POLICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF FIELD OPERATIONS SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE experts of international supporting organizations involved in further planning of the Master's programme for the KAPS. This activity, co-ordinated with the European Union (EU) Office in Kosovo and the KAPS, marked the conclusion of the project funded by the German government and implemented by the Mission (in 2016 and early 2017), to support KAPS in developing a post-graduate programme on public safety and security studies. From 24 to 26 January, the Mission facilitated a workshop and provided its expertise in finalizing the Communication Strategy and Action Plan 2017-2019 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA). The event hosted 22 representatives of MoIA and its subordinate agencies, as well as other international partners expected to assist in the implementation of the strategy and its associated action plan. As a key instrument to build strong, accountable and transparent institutions, the strategy emphasises the commitment of the MoIA and its agencies to advance communication with the public. It also assists the security sector agencies to strategically communicate with the public, design outreach activities to ensure that people understand what they do, and to present the success of their work. On 7 March and 11 April, the Mission delivered two media relation training modules to 50 participants of the KP, Customs, Correctional Service and Emergency Management Agency, attending the first line supervision and the mid-management training courses at the KAPS. The first specifically designed module for first-line supervisors covered issues pertaining to the media landscape and legal framework and media monitoring bodies. The second module, delivered to middle managers of these agencies, addressed the role of media in informing the public of the work and achievements of the public safety sector, thus creating a positive public image and building public trust. It further conveyed the purpose of media relations, which is not only to share information, but also to increase public knowledge on security issues and raise awareness, change attitudes and mobilize the community. The gained knowledge from both modules was also practiced through a number of specific on-job scenarios designed to cover multi-sectorial involvement in communication. From 28 to 30 April, the Mission facilitated a workshop and provided its expertise in the process of accreditation and validation of the KAPS vocational education competencebased curricula for basic training of the KP, PIK, customs, emergency management, and correctional and probation services. The workshop gathered 32 senior representatives of relevant institutions to develop an infrastructure for accreditation of the new formal vocational education training for law enforcement providers. Experts from the KAPS, Ministry of Education, National Qualification Authority (NQA), police and other public safety agencies, alongside those from the Mission and the EU Twinning Project, supported the KAPS to draft the institutional selfevaluation report, standardize its vocational curricula, define professional standards based on European Qualification Framework criteria, and prepare the application for institutional accreditation. This new reviewed curricula will undergo the accreditation process including the quality control from NQA in the beginning of 2018, after which the KAPS would become the only accredited formal vocational education training institution licensed as a public safety provider. From 14 to 16 September, the Mission organized a workshop to support the KAPS in developing a mentoring and internship programme for basic training of public safety agencies, namely KP, PIK, customs, emergency management, corrections and probation services. The working group comprised of senior management of the KAPS and its academic staff, as well as senior representatives of public safety agencies, jointly finalized the first manual for the internship programme, which will serve as a guideline to define the goaloriented systematic and evaluated learning through practical work. Aiming to introduce the best European practices and properly apply classroom knowledge into practice, the working group members, alongside the Mission, EU and International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) field experts, developed a dynamic plan for the implementation of internship programme. The programme will cover 40 per cent theory and 60 per cent field training throughout two-and-half year professional basic training for new law enforcement cadets. Senior mentors will be nominated from public safety agencies and will assign duties and provide advice to the cadets on achieving the learning outcomes described in the theoretical vocational training handbook. From 30 October to 3 November, six senior officers of the KP Human Resources Department, accompanied by the Mission’s staff, conducted a research visit to Munich and Vienna. The purpose of this visit was to identify best practices and policies in police distribution to respective regions and units, which could be adapted to internal procedures of the KP on human resources management. During the visit, officers of the research tour, who are also members of the internal working group for developing the procedure and criteria on distribution of police personnel, obtained valuable insight from their counterparts in Munich and Vienna and identified a set of actions to undertake in order to improve their procedures. 55