POLICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF FIELD OPERATIONS SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE On 23 May and 4 December, the Mission supported the organization of 17th and 18th LPSC Executive Council Meeting as part of its project to support community safety initiatives through LPSCs. Both meetings focused on achievements during the fourth phase of the joint OSCERoyal Norwegian Embassy project, where members of LPSCs presented their implemented grassroots-based activities and exchanged best practices in addressing community safety and security-related concerns. They also identified common issues and concerns mainly related to the principle of voluntary participation without financial compensation, lack of project funding, and poor participation and support from governmental and municipal authorities. The meetings hosted around 230 participants, including the Minister of Internal Affairs, Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Norwegian Ambassador, senior police managers, members of 60 LPSCs and various local and international stakeholders. The second meeting also hosted representatives of public safety councils from Albania. From 15 to 17 September, the Mission supported an LPSC from Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North and the KP in organizing a multi-ethnic youth camp for Kosovo Albanian, Kosovo Serbian and Kosovo Bosniak students of secondary and high schools of Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North. As part of its project to support community safety initiatives through LPSCs, the “Youth Camp for Better Future” was held in Prizren municipality, hosting 54 participants aged between 16 and 24. The initiative aimed to promote multi-ethnic co-operation among youth from different communities and improve their co-operation and communication with LPSC members and KP. Participants learned about advocacy and negotiation skills, and the importance of dialogue and understanding. On 18 September, in its efforts to further encourage the engagement and contribution of community safety mechanisms in the safety sector, the Mission hosted a workshop on the monitoring tool and LPSC database, which the Mission specifically tailored for the needs of community safety forums. Representatives of the MoIA and KP were introduced to these two valuable tools, with the purpose of enhancing knowledge about their appropriate use, as well as the expected outcomes and challenges from their utilization in the future. From 2 to 14 November, the Mission supported the KP in organizing four meetings to raise community awareness on the role of LPSCs in promoting community safety and security, and to encourage new members of communities to join these mechanisms. Some 150 participants, including community members and those of LPSCs from different ethnic groups, police officers from various regions with responsibility in community policing, and representatives of the Mission, took part in these meetings. Police officers introduced the participants to the role of LPSC as an important community safety mechanism which provides the local community members from different ethnic groups with a platform to discuss community issues and concerns, and ways to address these concerns to improve the quality of life. It was also stressed that LPSCs are effective mechanisms in promoting multi-ethnic co-operation and in enhancing communication between members of different ethnicities, police and other actors working in community safety. From 20 to 24 November, the Mission delivered community safety training to ten selected members of four new LPSCs identified as future trainers. The purpose was to equip the new trainers with training techniques and expand their partnership and problem-solving skills, as well as to promote the community policing philosophy in different regions. During the training, participants were introduced to the principles of adult learning, training methods, lesson planning, facilitation skills, and other instruction-related topics. Additionally, participants learned about the principles and tools of community safety and community policing, and received a package of training materials developed for training community safety fora members to enable them to address pertinent issues of safety, security and quality of life in their areas. At the end of the training, participants successfully developed and presented their own lesson plans, thus qualifying for conducting future training courses. Municipal Community Safety Councils (MCSC) The central and local elections held in the same calendar year disabled the Mission from implementing important activities such as training of MCSC trainers and regional workshops on community safety in each KP region, while the adoption of a new Community Safety Strategy and Action Plan was postponed and should be adopted by the new government in 2018. In spite of these significant constraints, the Mission continued to gradually shift its focus from capacity-building to a strategic advisory role, in further support of the agencies responsible for structuring and enabling the longterm sustainability of municipal safety forums. Efforts were made to further streamline and promote inclusivity and participation by devising effective public awareness products which foster civil-police relations and improve general knowledge on community safety principles, solutions and needed improvements. 61