The APF has held a two-day preparatory briefing with the Office of the Ombudsman of Turkmenistan and national stakeholders.

The APF has held a two-day preparatory briefing with the Office of the Ombudsman of Turkmenistan, senior Turkmen government officials and other stakeholders to discuss details of an upcoming Capacity Assessment to be undertaken with the institution.

The Capacity Assessment Project is a joint project of the APF, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which aims to build strong and effective national human rights institutions (NHRIs).

The Turkmenistan Capacity Assessment, to be held from 4-14 October, will identify both the current capacities of the institution and those that could be strengthened, and will propose strategies and actions to develop the capacities of staff and to make the internal processes of the NHRI more effective and efficient. The methodology is one that ensures the Ombudsman has ownership of the process and recommendations. The APF, UNDP, OHCHR operate to facilitate the process.

The virtual meeting, held from 26-28 July, was an opportunity to brief national stakeholders on the aim and methodology of the process, and to discuss some of the practical details of the process. The meetings were facilitated by Pip Dargan, APF Principal Advisor on Capacity Assessments and International Engagement and Rosslyn Noonan, APF Expert NHRI Consultant.

Other APF representatives Dr Ahmed Shahid, CA Statistical Analyst and Dr Nara Ganbat, Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia, also took part in the session, as well as representatives from UNDP and OHCHR.

It is the first Capacity Assessment the APF has been able to conduct since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The APF will continue to work in close cooperation with our partners on the planning and implementation of the upcoming Capacity Assessment.

Date: 30 September 2022