B. G eneral principles 1. Programme-based and strategic Institutions’ promotional activities should be programme-based, i.e., planned and tailored to meet defined needs, and should be: – Appropriate for the audience; – Designed to achieve their intended results; – Evaluated to determine the extent to which those results have been achieved. Programme-based activities should be strategic, cooperative and leveraged. Strategic approaches are developed through planning, with each element reinforcing strategic priorities. Activities should be progressive (from basic to more specific and indepth). The development of a publication on human rights and HIV/AIDS, for example, could be coupled with a general awareness programme and lead to a national seminar on the subject. Doing this not only reinforces core messages, but also keeps costs down. While some promotional activity may be considered core—annual reports, for example, or publications on what the NHRI does—the promotional programme as a whole should respond to identified strategic needs. A strategic approach also implies cooperation with partners. This helps to leverage resources, amplify messaging, improve community relations and minimize duplication. Cooperation also minimizes important gaps in the programme and, to the extent possible, avoids contradictory messages. Some institutions, for example, have created national promotion and education committees that include representatives from civil society for the specific purpose of encouraging and facilitating cooperation. Leverage is achieved by training trainers, which, if carried out properly, can produce spin-offs, most notably an increase in the number of promotional or training sessions and in the number of persons reached. Two factors are crucial to its success. First, the training must give individuals both the knowledge and the skills to train others. Second, since success depends on the individuals trained having the financial capacity or material resources to carry the programme forward, it is important to consider and support follow-up activities in the design stage. 2. Learner-centred Training and educational activities should be participant- or learner-centred, i.e., recognize, first, that each individual involved in the training activity brings something of quality that should be exploited and, second, that individuals learn best by active participation rather than passive listening. Panel discussions, group discussions and break-out sessions, role play, case studies and practical exercises should all be exploited. Human Rights Training: A Manual on Human Rights Training Methodology 54 reinforces this approach, stating that human rights training should be: ■■ ■■ 54 Interactive: since individuals learn best when they are involved in the process, the experience of trainees should be drawn on through interaction and active participation; Flexible: the trainer must allow for and encourage participation and not be overly rigid when it comes to timekeeping or interruptions; United Nations publication, Sales No. E.00.XIV.1. 59