The DIANET project has now reached its cruising speed. The first training workshops were held over the summer in Albania, Macedonia and Serbia. An advocacy toolkit, a trainers manual and a website are announced for this autumn.

Launched in late January 2006, the DIANET project (Dialogue for Interaction. Advocacy and Networking Capacity Building) aims to improve advocacy skills at local, national and regional level via an established network of civil society organizations in Albania, Macedonia and Serbia. This initiative is part of the Foundation’s Minority Rights in Practice in SEE project and enjoys the support of the European Commission’s CARDS Regional Programme.

Implemented between June and September in the three participating countries, the Training of Trainers (ToT) Advocacy Programme for Minority Rights is the main constituent of DIANET regional activities. Thirty-five carefully selected professionals were invited to attend an intensive four-day training session dealing with topics such as advocacy, power dynamics, strategic communication, audience analysis and networking. In Serbia, the invitation was also extended to trainers from Bosnia and Herzegovina and from Croatia.

The training sessions allowed material and case studies to be collected that will be included in a DIANET Advocacy Toolkit and a Trainers Handbook that will be published later this autumn. ToT participants will then be able to use this unique resource material in future training work with minority NGOs and all professionals will be able to download the material from the forthcoming DIANET website.