HRDiplomacy designs and leads workshops that are well-structured, participatory and results-oriented.  The experiences, knowledge and ideas of participants are always key ingredients in shaping workshop outcomes.  Follow-up actions are usually discussed and planned, in order to help ensure that recommendations or ideas are put into practice.  Experiences include:

• From September 2015 - March 2020:  designing, facilitating and reporting on six workshops in Russia aimed at increasing protection of Russian HRDs by the EU, EU member states and like-minded countries.  At the workshops, Russian HRDs formulated recommendations for action then presented these recommendations to diplomats.  The outcomes of the workshops contributed to EU guidelines for supporting Russian HRDs and to increased practical action such as trial monitoring, public statements and issuing of visas.  The most recent workshop, in March 2020, brought together representatives from the EU and 16 EU and "like-minded" countries and 21 Russian HRDs.  The EU mentioned the 2018 workshop in it's Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World for that year where it stated that the "workshop provided an excellent opportunity for networking and learning about each other's needs."
  
• In November 2015 in Ankara, Turkey, facilitating a workshop bringing diplomats and HRDs together.  The outcomes contributed to the EU's local strategy to protect and defend human rights defenders.
  
• Occupied Palestinian Territories.  In cooperation with the local NGO "Youth Against Settlements," facilitating a workshop in which Palestinian and international HRDs formulated recommendations for diplomats from the EU and EU member states and supporting the HRDs to present their recommendations during a meeting with the diplomats in Ramallah.  The work was funded by Cordaid.
  
• In October 2014, for Amnesty International UK, designing and facilitating a two-day workshop in Kabul, Afghanistan, bringing together a group of nine Afghan human rights defenders and 11 EU and other diplomatic missions.  Participants discussed the main difficulties faced by Afghan HRDs, especially women HRDs, and actions that EU and other missions could take to improve protection of Afghan HRDs.  The workshop provided key inputs for the EU’s new strategy to protect local HRDs.  The EU said that the workshop was facilitated "in a very nice manner that was exactly right for the different participants" and that it was “a great success.”
• In 2014-2015, as team leader of a European Commission-sponsored project to establish the EU Temporary Relocation Platform for human rights defenders at risk, designing and facilitating two consultation workshops for member organizations with over 40 participants from both NGOs and European governments; designing (in collaboration with Platform members such as the Gulf Center for Human Rights) and facilitating a workshop for the Middle East and North Africa region bringing together representatives of European and international NGOs and participants from Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
  

Facilitating a workshop on temporary relocation of human rights defenders in the Middle East and North Africa, Istanbul, November 2015