Participatory Facilitation

Working in social movements, we can often find our collective processes painful, unsatisfactory and poorly fulfilling of our values of inclusivity, care and collaboration. The (important!) tensions that arise between exclusion – inclusion, tasks – processes – relationships, diversity – commonality, autonomy – cooperation, innovation – conservation and so on, are often present in our groups as we are trying to create collaborative visions and projects. The interlocking systems of oppression in which our organising takes place do not make this task easier! Being able to navigate and facilitate collective spaces for discussion and decision making requires skills, tools and thoughtful processes that can remain responsive and adaptive to different organising contexts and situations. 

How can we stay creative, responsive, effective, and most importantly – in relationship – amidst the inevitable tensions of working with others?

The Participatory Facilitation course will be a space to engage with this challenge, opening opportunities for exchange and exploration of a range of facilitation tools and methodologies, deepening facilitation skills and sensibilities, for those who already hold facilitation roles in their groups and organisations. 

Aims of the course:

This course is aimed at trainers and facilitators who want to deepen their skills in facilitating participatory processes and collective spaces – including addressing challenging topics and situations. This course won’t be focusing on basic, entry-level facilitation skills. 

The course aims to:

• Exploring a range of different tools that can help facilitators keep the group engaged, motivated and creative in the processes of collective discussions.
• Learn from concrete challenges and case studies and  best practices and approaches in participatory facilitation.
• Deeping participants capacity to understand groups dynamics and process work. 
• Develop participants’ presence and attention to increase their response capabilities. 
• Explore the topic of power and influence and how to responsibly work with these when holding facilitation roles
• Reflect on the role of the facilitator and better understand each one´s strengthens and capabilities.

We will explore methodologies such as Radical Popular Education, Participatory Action Research, Appreciative Inquiry, Theatre of the Oppressed, Theory U, Improvisation, Process work, art of hosting, generative dialogue, observation and mindfulness  amongst others.

Who is it aimed at?

Anyone with experience in facilitation and in socially engaged action addressing ecological, political and social justice issues. We embrace a broad definition of activism, including: Resistance – action preventing further damage to ecosystems and social justice; Renewal – action focused on developing and creating alternatives for healthier societies and communities; and Building Resilience – action supporting increased resilience in communities to weather the uncertain times ahead.

The course will be delivered in accessible, international English.

This course might NOT be for you if you are looking for a basic, entry-level course on facilitation skills.