Some institutions actively encourage senior university students to prepare their theses on issues of importance to human rights through, for example, the offering of prizes for outstanding work. This approach not only benefits the students individually but also encourages further study and advancement in the understanding of human rights generally, including in ways that might benefit the institution. 3. Educational initiatives in the informal sector Educational initiatives need to reach people outside the formal school system, in particular street children, working children and homeless children and young adults. Nongovernmental organizations working with these groups sometimes offer informal educational opportunities. Similarly, governmental and/or community efforts can be mobilized towards literacy training for adults. Again, some institutions cooperate in these efforts, sometimes simply by developing human rights-related material that can be used to teach literacy. Professional training: General Professional training generally includes four components: ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ An information component—what human rights are and why they are important; A knowledge component—what particular rights standards are and how they apply to the professional context; A practical component—applying human rights standards to the work of the professional being trained; and An awareness component—how can the attitudes and behaviour of the professional being trained change so that human rights violations do not occur? Professional training aims at a complete understanding of human rights standards and supports the transformation of knowledge into operational skills. The sessions are, therefore, longer and more detailed than general awareness sessions and often involve outside experts. For these same reasons, professional training programmes tend to be relatively costly. National human rights institutions should start by seeking the agreement and cooperation of the organization itself to carry out professional training. Where this willingness is lacking, ongoing negotiations may be necessary, with the organization and with Government leaders to build support. There may be instances where professional training is the result of a binding ruling as a result of a human rights violation or a complaint, and the organization can be shown that its potential liability may be mitigated if it can demonstrate that it has provided appropriate human rights training to its employees. While NHRIs may conduct training programmes, especially at the beginning, most design their efforts so that ongoing responsibility for the training rests with the employer. For this reason, they often use a training-of-trainers (TOT) approach in professional training. Professional training courses must: ■■ Suit the particular audience; ■■ Emphasize international and national human rights standards applicable to the dayto-day tasks of the professionals being trained; ■■ Use experienced trainers drawn from the same field as the participants; 64