1. John Macauley UNDP Regional Center - Bratislava Human Rights and Justice Community of Practice UPDATE

2. Rationale – Communties of Practice 2 simple answers to this question: –Rationale reason: UNDP has branded itself as a knowledge organization – corporate mandate –Practical reason: the capacity of members of the COP to work together and address common issues – learn from the experience of others

3. What has been done so far? Decentralization and Local Governance – is the most active CoP – created sub-regional action plans on the basis of survey Public Private Partnerships HIV/AIDS – created a lot of interest from the country offices – How to guide on Building local partnerships to address HIV/AIDS Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Civic Engagement ICTD – a group of focal points that have started to work together

4. What has been done so far? Continued Gender – also very active group of focal points that have been working together for over 2 years Energy and Environment – will start up a COP this year Public Adminstration and Reform - Anticorruption – an area of high demand and a priority for UNDP. Plans for the first COP meeting at the end of May 2005 Human Rights and Justice – update below

5. WEBSITE WEBSITE – as agreed upon at last COP meeting a HR and J website was set up to enhance the exchange of information Structure of the website – Contacts Experts Regional programming Publications/materials Interesting links Ombudsman Roundtables and CoP meetings information Knowledge management products Visit: http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_subpractice&SubPracticeID =62 http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_subpractice&SubPracticeID =62 What are your ideas for other information to be included on the website?

6. GUIDELINES FOR OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTIONS The idea is to have a series of guidelines that will assist Ombudsman Institutions in fulfilling their mandate in protecting and promoting Human Rights 2 Guidelines have been finalized: in English and Russian –Guidelines for Ombudsman Institutions: How to handle complaints – PART I –Guidelines for Ombudsman Institutions: How to ensure the rights of persons in detention Tomorrow – discussions on new document – Guidelines for Ombudsman Institutions: How to conduct investigations

7. Follow up and next steps Use of the guidelines – specialized seminars for Ombudsmen – presentation by TOA, cooperation with other organizations Work on the Russian version of website – updating the website with new information Future Knowledge management products Full fletched COP meeting planned for the fall of 2005 – focus on the HRBA - tools