1 II. Planning your Training Course 1. CARRY OUT A TRAINING NEEDS ASSESSMENT1 A training course on treaty reporting is, generally, initiated at the request of an interested party (e.g., State, national human rights institution or CSO). This initial communication often already conveys an idea of the purpose of the training and its content. However, in order to optimize the relevance and results of such a course, facilitators should conduct a training needs assessment (TNA). The TNA will enable them to fully understand the needs of potential learners and the context in which they work with the aim of informing decisions relating to the design of the training course. Through a TNA facilitators gather the information necessary for building an adequate picture of the main advances and challenges with respect to human rights treaties’ ratification, reporting status and follow-up, and implementation of recommendations, including the establishment or strengthening of a a national mechanism for reporting and follow-up (NMRF) in the country or region where the training will be taking place. Specific information to be gathered include, inter alia, the country’s or – in the case of regional training – countries’ ratification status and reporting history (e.g., number of overdue reports, and the scheduling and reporting procedure for reports for consideration during the coming year) as well as whether and when the common core document was submitted. This information can be easily accessed via the Treaty Body database, which is available at https://goo.gl/w5enqL. The latest information on State parties’ submission of common core documents is available at https://goo.gl/7C3eZ8. The information gathered will enable the1 facilitator to analyse and determine whether there is a need for a general training course on treaty reporting more broadly so that participants can re-engage with the Treaty Body system, a treaty-specific training course (indicating which treaty) or a combination of both. Gathering information on other treaty reporting training courses conducted in the country or region along with the results of such efforts is also useful for identifying the gaps which training course facilitators will be planning to fill. It also informs decisions relating to the learning objectives, methods, techniques, and time-frame of the planned training course. For example, sometimes materials and group activities may have to be changed completely to suit the context. The TNA will also assist in identifying the potential recipients of the training. For example, if the training is going to be conducted on reporting to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the government officials engaged in the preparation of that particular report may not necessarily also be members of the group preparing the State party report to the Human Rights Committee. Therefore it is essential to target the right participants, with a mix of: a) State officials with the relevant decisionmaking powers to move a draft report through the approval chains in the respective Government; and b) State officials with the technical knowledge to prepare the draft report including officials from relevant State institutions (Ministries, the National Statistical Office, the lead agency/ Ministry responsible for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, and possibly parliament). 1 For more information on training needs assessment please refer to: Equitas – International Centre for human rights education and OHCHR, Evaluating Human Rights Training Activities: A Handbook for human rights Educators, Professional Training Series No. 18, Geneva and Montreal, 2001. Available at http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ Publications/EvaluationHandbookPT18.pdf vii