The Office of the Head of Mission supports and advises the Head and Deputy Head of Mission in the implementation of the Mission’s mandate and policy. Five different Units play a strategic role in the Office, including the Political Reporting Unit, the Press and Public Information section and the 24/7 Situation Centre. The following units are also located within the Office of Head of Mission:

Programme Co-ordination Unit on Inter-ethnic Relations

With the purpose of strategically guiding and aligning programmatic activities touching on inter-ethnic relations, and seeking to provide for a more focused, integrated and coordinated approach of  the ethnic dimension of the Mission’s work, a specialized Programme Co-ordination Unit on Inter-Ethnic Relations (PCU) was created within the Office of the Head of Mission. The Unit closely co-operates with the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the governmental Secretariat for the Implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA); facilitating the continued strengthening and streamlining of the essential pillars of the agreement: education, decentralization, equitable representation, the use of languages, and non-discrimination. The PCU aggregates a deeper understanding of the processes and obstacles that steer and/or strain the inter-ethnic relations in the country, and co-ordinates the Mission’s programmatic resources towards further stabilization of these relations and comprehensive OFA implementation.

Monitoring Unit

Formerly a component of the Confidence Building Unit, monitoring operations passed under the direct supervision of the Office of the HoM in January 2011. The Monitoring Unit (MU) is the main early warning tool of the Mission.  MU teams are based in the Mission HQ in Skopje and in the Tetovo Field Office, from where they operate throughout the country. MU teams conduct daily field activities with a unique and constant field presence that serves the purpose of gathering information about security issues related to intra- and inter-communities relations, local level political developments, and the education of minorities. They also assist the programs in identifying needs of local communities to be addressed through projects. Eventually, MU maintains a capacity of mediation between local counterparts.