56 Trial Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners 7.2.1 Higher management responsibilities and staffing The programme manager, regardless of her/his specific title, is the trial-monitoring programme’s highest operational authority, charged with three main categories of responsibility: leading and guiding the programme’s work; managing the administration of the programme; and advocacy, including representing the programme externally. The chart below lists the most common types of activities for the senior management of trial-monitoring programmes. Higher management responsibilities • programme implementation, including setting policies on focus and methodology, developing programme strategy, determining the scope of advocacy activities, and assessing the programme’s impact; • oversight of operational issues, including case selection and identification, ensuring access and approving the content of public reports; • providing regular support to monitors, including periodic training and educational materials, addressing security and psychological-support issues; • administrative management responsibilities, including managing the budget and overseeing personnel issues, such as hiring and evaluations; and • programme representation, advocacy and lobbying at senior levels, including with domestic and international partners, stakeholders and the media. The trial-monitoring programme manager reports to and is under the supervision of another professional, who is usually outside the core programme structure. This might be, for example, the director of the human rights department or the head of mission. Most of the time, strategic planning of monitoring operations, projects, reports and higher level advocacy are approved by the programme manager’s supervisor. Despite their significance, the functions of these top professionals outside the monitoring programme are not addressed in this manual, except as they affect more operational issues. In engaging the programme manager, supervisors should ensure that the individual has sound substantive knowledge of human rights standards and legal proceedings, demonstrable managerial experience and excellent communication and representational skills. Prior experience as a lawyer or justice actor is significant in understanding the challenges faced by the domestic justice system, while prior engagement in trial monitoring equips the manager with first-hand knowledge of lessons learned and good practices on helping programmes function effectively. Managers of systemic trial-monitoring programmes should ideally commit themselves to their post for a substantial length of time. Although this is desirable for all team members, it is particularly important for the higher-level posts, as the results of trial-monitoring activities can take a long period to materialize. Since one of a manager’s duties is to assess the effectiveness of a programme’s activities and outputs – and to redirect resources if appropriate – a long-term commitment can ensure that a monitoring strategy is implemented as planned and benefits from a manager’s institutional memory. 65 For OSCE or ODIHR programmes using the project model, the post of programme co-ordinator might best be filled by an OSCE staff member, even if monitors and legal analysts are engaged as contractors. Such standing can provide a better basis for the programme co-ordinator to discharge advocacy responsibilities. The choice between engaging a national or international manager should be based on a number of factors, including the local context, domestic capacity to staff such posts and the likely perception of the local authorities towards dealing with a national or international manager. If managers are international staff members, they should avoid “transposing” through the programme’s output aspects of a foreign legal system that may not be easily adapted to the hosting country. Rather, while 65  A sample terms of reference for a monitoring team leader can be found in Annex V.A.