Considering the fast-growing needs and value of the Council of Europe Programme on Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP), the pool of HELP tutors is expanding in North Macedonia.

With the support of the EU and Council of Europe joint action “HELP in the Western Balkans” a HELP Training-of-Trainers (ToT) session was held online on 1-2 October in cooperation with the Macedonian Bar Association. It aimed to expand the pool of trainers and therefore respond to an increased training need.

Ljubomir Mihajlovski, President of the Macedonian Bar Association, welcomed future HELP trainers by recalling their role in further disseminating European human rights standards among their peers through HELP online courses. Eva Pastrana, Head of the HELP Unit, emphasised the need to enlarge the pool of HELP trainers in light of the growing interest in HELP online courses and number of Macedonian users in its platform.

In an intensive two-days session, future HELP trainers could enhance their knowledge on the HELP training methodology and their skills on how to use the HELP online platform. Following the HELP Training-of-Trainers session, participants will complete an assignment and will be then included in the list of HELP certified tutors.

Since the beginning of the Horizontal Facility action “HELP in the Western Balkans” on 1 December 2019, the number of Macedonian users in the HELP online platform increased by 76%, while 11 HELP tutored online courses were launched in cooperation with the Academy of Judges and Public Prosecutors and the Bar Association reaching out more than 500 legal professionals.

The ToT was organised within the action “HELP in the Western Balkans”, implemented under the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2020”.