• Establishing a durable institutional collaboration: CSOs and NPMs can also collaborate on a more permanent basis, often by providing CSOs with a formal advisory role in relation to NPM activities. CSOs can be part of NPM advisory bodies or councils, which usually entails a policymaking role but can sometimes include giving advice or taking decisions on programmatic issues related to the implementation of the NPM’s mandate. • Establishing a formal partnership within the NPM: “Ombudsman plus” NPM models involve ombuds institutions designated as NPMs and formally integrating CSOs into their work, including regular monitoring activities. What are some key considerations for NPMs and CSOs when working together? To prevent misunderstandings, NPMs and CSOs should clearly define and agree on their expectations, capacities, and limits before starting any cooperation. Formal agreements like Memorandums of Understanding can be useful, provided they do not compromise the NPM’s independence or flexibility. NPMs must ensure that any operational partners, including CSO experts, adhere to confidentiality requirements to protect sensitive information accessed through their OPCAT mandate. It is crucial to clarify confidentiality protocols and information-sharing boundaries before any collaboration, especially before visits to detention places. Joint monitoring visits with CSOs are particularly sensitive and require prior agreement on roles, responsibilities, and responses to urgent issues. Both parties should also establish guidelines on how CSOs can use information gathered, ensuring it aligns with the NPM’s confidentiality obligations. 4.2 Dialogue with the authorities Dialogue with the authorities is central to the preventive approach of the OPCAT and the work of NPMs, involving sustained engagement through various means such as meetings and thematic roundtables. This process relies on building constructive relationships based on mutual respect and trust, while maintaining independence and confidentiality. NPMs must plan for and allocate sufficient time and resources for this ongoing dialogue, which is crucial for achieving long-term changes and addressing challenges. The OPCAT obliges authorities to engage in dialogue regarding NPM recommendations, although NPMs are not explicitly required to do so under the treaty. Dialogue helps NPMs explain their findings, understand authorities’ challenges, identify good practices, and foster a constructive climate for change. It also aids in building the NPM’s legitimacy, securing its sustainability by negotiating budgets, and addressing obstacles such as restricted access to detention places. With which authorities do NPMs maintain dialogue? The NPMs’ holistic approach requires identifying possible root causes of the problems encountered, as well as the risks that increase the possibility of torture and other forms of ill-treatment to occur. Therefore, NPMs need to analyse not only the conditions and functioning of places of detention, but also the broader regulatory, institutional, policy and legal frameworks. 38 NPM Toolkit for Asia Pacific NPM-NHRIs