REPORTING TO THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES TRAINING GUIDE: Part II — Notes for Facilitators Once the facilitator has established a good understanding of the context and the target group for the training, it is essential to identify the capacity gaps or needs of the trainees. This can be done through consultations with relevant representatives of the State party or region, a review of existing documentation, formal interviews with representative learners, or by means of a questionnaire or application form circulated prior to the course. The pre-course questionnaire helps with the evaluation of the individual level of knowledge of participants, their roles and responsibilities in the organization to which they belong (e.g., managerial position or technical level, previous treaty report drafting expertise, or previous exposure as part of a State party delegation in the constructive dialogue with a Committee) and their expectations from the training which would influence the design of the intended training (see sample in Annex 1). It is also instrumental in customizing the training agenda to fit the particular learning needs of the participants (e.g., greater focus on topics with which participants are clearly less familiar or have to address frequently). Facilitators may wish to consider sending to participants a pre-course assignment to assist them in familiarizing themselves, at least in part, with what to expect from the training (see sample in Annex 2). A pre-course assignment also helps the facilitator collect evidence of participants’ prior knowledge and experience. 2. DEVELOP LEARNING OBJECTIVES2 A training course on treaty reporting should lead to a result such as the submission by the State party of the relevant outstanding report(s) to a Treaty Body or, if the training is undertaken for other stakeholders, submission of additional information to the Treaty Body by those stakeholders. To attain this expected outcome a single training course will most likely be insufficient. Several courses (of varying length), drafting workshops, or other interventions might be needed to lead to the viii 2 Ibid, pp. 60-65 for further information on how to develop and write learning objectives. submission of an outstanding report or additional information. Whenever a course is part of a wellsequenced tool-box of interventions, the course should also have specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound learning objectives based on the TNA. A learning objective can be defined as an outcome statement that captures specifically what knowledge, skills and attitudes learners should be able to exhibit following training. Participants need to be empowered to apply the knowledge and skills acquired or developed during the training course and to be aware of what they should expect to be able to do after each course and of the timeline within which that result could be achieved; for example to prepare a workplan for the preparation of the report, to prepare a draft outline of the report, or to finalize the report, all of which needs to be clarified from the outset. In addition to the learning objectives of the course, each session should have specific learning objectives which contribute to the overall objectives of the course. When developing learning objectives use ACTION VERBS denoting what the learner should be able to do. Examples: By the end of the training participants should be able to: a) Identify and appraise existing governmental structures for engagement with the international human rights mechanisms, in particular the Treaty Bodies; b) Distinguish the functions of the Treaty Bodies and explain how to report to a Treaty Body; c) Explain the reporting procedure of the Treaty Bodies; d) Prepare/Finalize the (outline of a) report of the State party to the Committee against Torture; and/or e) Describe the benefits of holding meaningful consultations with stakeholders along the preparation of the State party report. For detailed information on how to develop course goals and learning objectives, see the revised OHCHR Manual on Designing, Managing and Delivering Human Rights Training.