4.6 Mission to Skopje mentoring process, the tasks of a mentor as well as the key mentoring skills35. to acquire best practice through a number of role-play and real-life scenario exercises. From 8 to 17 May, the Mission conducted two basic training seminars in Skopje for 28 women police officers with less than five years of police experience. The seminars focused on active listening, defining personal objectives, giving/ receiving feedback and basic gender training. During the workshop, the new trainers also delivered some of the lessons learned. On 30 and 31 October, the Mission organized the “Gender Workshop for Police Senior Management” in Ohrid with the aim of familiarizing police heads on gender issues and to request their support in fostering gender equality in the service and support participants in the gender mentoring programme. Experts from the UN, TNTD/SPMU and MoIA covered topics related to gender-related bias, the benefits of gender equality for society, gender equality policy frameworks, and gender mainstreaming within a police environment. The MoIA expert also presented best practice on gender equality and institutional culture, acquired during a study visit to the Austrian Federal MoI, facilitated by the Mission earlier in 2019. At the conclusion of the workshop, participants agreed on a set of recommendations for developing a greater understanding of gender equality in the police. On 29 May, the Mission organized a ‘kick-off ’ meeting in Skopje for the mentoring process where mentors and mentees began to work together in pairs. Both the mentors and mentees used specially prepared toolkits, consisting of samples for agreement, protocols of meetings and tasks. From 1 to 3 July, the Mission organized a study visit for four representatives in the Bureau of Public Safety to the Austrian Federal MoI’s Centre of Organizational Culture and Equal Treatment in Vienna. During the visit, the delegation was familiarized with the Austrian national police structure, gender-disaggregated data, responsibilities, focus areas and the plan for promoting women. The delegation visited the TNTD/SPMU where they learned about the ongoing Gender-based violence project as well as other project ideas for supporting the participation of women in the police service. From 29 to 31 July, the Mission organized an advanced workshop in Veles for mentors on defining mentoring aims and reading non-verbal communication. Facilitated by two external consultants commissioned by the Mission, participants discussed ways to increase self-confidence and to use tactics to ensure successful time management when leading the mentoring process. A focus group of mentors also brainstormed on possible measures to further motivate women from different ethnic backgrounds to apply to join the police. From 19 to 20 September, 2 to 4 October and 16 to 18 October, the Mission organized three workshops in Struga on effective policing in multicultural societies for 72 police officers working in ethnically mixed communities in the Sectors for Internal Affairs (SIA) in Skopje, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Veles, Stip, Ohrid and Strumica. During the event, the Mission presented a variety of techniques for overcoming biases and judgements police face in their work, as well as strengthening public trust through more effective communications. The workshops also provided participants with the opportunity 35 Such as building trust, active listening, asking questions, setting objectives, and providing feedback and steps during the mentoring process. 94 On 15 November, the Mission organized a closing event in Skopje for the “Mentoring Programme for Women in Police”. During the event, 60 mentors and mentees shared their experiences during the process and presented a set of recommendations. All participants agreed that the Programme was important in terms of empowering women, by developing their knowledge, experiences and skills. Community Policing, Police-Public Relations and Crime Prevention On 3 and 4 April, with the aim of exploring opportunities for strengthening co-operation between the police and local multi-ethnic communities in crime prevention, the Mission organized a workshop in Struga on “Strengthening co-operation between the Police and representatives of civil society and local self-government institutions”, targeting several municipalities in the City of Skopje. The event brought together 30 representatives from the police and Local Crime Preventive Councils, CSOs, community policing practitioners, national experts as well as representatives from the region. During the workshop, participants discussed the issues and challenges in providing community safety by introducing community policing principles into police work and by discussing the involvement of self-government institutions and other stakeholders. From 14 to 17 May, the Mission conducted a training seminar in Ohrid on “Community Policing in multicultural communities - Effective Communication and Community Engagement and Bike Patrolling Techniques”. A bike instructor trained seven Bike Unit police officers from SIA Ohrid on strengthening police-community relations while on bike patrols. The training also included training on bike