203. As the Ministerial Council in Oslo recommended in 1998, OSCE missions should be instructed to identify actions that should be undertaken by the host State to improve compliance with human dimension commitments, and suggest how the ODIHR might bring its expertise to bear. To this end, the ODIHR should assist missions in enhancing their reporting on human rights and the appropriate lines of communication between the ODIHR and the missions should be further developed. 204. At the request of field operations, the ODIHR has been organizing, since 2004, quarterly training courses in Warsaw for new human dimension officers in field operations. The purpose is to introduce new mission members to the human dimension and the ODIHR, as well as to provide hands-on training for mission work. The training curriculum is flexible and adjustable to the participants’ profiles. As such, it is specifically designed for human dimension officers, complementing the more general induction training in Vienna. Often, participants have spent some time in the field prior to the training, which ensures that the training meets the needs in the field and enables the sharing of information among participants. The training is open to international and local staff, including longer-serving mission staffers, who can often contribute by bringing in their specific expertise. These training events have been attended by some 100 participants annually from all field operations across the OSCE region. 205. The enhanced focus on programming and project development in co-operation with the field operations and its newer role as training provider are illustrative of the ODIHR’s function as OSCE competence centre in the human dimension. Given the political choice to prevent the OSCE from becoming a “career organization” by limiting the time staff can serve, lessons learned and good practices — in particular those in the field — risk being lost or forgotten. An increasing number of ODIHR staff combine their practical experience in field operations with a qualitatively enhanced focus on supporting field operations. Over the years, this has meant that the ODIHR has become a depository of successful strategies, methodologies, structures, and projects in the human dimension. 206. The relationship of the ODIHR with field operations is shaped by the respective mandates, comparative advantages, and capacities. This does not necessarily mean that the ­ODIHR plays a bigger role in smaller missions and a more marginal one in larger missions, especially those in South-Eastern Europe. Experience has shown that it is precisely those larger missions with full-fledged programmes on human rights, rule of law, or democratization that need an outside reference point, a depository for lessons learned, a resource centre that can bring in knowledge from other field operations. 207. In close collaboration with the Conflict Prevention Centre and especially its Project Coordination Cell, the ODIHR can be used for safeguarding missions’ expertise in the human dimension for the benefit of the whole organization. The Office thus plans to further expand on this relay and exchange function, which has come to be most appreciated by OSCE staff in the field, who are often not in a position to do research and comparative analyses themselves. Due to these efforts, the effectiveness of the OSCE’s assistance to States will continue to improve. Common Responsibility: Commitments and Implementation 69