems affecting refugees in this area. See photo gallery.

• Liberia – February 2006: in partnership with FOHRD, a Liberian NGO, HURIDOCS provided training in documentation to a group of Liberian human rights NGOs. Their strategic aim is to produce a joint annual report on the human rights situation in Liberia. The participating NGOs are setting up the HURIDOCS WinEvsys database system to pool together data collected on human rights violations, and provide the analysis for this joint report. See the photo gallery.
  

"During the training I learned that one of the best ways for documenting human rights violations is to use the programme WinEvsys. The training focused not only on the programme itself, but also on training trainers studying the skills of trainers and learning how to make it easy for others to understand the programme. All the participants were different and that helped me gain more understanding through sharing experiences”.
Keti Tarqashvili, Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre, Georgia.