A series of trainings on “Effective representation of the rights and freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons”, organised for representatives of newly created human rights organisations and NGOs working in the field of protection internally displaced persons (further IDPs) rights, was completed during September 2016. Around 25 civil society leaders from each region participated during the last two trainings. Approximately 100 representatives were covered during all trainings held in August and September 2016. The last two trainings were organised on 15-16 September in Svyatogirsk, Donetsk region and on 17-18 September in Severodonetsk, Lugansk region.

Support to civil society organization is a cross-cutting priority of the Project. Therefore, the aim of this training series was to support the capacity of small or newly created civil society organizations working in the regions with IDPs in local communities. During the training all participants received basic knowledge about the Council of Europe standards in the field of human rights and improved their skills to effectively protect basic rights and interests of IDPs, in particularly by acquainted themselves with different types, phases and strategies of advocacy campaign.

Besides that, participants learned about different initiatives of electronic petitions, how to request different public information relevant to the rights of IDPs, types and levels of cooperation between the government and public representatives, types of communication channels and lobby, etc. All participants evaluated the trainings very positively, in particular pointing to the impact of the trainings on the future advocacy activities of the organisations they represent and on the utility of the baseline analysis “Enhancing the National Legal Framework in Ukraine for Protecting the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons”. The Project will continue to organise actives aimed at promoting and developing integration of IDPs into local communities.