MONITORING PLACES OF DETENTION : A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR NGOS 31 I- PREPARING A GENERAL PLAN OF ACTION 1. PRELIMINARY CONDITIONS FOR THE NGO Whether the NGO already has activities in the field of deprivation of liberty or whether it is not yet active at all, it should ask itself a number of questions before undertaking concrete steps to obtain access to persons deprived of their liberty. The list of questions below is not exhaustive; it is merely an aid for drawing up a plan of action. 1.1. The profile of the NGO In order to begin the process of persuading the authorities to grant the necessary authorisation for a monitoring programme, the NGO must first introduce itself: What it is, what it does, what it wants to do, for whom and how. Are the following points sufficiently developed and wellargued in the NGO's presentation? ■ the mission that it has set itself, its goals and objectives; ■ its values; ■ its procedures and working methods; ■ its spheres of competence.