on projectsSpotlight

Autumn / 2005 / Issue 5

Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje

3 E-Revolution Spreading

4 Increasing Transparencyand Efficiency

5 “I want to help my Romapeople to live better.”

6 From Safety on the Roadsto a Safe Society

8 Breaking the Walls of Distrust

9 Learning in a New Way

10 Virtual Reality inPolice Academy

11 Fresh Wind ofDecentralization

12 Community Police Reformsin Skopje inspire GeorgianPolice

on projects

Spotlight on Projects, which is also available online, is published by the Press and Public Information Section of the OSCESpillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Editor: Maria DotsenkoEditorial team: Maria Dotsenko and Sally BroughtonWith thanks to Katie Ryan and Mirveta Mustafa for their contributions Design: Ladislav Cvetkovski, Skenpoint / Prepress and print: Skenpoint

For further information on the work of the Mission, please visit the OSCE website www.osce.org or contact the Acting MissionSpokesperson, Sally Broughton: Tel. + 389 2 3234619 E-mail - sarah.broughton@osce.org

Dear Readers,

The OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje is pleased toshare with you the fifth issue of Spotlight on Projects newslet-ter.

The timing of its publication gives us a unique opportunity tocongratulate our host country on receiving a positive opinionfrom the European Commission regarding candidate status forthe European Union. At the same time we welcome the newEuropean Union Special Representative and the Head of the

Delegation of the European Commission, Ambassador Erwan Fouéré.

Along with the positive opinion from the Commission came a check list of reforms thatmust be implemented in order for the country to move forward on the path of Euro-integration. On behalf of the OSCE Mission, Ambassador Carlos Pais, the Head of theMission greeted Ambassador Fouéré at the OSCE Mission headquarters.

“We are looking forward to continuing the fruitful co-operation that we enjoyed with theEUSR Office and the Delegation of the European Commission,” said Ambassador Pais.

“The priorities highlighted in the Commission’s Opinion in many ways parallel those ofthe OSCE, particularly concerning the enhancement of rule of law and election reform.”

The Mission intends to work closely with Ambassador Fouéré and his colleagues onassisting the authorities with these reforms. This intention was echoed by AmbassadorFouéré:

“The Mission’s many activities in support of the implementation of the Ohrid FrameworkAgreement provide a good basis for the continued assistance needed to insure fulfill-ment of the requirements set forth by the European Commission in the Opinion, there-fore co-operation between our two Missions will be invaluable.”

Spotlight magazine highlights only a few of the Mission’s projects and activities, whichare made possible by the contributions of the OSCE participating States and theMission’s other donors and partners.

We hope you enjoy reading.

Cover Photo: OSCE / Peter Booker. Border area near Tetovo, controlled by the Border Police, who were trained with the assistance of theOSCE Mission to Skopje.

Democratization, freedom of expression,free access to information, freedom of themedia, security standards are all princi-ples the OSCE promotes in its 55 partici-pating states from Vancouver to Vladi-vostok. This applies not only to the realworld, but also to the cyber world. Alongwith the development of new technologyand faster communication, the Internetbrings new challenges with a revolution-ary speed. The OSCE Spillover MonitorMission to Skopje teamed up with thelocal organisation Metamorphosis andthe OSCE’s Office of the Representativeon Freedom of the Media to encouragediscussion about issues related to thisnew “e-society” and the opportunities itpresents.

The project, which builds on the NationalStrategy for Information Society, waslaunched with an international confer-ence in October. Well known IT expertsand freedom of media promoters fromAustria, Bulgaria, China, France, Ger-many, Hungary, Israel, Switzerland,Ukraine, the United Kingdom and UnitedStates came to Skopje to share knowl-edge and exchange their best practiceswith local experts and policy makers.

“I am glad that lately an awareness ofinformation technology has been creat-ed and understood, especially its role inthe overall economic, educational, cul-tural development of our society,” saidMinister for Transport and Communi-cations, Xhemali Mehazi as he openedthe conference.

“It is very important for everybody tounderstand its role in raising quali-ty of living in a country and inmeeting the necessary standardsthat a country must have in orderto be able to enter the Europeanfamily, a goal we are all strivingfor.”

Four more technical round tablesfollowed the main conference,each focusing on a different issue:e-government, e-media and free-dom of the media on the Internet,e-education and the prevention ofcyber crimes. Three of these wereconducted outside of Skopje, inTetovo, Ohrid and Bitola in order tomake the public outside the capitalalso aware of e-society issues. During the roundtable discussion

on media and the internet, MiklosHaraszti, OSCE Representative forFreedom of the Media, focused on theimportance of protecting the freedom ofthe media on the internet, in accordancewith OSCE commitments. He said: “Allthe classic freedoms granted to journalistmust be given to internet journalists aswell. The internet must be tackled as amedia and not just a technology in nation-al legislation, which means special pro-tection for pluralism – pluralism in termsof providers and in terms of content.”

Pluralism was also raised in terms of e-education as representatives from edu-cational institutions analysed the level ofaccess to resources that the internet

offers for teachers and students. The pre-senters at the discussion on e-govern-ment also pointed out the democraticfunctions of the internet with examples ofhow government can use it as a mecha-nism for transparency and getting inputfrom citizens.

Each event attracted participants from avariety of backgrounds including policymakers, students, teachers, industry andcivil society representatives, and others.“This was really a cross cutting project inthat we had broad participation from peo-ple in all sectors. For instance, at the e-government discussion we had mayorsand council members, and at the cybercrime discussion we had police officers

together with public prose-cutors and law students,”commented BorceManevski of the Mission’sMedia Development Unit,who coordinated the proj-ect.

Anyone who missed theevents, can find all the e-conference materials onthe web at www.e-society.org.mk. Con- fer-ence proceedings will bepublished in print form aswell to introduce the topicsto those who have yet todiscover the potential ofthe internet.

The international e-society conference opens in Skopje

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, MiklosHaraszti, listens intently during the panel on freedom of the mediaon the internet

OSCE supports the development of e-society

E-Revolution SpreadingMEDIA DEVELOPMENT

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Judicial reform is one of the govern-ment’s key priorities and is also one ofthe most important steps towards thecountry’s integration into European andNorth-Atlantic structures. Results fromthe recent public opinion survey, con-ducted by the local Association forCitizen’s Tolerance and Cooperationfrom Prilep, set out a clear agenda forthis reform, confirming that the courtsystem needs to strengthen its efficien-cy, transparency and independence.

The OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission toSkopje supports a range of projects thatcontribute to national judicial reform.One of them is the project “Trans-parency and Access to Information-Model for Independent Court System”,aimed at increasing the court’s open-ness to the public.

Judge Lazar Nanev, Deputy President ofKavadarci Basic Court, initiated thisunique project in cooperation with theCouncil for the Prevention of JuvenileDelinquency.

“Nanev believes that increased publicaccess to the courts is crucial for restor-ing the citizens’ trust and confidence inthe judicial system in the country,” says

Florian Razesberger, Rule of LawOfficer from the OSCE Mission.

The culmination of this project came inSeptember 2005 when the KavadarciBasic Court presented to the public andmedia its new online service. The web-site contains regularly updated informa-tion on ongoing and completed cases,trial schedules, court procedures andverdicts, judges’ profiles and other use-ful statistical data.

“The Kavadarci Basic Court is a uniqueexample of having a website, which alsocontains annual and monthly reports onjudges’ work. We strive to be as trans-parent as possible,” explains JudgeNanev.

“The transparency has even improvedthe performance of the judges. In thebeginning, some of them were skepticalas to what this openness may mean,fearing that it may compromise theirwork. But now the judges see that itimproves their time management andstimulates their professionalism.”

“The website also enables public feed-back and offers an online question andanswer service for us, if we have ques-tions on issues such as court fees,taxes, court procedures, and filing anallegation. Answers are sent back fromthe court staff within five days. It was soeasy to receive the information on thecourt fee in my case,” explained IvanMicev, a resident of Kavadarci.

“It took just a few clicks to review thebackground experience of the judgewho will consider my case. I feel that Itrust her more now.”

The Kavdarci Basic Court also takescare of those who do not have internetaccess at home. There are six monitorsinstalled in the court building. Thesemonitors display the same informationas the website.

The project has an added bonus asJudge Nanev explains, “these monitorsalso help us to keep silence in the courtbuilding during a trial because citizensare focused on the screens.”

The initiative has proven to be so suc-cessful that the project has expanded toother courts countrywide. The Appealand Basic Courts in Skopje, and theBasic Courts of Tetovo, Stip andStrumica recently published similarinformation on court proceedings andjudges’ records in annual reports andpresented them for public. Unfortunatelythe judiciary lacks sufficient funds tomake this universally available online,as in Kavadarci. These other courts arelooking for additional assistance toincrease their transparency.

Increasing Transparency and Efficiency

RULE OF LAW:

OSCE-supported project increases public trust in the judiciary

Judge Lazar Nanev explains hisaccess to information model

Kavadarci Basic Court presents its internet database to the public

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Twenty five year old Toci Gulfer fromGostivar and her husband are volun-teers for the organisation “Mesecina,”which has been working to improve theposition of local Roma for the last 12years. This year Toci is participating inthe Roma Young Leaders TrainingProject supported by the OSCESpillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, withfunding from the Government of theFederal Republic of Germany.

“I want my Roma people to live better.That is the reason I started volunteeringfor a Roma NGO, but to be able to moreeffectively advocate for our human rights,first of all I need to know what those rightsare and then I need to be the kind ofleader that can share this knowledge,”says Toci, “Later I want to study law at theUniversity because the Roma communityis lacking good lawyers.”

Toci and her 25 colleagues from 15 dif-ferent Roma organisations took part in athree day leadership training carefullytailored to their needs. The young par-ticipants aged 18 to 25 were carefullyselected from among 70 applicants bythe Youth Association Perpetuum fromSkopje, which initiated the project.

“At the course I learned how to effec-tively communicate in an inter-ethnicenvironment, how to build meaningfuldialogue and to find common ground. Ialso made many friends and plan to stayin touch with them,” says Toci withenthusiasm. This bright-eyed youngwoman is not only incredibly dedicatedto the Roma movement, but is also themother of two children, a ten year oldboy and an eight year old girl.

In order to cover different aspects ofleadership training, the project has twophases. During the first phase, a threeday training workshop, participantslearned basic leadership, organisationaland inter-ethnic communication skills.By the end of the training they betterunderstood what democracy and humanrights means for their communities.

“The Mission helped us not only financial-ly but also by sending Robert Rustem, itsRoma Focal Point to facilitate the trainingand be one of the instructors. His profes-sionalism and enthusiasm were wellmatched with the energy and curiosity of

audience,” says Ljupka Bakardzieva,Evaluation and Reporting Officer ofPerpetuum, “Now we have to maintainthat energy as the new leaders work ontheir various activities.”

During the second phase of the project,upon returning home to their respectedcommunities, these young leaders arebusy sharing this newly obtained knowl-edge with their peers within their organi-sations, as well as with other communityleaders, at workshops that they organizethemselves. Through brain-storming ses-sions they identify the most pressingneeds of Roma in their communities andplan future activities to satisfy them. After

three months, during a follow-up threeday workshop, the participants will comeback together to share the results of theirneeds assessments and learn projectwriting and fundraising techniques. At thistime they will also finalize the initiativesplanned during the workshops they heldin their communities.

Sunai Demirovski, a 21-year Romayoung leader from the Delcevo-basedorganization Romaversitas, and politicalscience student at the University inSkopje explains, “the Roma do not haveenough leaders in politics. I want to bea politician. I want to advocate for Romarights not only at the community level,but also at the national level amongdecision-makers in the Assembly. I ameager to learn how to lead my communi-ty and then I will teach other Roma.”

Sunai believes that the leadership train-ing will also help him with his studies inthe University, which are made possibleby a scholarship programme initiated bythe Foundation for Open SocietyInstitute and co-funded by the Mission.Both this scholarship programme andthe young leaders training project aresupported by the Mission within theframework of Roma Decade aimed tohelp integrate minority youth into main-stream society.

Young Roma leaders work together in a team building exercise

Participants in the leadershiptraining absorb new knowledge

Young Roma train to be leaders in their communities

“I want to help my Roma people to live better.”

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“Would you kill me to run a red light?” Ofcourse, not… This shocking questioncatches your eye as you enter theSkopje-Veles highway. You can see thisand similar questions on billboardsalong other major roads and in townsthroughout the country.

The country-wide public awarenesscampaign was one of the main seg-ments of the ambitious “Road Safety forAll” project, initiated by the Ministry ofInterior (MoI), supported by the OSCE

Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, withfunding from the U.S. State Department.It complimented the other Road Safetycomponents: training of traffic police onlegislation and law enforcement proce-dures, and engaging police in teachingchildren basic principles of safe behav-iour on the roads.

It may be difficult to see dramaticchanges in traffic participants’ behaviourimmediately, but according to researchconducted by Stratum research agency

to assess the impact of the campaign, amajority of passing drivers who saw thebillboards were slowing down and think-ing about their driving behaviour as aresult.

Goran Pavlovski of the MoI commented:“Touching personal stories, featured onsix national television and radio stations,newspaper advertisements, comple-mented by posters, billboards and flyers,convey the message in a very specialway, focusing on victims’ personal feel-ings and stories linked to violations oftraffic rules.”

The “Road Safety for All” project, includ-ing the campaign, forms part of theMission’s overall police developmentprogramme.

“This kind of public outreach allows us inthe long run to increase people’s confi-dence in the police and encouragesthem to take on some of the responsibil-ity for their own safety,” comments PhilipTolson, Head of Police DevelopmentUnit (PDU) of the OSCE Mission toSkopje.

In line with the Mission’s tradition ofdeveloping capacity within the MoI, aselected group of traffic police officerswere trained first as trainers in order toeducate other traffic police around thecountry. To deepen their theoreticalknowledge, the graduates received theTraffic Police Rule Book, developed bythe MoI in co-operation with European

on projects

From Safety on the RoPOLICE DEVELOPMENT:

Would you kill me to run a red light…“reads this billboard in two languages

Traffic police officers participate in a training of trainers in which they learned toeducate their colleagues on traffic legislation, law enforcement procedures, andthe use of special equipment

A Police Officer and the OSCE Road Safetyfor All Project Coordinator present theposters still “hot” from the print house

“Would you kill us in order to get faster...”billboards were placed throughout thecountry

Road Safety for All: OSCE supports the efforts of local police to improvesafety on the roads

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Police Mission (Proxima), and theOSCE Mission.

The second course focused on the train-ing of traffic police officers on road safe-ty instructions for children. Upon com-pletion of the course, conducted by theMission’s Police Instructors, the partici-pants began working in elementaryschools across the country with childrenaged 8-10 years old. During the 2005 –2006 school year, they are expected toreach nearly 80,000 children, a numberwhich should grow, as the training con-tinues in the future.

“Because of the degree of cooperationwe have seen so far in the implementa-tion of this project, we are confident thatthis programme will last well into thefuture, maintained by the MoI and theMinistry of Education (MoE),” said GerdPetterson, a Police Instructor in thePDU.

Some officers have already noticed theimpact of their engagement in the class-rooms and the effects of the campaign intheir communities. Blagoja Kotev, a traf-fic police officer from Skopje referred tothe initiative as an “ice melting tool”between police and the community.

“While I am on duty, I have noticed thatkids are more careful when crossing thestreet near the school. They treat us,police officers, as their friends greetingus on the street and introduce us to theirparents.”

The PDU instructors and CommunityPolice Trainers monitor the implementa-tion of the project by paying regular vis-its to regional traffic police units andcommunicating with both officers andrepresentatives from schools and com-munities. According to DmytroOschepkov, the enthusiastic TeamLeader for the “Road Safety for All” proj-ect, these visits also give the Missionvaluable information for the develop-ment of new assistance or capacitybuilding activities. He says: “We get aclearer picture of the specific needs of

each regional traffic police unit and thelocal police are often coming to us withnew ideas and initiatives.”

“Creating road safety for all - drivers,pedestrians, bicyclists and others -requires co-operation among police,other state and local authorities andeach and every participant in traffic. I amconfident, that as the result of this co-operation, the roads in our town will besafer,” said Branko Reckoski,Commander of Ohrid Traffic Police Unit.

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oads to a Safe Society

An enthusiastic group makes use of the polygon, bicycles and other speciallydeveloped training materials in one of the mobile trailers used by Regional TrafficPolice Units to give children practical classes on the road safety issues

A child offers an answer to one of the traffic police officers, who are travelingaround the country and educating childrenon the basics of road safety

Ambassador Carlos Pais, Head of theOSCE Mission to Skopje, Paul Wohlers,Chargé d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassyand the senior officials from MoI and MoElaunch the “Road Safety for All” campaign

An officer demonstrates one piece of the85,000 euro worth of equipment donatedby the Mission to the MoI

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If you want to know how theOmbudsman institution works, you canask Z. M.1 from Kumanovo, who will tellyou his own success story. Last sum-mer, Z.M. was in a dispute with hisneighbour regarding the wall betweentheir properties. The case was consid-ered by the local Kumanovo court: how-ever, Z.M. was not satisfied with thecourt’s decision to demolish the wall,believing that the judge had not consid-ered all the evidence and, consequently,that his rights were violated. Z.M. wasfrustrated and had no idea what to doand how to protect his rights.

“Then I read in the newspaper thatNaser Vejseli had been appointed as theKumanovo Regional Ombudsman, so Iwent to talk to him. Mr. Vejseli listenedcarefully to me and reviewed the materi-als from the court proceedings. Hereferred the case to the relevant Sectorfor Inspection in Kumanovo for a specialinspection to be undertaken”.

“Now, while the case is being reviewed,the decision to demolish the wall is sus-pended until further notice. No matterwhat the decision says, I will respect it.The Ombudsman institution is new tome, but I am confident that it is able toprotect my rights,” Z. M. states firmly.

For the past two years, the OSCESpillover Monitor Mission to Skopje hassupported efforts to establish the sixRegional Ombudsman Offices inKumanovo, Strumica, Tetovo, Bitola,Stip and Kicevo. These efforts reachedfruition this autumn with opening cere-monies for each of the new offices,attended by local officials and media. Allactivities are integral to the OSCE’songoing work in the area of rule of law topromote the role of enhancedOmbudsman institution in the country.

An enhanced Ombudsman Institutionwas foreseen in the Ohrid FrameworkAgreement and included the establish-ment of the regional offices. This led tothe necessary Constitutional amend-ments and the passage of a new Law onthe Ombudsman. Furthermore, theOmbudsman Office now also has a spe-cific mandate to focus on non-discrimi-nation and the equitable representationof communities.

The regional Deputy Ombudsmen wereappointed in July 2005, and they havealready begun to accept cases from citi-zens at the regional level.

“The establishment and efficient func-tioning of the Regional Offices is an

important milestone in the strengtheningof the Ombudsman Institution. Thanksto the support of the OSCE, and with theassistance of the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Agency and Italian gov-ernment, all six offices have been fullyrenovated and provided with the neces-sary furniture, equipment and vehiclesto become fully functional,” said IdzetMemeti, National Ombudsman, at theopening ceremony of the TetovoRegional Office.

The regional Ombudsman Offices willincrease public access to theOmbudsman institution and will furtherpromote citizens’ understanding of theOmbudsman role in the protection oftheir rights.

All the newly appointed regional DeputyOmbudsmen are experienced lawyers,familiar with human rights protectionissues. Marina Obadic, the TetovoDeputy Ombudsman proudly said: “Theprofessional relations with judges andlocal authorities, which I establishedpreviously while working as a lawyer,and my local knowledge of the specificsof this multi-ethnic region will beextremely useful in helping all citizens inmy area.”

Until the end of the year efforts will con-tinue to ensure that citizens are aware ofthe institution and how the Ombudsmancan assist in the promotion and protec-tion of their rights. The local non-govern-mental organisation Kaldrma, with thesupport of the OSCE, is cooperatingwith the Ombudsman institution toimplement a public awareness cam-paign. The campaign includes televi-sion and radio spots on the local mediaas well as public debates across thecountry and the distribution of informa-tion leaflets.

“With these offices fully functional andthe complimentary public awarenesscampaign implemented, we will signifi-cantly increase the ability of theOmbudsman Institution to serve thecountry’s diverse population,” saidUranija Pirovska, State Adviser forPublic Relations and International Co-operation at the National OmbudsmanOffice.

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Breaking the Walls of DistrustRULE OF LAW:

OSCE supported the opening of six Regional Ombudsman Offices

Head of the OSCE Mission’s Rule of Law Unit, Victor Ullom, talks to the newlyappointed Kumanovo Deputy Ombudsman, Naser Vejseli, during the officeopening ceremony

1 The full name is not mentioned in order topreserve the confidentiality of the case.

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International Human Rights conventionscan be difficult to understand for adults,so teaching ten to twelve year oldsabout them takes real creativity. This isthe driving force behind the “Our Rights”pilot project launched this autumn by theOSCE Spillover Monitor Mission toSkopje. The project is part of a larger ini-tiative by the Slovenian Chairmanship tointroduce human rights education forschool children in all 55 OSCE partici-pating states.

“It aims to assist governments in imple-menting OSCE commitments in the fieldof human rights education using a book-let called “Our Rights” as a teaching tool,designed for 10 to 12 year old childrenand based on the Convention on theRights of the Child,” explains Dr AlenkaVerbole, Head of the Education Divisionwithin the Mission’s Confidence BuildingUnit.

“The booklets draws on creative andinteractive methods to introduce thebasic concept of human rights – thatthey have rights that must be respectedand that they must respect the rights ofothers.“

The “Our Rights” booklet and accompa-nying didactic materials were preparedby Slovenian experts and adapted intofive local languages by the Mission.

Julijana Trickovic from Kumanovo is oneof the teachers implementing the projectin her classroom. She comments: “It is avery timely project for our country intransition. These children will learn froma very young age how to respect, pro-mote human rights and appreciate theirethnic and social diversities.”

Teachers form the backbone of the “OurRights” project. The teachers were care-fully selected from 13 schools by theschool management in consultation withthe OSCE Mission’s Education Teamrepresentatives. Most of the twentythree selected are teachers of history,linguistics and literature and have somefamiliarity with human rights.

According to Brenda Gallagher, one ofthe Mission’s education trainers thetraining that the teachers received onusing the “Our Rights” curriculum mir-rored the techniques they will be usinglater in the classroom, such as brain-

storming and role playing. Shepoints out: “This project is notjust about reaching the childrenwith the human rights curricu-lum, but also about challengingthe teachers to use different andnew methods of teaching thatthey can use for teachinghuman rights and other subjectsas well.”

Parental involvement and sup-port from the community is a keyfactor in the success of the “OurRights” project. Therefore, theMission also arranged for repre-sentatives of civil society organi-sations that work on child rightsissues to participate in the train-ing for the teachers.

“Our task is to teach children toknow and respect each others’rights. We also plan to discussthe children’s rights with their par-ents. This is a two way street andit’s important to have the supportof the families,” commented Elez Bislimfrom the Roma organisation Sumnal dur-ing the training.

Nearly 600 children and their familieswill be reached by the “Our Rights” proj-ect this school year. As this is a pilotproject the intention is that the curricu-lum will be spread to more schools andto more children in the years to come.Because of this, the support of theMinistry of Education is essential to theproject’s success.

“Our government gladly participates andfully supports this OSCE initiative, whichalso complements the United NationsWorld Programme for Human RightsEducation, the Council of Europe’sEuropean Year of Citizenship throughEducation, and the European Unions’sEuropean Initiative for Democracy andHuman Rights”, said DraganNedelikovic, Director of the Departmentof Promotion of Education in the MinorityLanguages within the Ministry ofEducation.

Learning in a New WayCONFIDENCE BUILDING:

OSCE supports human rights education for children project

Teachers learn new training techniques for educating on human rights

Children celebrate their rights and responsibilities during the “Our Rights” class

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“Imagine: you are a police officer onpatrol and suddenly witness somethingsuspicious, possibly illegal. You have tomake a decision right here and rightnow. It is only you who has to prevent orto stop the wrongdoing and fully controlthe situation. You can’t have a coffeebreak, relax and think it through, youcan’t postpone the decision, you can’tlook it up in the manual and read theinstructions or call your colleague foradvice,” said Dusko Kostadinovski,Senior Inspector for Use of Firearmsand Deadly Forces from Idrizovo PoliceAcademy, setting the scene for hiscourse on practical judgment. Toobservers he explained:

“As police officers, one often has a frag-ment of second to evaluate all the con-sequences of one’s own and the crimi-nal’s actions, make a decision and pro-fessionally execute that judgment. Themost important thing that we teach ourstudents is that there is no room for mis-takes. The price can be too high.”

The OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission toSkopje actively supports many projectsaimed at strengthening the professionalskills of local police through co-opera-

tion with the Police Academy. InFebruary of 2004, the Police Academydecided to add to the curriculum acourse on practical judgmental trainingbased on best practices learned fromGreat Britain, Ukraine, Croatia, andother countries. OSCE Police Instructor,Volodymyr Samoilenko introduced theprogramme to local instructors at theAcademy. The Mission funded the pur-chase of unique computer laser simula-tion equipment. Two British trainersused the equipment to educate five localinstructors and assist them and theOSCE instructors in the development ofthe training methodology.

Samoilenko and his local colleagueswho together are responsible for imple-menting the training are pleased with theresponse so far. “This is one of thecourses where the trainer can’t get rid ofstudents even after class hours.Sometimes so many officers want topractice that the room is too small forthem,” he laughs.

The equipment consists of a computerwith special software that providesnumerous choices of modelling andadjustable training scenarios as well as

a screen, LCD and laser projectors, andtwo laser guns. The course starts withstudy of legal procedures and police offi-cer’s duties and responsibilities. Thenpractical lessons begin.

For the practical simulations, forty shortfilms were prepared by the Mission andAcademy instructors. They allow eachstudent to be a virtual participant in ascenario that challenges him or her tojudge the situation and execute a deci-sion and then explain and justify his orher actions. Instructors find it extremelyuseful that afterwards they can replaythe film and lead the group in a discus-sion to analyse and evaluate the deci-sion-making process. This gives theman opportunity to explain the legal andpsychological issues related to eachdecision and how to avoid repeatingmistakes in real life.

“Even in a tense situation, often an officercan prevent possible illegal activity just bycalm confident orders. Human life is pre-cious and our job is to protect it. I oftenjoke with students that they should useonly laser guns and only in virtual reality,”says Officer Kostadinovski.

“We train them to judge the situation andreact appropriately, using alternativeprevention measures, including oralcommands and psychological pressure,physical force, rubber baton, tear gasspray - usage of firearm is the last pos-sible option.”

So far, nearly 1,300 officers from all overthe country, including cadets, regularand border police have passed thecourse having learned the techniques ofon-the-spot decision-making andimproved their judgmental skills by prac-ticing on real life scenarios. Studentsfrom the Law Faculty interested in crim-inal law have also taken advantage ofthis unique training opportunity.

The news about this useful initiative isspreading throughout Balkans and evenreached Caucasus. The Police Acade-my is delighted to share its experience.Police officers from Georgia, Serbia andMontenegro, while visiting the PoliceAcademy recently, listened with atten-tion to the presentation of the course.Other counties from the region are alsointerested in providing this type of judg-mental training for their police officers.

Virtual Reality in Police AcademyPOLICE DEVELOPMENT:

OSCE assists with judgmental training for police officers

Senior Inspector from the Police Academy, Dusko Kostadinovski, shows the simulation equipment to a senior Border Police Officer

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“I am proud of two main achievements inmy municipality. Firstly, we have helpedthe citizens of the Veles area becomeactive participants in the decision-mak-ing process though debates, publichearing and meetings. We do not sit inour offices waiting for citizens toapproach us, but go out to the villagesand towns and talk to citizens.Secondly, the public has online accessto municipal documents and regularlyreceives published municipal bulletins;even budget expenditures are dis-cussed via Internet,” shared AceKocevski, two time Mayor of Veles dur-ing a discussion workshop with otherelected officials and civil society leaders.

This workshop was one in a series offive country-wide discussions jointlyorganized by the Foundation OpenSociety Institute -Macedonia (FOSIM)through its NGO Support Centres andthe Association of Municipalities (ZELS)with support from the OSCE SpilloverMonitor Mission to Skopje.

These discussions were planned toincrease the participant’s knowledgeabout the decentralization processesand provided them with an opportunityto learn from each other’s positive andnegative experiences. In addition, theseevents promoted ZELS’s Handbook forLocally Elected Official, recently sup-ported by the OSCE and distributed toall municipalities, in order to strengthenthe co-operation between central andlocal governments.

The topics of discussion for each munic-ipality were selected based on priorassessments of the most pressingneeds in each area. For example, inKicevo municipality the discussion was

about urban and rural planning. In Prilepit covered the financing of municipalities.In Gostivar they discussed citizen partic-ipation in decision-making, and in Stip,regional cooperation for cleaner envi-ronment was the key focus.

Each event was well attended, forinstance in Veles, where the topic waseducation in decentralization, partici-pants included the mayors and council-lors from 11 central and eastern munici-palities and representatives from theMinistry of Education and Science.

Dr Tale Geramitcioski, Deputy Ministerof Education and Science, contributed tothe dynamic discussion on decentraliza-tion by explaining the new system offinancing of education, known as“financing per student.” He also an-swered questions regarding the appoint-

ment of school directors, the transfer ofearmarked grants and the transfer ofownership titles for school buildings.Representatives from other relevantMinistries participated in each of theother discussions as well, providinginformation on the topic from the point ofview of the central government.

“The OSCE Mission is supporting the fullimplementation of decentralization re-form, which is one of the country’s keypriorities,” said Dr Philipp Stiel, Head ofthe Public Administration Reform Unit ofthe Mission.

“We are pleased to see effective co-operation among municipalities, nationalinstitutions and civil society organisatio-ns in the promotion of decentralizationand discussion of the key issuesinvolved.”

The organisers confirm that the end ofthe series of workshops will not be theend of discussion on the topics covered.“Analysis of the discussions’ resultsshow that the successful implementa-tion of decentralization depends on theefficiency of co-operation, communica-tion and mutual understanding betweencentral and local governments; especial-ly in the areas of education, urban plan-ning, construction management and theprocess of transfer of property owner-ship. Assistance in the solution of all ofthese issues will keep us busy for atleast the next year,” said VesnaSkortova from NGO Support Centrefrom Veles.

Fresh Wind of DecentralizationPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM:

OSCE supports public discussions on decentralization

Ace Kocevski, Mayor of Veles and Sonja Prendzova-Jurukova from the VelesMunicipality discuss the results of the workshop

Participants in a workshop in Veles listen to their elected leaders explaindecentralization of the education system

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The OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje would like to thank its national and international implementing partners andthe following donors for their generous support of the Mission’s work in 2005: the Office of the EU Special Representativein Skopje; the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces; the Government of the Federal Republic ofGermany; the Italian Government; the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Skopje; the Government of theKingdom of Norway; Press Now; the Swedish International Development Agency; the United States Government and theUnited States Agency for International Development; Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia.

Community PoliceReforms in Skopje inspireGeorgian Police“Gulitatdad vesalmebit!” Thesewords are a cheerful Georgiangreeting that for one week thisautumn could be heard in the OSCEMission to Skopje, at the IdrizovoPolice Academy, in Tetovo regionalpolice units and even at one CitizenAdvisory Group meeting.

A group of Georgian Police Officerswas in Skopje in November study-ing the best practices of policereform, particularly in communitypolicing. This visit was supportedby the OSCE Spillover MonitorMission to Skopje and the OSCEMission to Georgia, in co-operationwith the respective Ministries ofInterior.

“For many years the OSCE Missionto Skopje closely co-operates withthe Ministry, and supports thestrengthening of the communitypolicing in the country. We areproud that the success of policereforms has inspired the GeorgianPolice to come to Skopje in order tolearn from local experience,” saidYurii Derevianchenko, PoliceInstructor from the OSCE SkopjeMission.

The Georgian Police Officers wereimpressed by many successes andthe serious work of their hosts.They met with representatives fromthe Mission’s Police DevelopmentUnit, colleagues from the EuropeanUnion Police Mission (Proxima), aswell as with high-level officials fromthe Ministry of Interior. They visitedthe Idrizovo Police Academy tomeet with the instructors andobserve some of the courses andparticipateded in a Citizen’s Ad-visory Group meeting in Kumanovoto see community policing in action.

“We absorbed so many new ideasfrom the management of IdrizovoPolice Academy. We were especial-ly impressed by the judgementaltraining done through computersimulation and with the trainingcourses they have developed withOSCE for combating organisedcrime,” said Chief Inspector LevanKeburia, of the Community PoliceDevelopment Unit (CPDU) withinGeorgian Ministry of Interior.

“We learned about one idea thatwas completely new for us - theCitizen Advisory Group. We appre-ciate that the OSCE supports thistype of exchange, since we oftenhave common problems and arelooking for common solutions. Backhome, in Tbilisi, I will share myknowledge with colleagues, who arekeen to learn and implement freshideas,” shares Inspector TamarNodia, from the Georgian CPDU.

A Georgian Community Police Officer greets his new friend from Skopje

Police Instructor from the OSCE Mission, Yurii Derevianchenko, shows the Police Academy to the Georgian Police delegation

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