during the two weeks of the HDIM. Lessons learned from the experimental holding of an SHDM in a venue outside of Vienna suggest that moving the largest and longest meeting, the HDIM itself, to another location is not advisable. While the readiness and ability of States to participate in such an event appear limited,110 the holding of SHDMs in other locations may raise public profile and contribute to regional ownership but must be thoroughly prepared and adequately funded and attended. C. The ODIHR’s programmatic approach to technical assistance 182. While in its early years the ODIHR focused primarily on the organization of human dimension meetings and on monitoring the implementation of commitments through, for instance, the observation of elections, participating States have increasingly sought technical assistance from the ODIHR to meet their commitments. Since 1998, the ODIHR has been systematically providing technical assistance to a growing number of OSCE participating States. 183. Naturally, the diversity of challenges faced by participating States also affects the focus, duration, and modalities of ODIHR projects and programmes. The ODIHR, with the support of OSCE States, has responded to this with great flexibility, tailoring assistance to the field context in order to maximize its effectiveness. Some activities are of a regional or transborder character, many address post-conflict needs, several are generic and general, whereas others are customized to meet a unique challenge. Also, in terms of target groups, partners and techniques, the ODIHR has developed a broad variety of approaches in order to maximize the impact of its field activities. 184. Technical-assistance projects serve participating States because they are a vehicle for providing ODIHR expertise directly in the field. They also constitute a useful source for learning from practices in the field and gathering additional expertise. These lessons are fed back into the ODIHR’s overall planning process for future activities. This process also enables lessons learned in one part of the OSCE to be shared, via the ODIHR, with other participating States. Furthermore, successful project work is one of the elements that may enhance political momentum for reform within a particular participating State. Several years of hands-on experience with project implementation has given the ODIHR considerable knowledge of the operational side of field activities, as well as invaluable practical feedback for its more standard-related work on human dimension commitments emerging from the Warsaw and Vienna meetings. The implementation of projects in the field has thus become one of the ODIHR’s primary tools for bringing life to abstract human dimension principles, which serves its overall mandate and meets its responsibility towards the Organization. 185. The ODIHR carries out its core mandate through programmes on elections, democratization, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, as well as through a special Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues. These programmes are described and justified in the Programme Outline and in the annual Unified Budget document. They form the basis of the ODIHR’s operations. The various OSCE mechanisms, action plans, and specific recommendations emerging from human dimension meetings complete the foundation on which the ODIHR’s activity is built. Technical-assistance activities are conducted either on the basis of 110  Only 24 participating States chose to be represented at the SHDM held in Tbilisi on 3-4 November 2005. 64 Common Responsibility: Commitments and Implementation