assessed by legal analysts. The discussion of case reports helps legal analysts clarify reporting that may not be clear, and the process often raises additional issues that may not have been included in the report. As monitoring and reporting activities become more regularized, feedback should continue. Legal analysts may also choose to rotate their feedback, for instance, by concentrating on the reporting of a different monitor each week. 7.5.2 Regular team meetings In larger-scale programmes, another co-ordination tool are monthly meetings among all monitors or monitors in a particular region to discuss issues relevant to monitoring. To be effective, such meetings should be regularly scheduled and be presided over by a legal analyst or other supervisor. Such meetings bring a team together in an informal and constructive atmosphere and serve as a management tool to allow information to be imparted and issues to be raised. Meetings can also serve to supplement training with discussion of specific legal issues and problems, as well as identify limitations in methodology. Where circumstances, including geography, make monthly meetings of all monitors difficult, meetings may also be organized on a regional level to avoid extended travel. As an example, the LSMS, OSCE Mission in Kosovo, regularly schedules such monthly meetings for all monitors and monitoring staff. Meetings are used to highlight specific legal issues, to re-direct the focus of monitoring, and to provide training as necessary. These meetings bring together the team and allow for sharing and comparing experiences, as well as discussion of national or local legal developments. In this way, meetings provide the LSMS with a regular venue to exchange information and build consistent practices. 7.5.3 Report-sharing Monitoring programmes, like other types of field activities with an information-gathering component, are structured hierarchically to provide information to a centralized point. As such, programmes must consistently seek to compensate for the natural tendency of information to flow upward. In addition to the compilation of regular internal reports, the direct sharing of case reports among monitors may serve to counter this tendency. In this way, report-sharing serves as a method to improve monitoring and reporting skills through the exposure of monitors to other practices. A number of programmes facilitate the sharing and review of case reports among monitors. As an example, the trial-monitoring programme of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina has encouraged sharing of reports among monitors on an informal basis through e-mail. Reports are also available in a computer database accessible by all monitors, subject to the protection of confidential information that is not accessible. In whatever manner reports are shared, the process allows monitors to compare their monitoring and reporting to other monitors. This allows insight into the issues identified by colleagues and a means to make their own monitoring and reporting more thorough. In these ways, sharing case reports is also an inexpensive and efficient way to facilitate better consistency in reporting methodology. Trial-Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners 97