Purpose:
A
course for practitioners to learn the essential facilitation concepts
and skills for working developmentally with groups of people in small
group, workshop or training course settings. Practitioners will learn
the basics of facilitation and improve the way they already
facilitate. However, no prior experience of being a facilitator is
necessary.
The
course offers an opportunity to experience, critically examine,
reflect on own practice and learn to practice a ‘developmental’
approach to group facilitation. The core orientation is a recognition
of the concept of “being your own best tool” as well as becoming more
aware of “the group as its own best tool”, and exploring the dynamic
interaction between the facilitator and group.
What
is unique about this course:
We have
a holistic approach to facilitation where we believe that just having
the right skills or tools is not enough. By ‘developmental’
facilitation we
mean an approach to facilitation that works from the ‘inside, out’,
helping the group to sense, surface and appreciate what is living
inside and what is trying to emerge, in particular helping each
individual and the group in its turn to engage with its own will -
without which learning and change is not possible.
Our
approach is based on an understanding that as a facilitator you need
to be learning and developing yourself, as you facilitate the learning
and development of others. Indeed, this consciousness of self, of
sensing how the group dynamic is affecting you as facilitator, becomes
a key approach to seeing the less visible aspects of that dynamic.
Who
should attend:
As a
foundation course this is suitable for practitioners from civil
society or government who have started or are wanting to start working
with small groups in communities, in CBOs or NGOs.
This
course follows on from the Foundations in Developmental Practice
Course.
Applicants should ideally have
already attended the Foundations in Developmental Practice or any other CDRA
course or have had an equivalent experience. If you are unsure of your
eligibility please apply and we will help you to determine whether you
qualify.
Applicants must have at least a matric or level 4 qualification or
equivalent and be able to read and write in English.
Objectives:
By the end of the course,
participants will have:
1. A deeper understanding of self as
facilitator
-
Exploring the
role that our own internal relationship and consciousness of own
development plays in seeing and facilitating a group
-
Becoming more
aware of our fears and vulnerability as facilitators and how we can
begin to work with and through them.
2. An understanding of group development and
learning
-
Concepts and
frameworks to understand the phases and dynamics of developing
groups
-
How individuals
learn in group processes
-
How to ‘hold’ a
group – both in terms of ‘holding the whole’, and the ability to
‘read’ the group and understand what it needs at specific points of
its development, thus providing critical guidance.
3. A conceptual understanding of
developmental facilitation
-
Concepts and
frameworks of ‘developmental’ interventions and facilitation
-
The various roles
of facilitators in working with groups at different stages of their
development
-
The different
modes of conversation - debate, discussion, dialogue
4. Been introduced
to and practiced several of
the core methods and skills of a developmental approach to
facilitation
-
Listening skills
-
Questioning
skills
-
Action learning
methodology
-
Basic
presentation skills
-
Methods for
stimulating participation
-
Working with
difficult moments and stuck processes
-
Learning to give
and receive feedback
-
Journaling and
using learning journals
-
Storytelling and
Case studies/stories to surface learning
-
Working with
alternative emerging processes like ‘open space’ and ‘world café’
(Depending on the group’s
level and needs, certain areas of the core methods and skills may be
emphasised and dealt with in more depth)
5. Learnt how to use spaces, resources and
technology to support group process and facilitation
6. Learnt the core skills for designing
group processes
-
Identified the
key elements of planning and designing a group process
-
Planned and
designed a process/programme/ course or critically examined an
existing one from participant’s own experience and practice.
The Learning and Teaching
Process
The course is run as
a 5-day non-residential process for 16 participants. We do also offer
this as a residential process if requested.
The programme emphasises a
participative, shared learning and creative design. As a foundations
course there are inputs which are drawn from grounded into
participants own experience and potential practice. Role-plays,
creative exercises and story-telling provide a good balance and
complement to the more thinking oriented processes of learning.
The
process is informed by, and works actively with both experiential
exercises and the actual practices brought by participants. Learning
and development happens through reflection on own practice and,
importantly through reflection on work done through back home
projects. A facilitated action learning approach is used to ground
course material in practice, and to form the basis for further
learning and improved practice.
These
defining characteristics of our approach to structured learning also
constitute the basis of our approach to social change and
intervention. They are reflected prominently in the design, content
and methodology of all our courses and are experienced tangibly by
those participating in the courses.
Learning Materials
Participants are supplied with a course file/manual containing an
introductory set of readings, exercises and tools. These materials
will be of use for the participants for further study, for use in the
field and as resources for self-guided team learning processes to
assist with ongoing development of practitioner teams.
This course can also be contracted to
be run in-house at negotiated rates.
Contact Pauline Solomons
for application queries:
pauline@cdra.org.za
Contact Desiree Paulsen for curriculum details:
desiree@cdra.org.za
