The Training Guide is for facilitators of training courses on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. It can be used to develop a training course on the Convention and/or the Optional Protocol, but is also helpful as a general information resource on these instruments. The Training Guide promotes interactive training sessions, intended ideally for relatively small groups of maximum 20 participants, and comprises a mix of computer slide presentations and group activities intended to encourage dialogue and exchange between facilitators and participants and among the participants themselves.
The Training Guide is primarily for training facilitators and others who already have knowledge of the international human rights system and are called upon to provide training on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In other words, the Guide assumes some knowledge of human rights standards, terminology and mechanisms but not necessarily knowledge of the Convention itself. The Training Guide assumes that any training course will be undertaken by a lead facilitator, who would ideally be assisted.
The target audience of the training modules is broad. It could be any individual or representative of an organization or institution that is involved in promoting, implementing and monitoring the Convention. The principal beneficiaries of the training courses are therefore:
The sessions are based on the training methodology adopted by the OHCHR Methodology, Education and Training Section.
Each module comprises three principal documents:
The sessions generally follow a sequence of computer slide presentation incorporating questions and answers, followed by a group activity.
The methodology underlying the Training Guide is interactive and promotes a participatory approach. It is important to respect this approach throughout. Facilitators should use the computer slide presentation to encourage a discussion and exchange of information and experience with and among participants. The facilitator should avoid a one-way monologue presentation style where the facilitator imparts information and the participants take note.
The Training Guide seeks to fill in any knowledge gaps facilitators might face and in this sense is a support for facilitators before the session. However, facilitators should avoid using the Training Guide as a prop during the sessions to ensure that the presentation does not turn into a lecture rather than a discussion with the participants.
Facilitators should adapt the materials in the Training Guide to suit each specific audience. Not every training course needs to cover all eight modules, nor do the modules need to be presented in a particular order or all aspects of each module covered. The important issue to bear in mind is that the facilitator provides a training course that meets the needs of the participants.
Similarly, the facilitator should prepare the course in advance with examples and materials which are relevant to the country and region where the course takes place. The facilitator therefore needs to learn about the region, identify the main advances and challenges facing the Convention's ratification, implementation and monitoring, and find locally relevant cases and situations. Sometimes materials and group activities may have to be changed completely to suit the context.