4.4 Mission to Montenegro On 18 and 19 June, to support WPA representatives in better adjusting to the changing environment caused by the restructuring in the PD, the Mission organized a workshop on change management. The event aimed to provide effective tools for participants to better understand the impact of change, while learning how to support and adjust to change, deal with resistance and foster a sense of common purpose to achieve optimal working standards. The knowledge and skills imparted through the workshop will assist participants in strengthening capacities across different teams, departments, and hierarchical levels within the PD, both internally and externally. A training for re-accreditation of the Forensic laboratory to international standard of quality ISO/IEC 17025:2017, aimed at equipping forensic experts with the necessary skills to comply with the updated standards, Danilovgrad, Montenegro, December 2019. (Darko Dakovic) examine the challenges to the participation of women in international peace and security efforts. Panel discussions addressed ways to increase the number of women working in the security sector, including best practice and lessons learned. Participants came from the police and armed forces of Albania, BiH, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Germany, Israel, Italy, France, Moldova, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and US. At the margins of the event, the TNTD/ SPMU Police Adviser presented the TNTD/SPMU’s multi-year initiative “Increasing and Supporting Women’s Participation at All Levels of Policing”, during which the Montenegrin authorities volunteered to serve as the pilot project for this initiative in the SEE region. Subsequently, the Mission advocated for funding with the Italian Government donating EUR 48,559. The Mission will continue to act as a platform for co-ordinating the initiative with national stakeholders and international donors in partnership with TNTD/SPMU, and will support the foreseen activities in 2020 once remaining project funds for Montenegro are raised. On 13 and 14 June, as part of its assistance to the PD in strengthening gender mainstreaming, the Mission organized a training seminar in Podgorica on project drafting techniques for the WPA. The course introduced five WPA representatives to the methodology and principles of drafting project proposals, which will enhance their capacities in strengthening the overall sustainability of the WPA. 76 On 13 November, in partnership with DCAF and the Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector in Norway, the Mission supported the PD in organizing the annual meeting of “Police Persons of Trust’” in Podgorica. Some 30 participants from the PD, NSA, as well as experts from Norway, Serbia and Slovenia participated in the meeting. The “Police Persons of Trust” mechanism was introduced by the PD in 2018 to support gender-mainstreaming activities during the implementation of measures in the Action Plan for increasing the number of women in the PD, such as open days in the police and outreach visits to secondary schools. During the meeting, participants shared best practice, challenges, and similar support mechanisms for police officers. They also acknowledged that “Police Persons of Trust” required management support, personal motivation, continuity, as well as mentoring assistance. Gender-based Violence During 2019, in co-operation with the Secretariat’s Programme for Gender Issues, the Mission supported the PD in raising awareness and active participation of all relevant society actors in preventing and combating violence against women. As only a small percentage of women have reported that they have experienced violence by their partners, the Mission produced promotional and educational material that was published in all cities. The Mission also launched an online resource containing help and information support to prevent and combat violence against women. By 1 November, 261 criminal offences related to domestic violence were committed in Montenegro and 1,304 misdemeanour charges were filed in relation to 1,479 misdemeanours, which had violated the law. The PD continued to co-operate with all social actors involved in the prevention and suppression of domestic violence and participated in the work of multidisciplinary local government teams. Montenegro is one of the first states among those who signed and ratified the Istanbul Convention, committed to amending legislation, introduce practical measures and provide resources for the effective prevention of violence against women and domestic violence.