A training of trainers of the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals of the Council of Europe (HELP) was conducted on 25-28 September 2017 in Odessa, Ukraine.

A group of 26 lawyers, representatives of the National Academy of Interior and the National Prosecutors Academy of Ukraine received a 4-day training on the HELP methodology for education of legal professionals and discrimination, the activity's main goal.

The methodological part of the training included several practical sessions on:

• Moodle platform tools for creation of distance-learning courses and for interactions with prospective students of the HELP courses;
• the specificities of adult learning and techniques of education of professionals;
• the elaboration of the mixed courses on Moodle platform on different aspects of discrimination.

The training additionally focused on the thematic presentations on discrimination in the light of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Sessions were led by prominent European experts in the field: Doina Ioana Straisteanu, human rights lawyer from Moldova, and Maxim Timofeev, associate professor at the European Humanitarian University, Vilnius. They presented recent judgments of the European Court of Human Rights on discrimination and best practices of non-discrimination advocacy, including the case studies and moot court exercise.

Participants who have completed the whole 4-day training and diligently prepared their assignment will be certified as HELP trainers. This will allow them to use the HELP resources and platform for tutoring of existing courses, as well to elaborate their own and implement them within the National Bar Association, National Academy of the Interior and National Prosecutors Academy, or other groups of legal professionals.

This initiative is part of the European Union and the Council of Europe joint programme “Strengthening Implementation of European Human Rights Standards in Ukraine: implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights” which is funded by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe under the Partnership for Good Governance for Eastern Partnership countries 2015-2017