ABCD-Training-of-Trainers-Tools-July-2013

3.3. Why do we need Facilitation Skills?
Almost any development initiative requires some form of facilitation, whether it is facilitating a meeting
or a workshop. When we facilitate, we surface the latent knowledge and skills in a group or community
and harness the potential that already exists for development. Such skills are therefore beneficial as
every activity, if facilitated well, can have a positive impact. Even activities building up to an event can
be important and should be well facilitated, because facilitation is really about learning and every time
people come together, there can be a learning outcome.
Facilitation skills can increase our ability to manage projects and processes in a developmental way.
Specifically, they better equip us to:
• tune into a group/community and customize the pitch and approach so that it is most suitable
• create a positive and conducive environment which can support collaboration and learning
• harness the knowledge, skills and creativity within a group or community around a particular
action
• build collective consciousness and capacity for sustainability
Let us look a bit closer at the theory behind process facilitation or experiential learning, specifically the
conscientization approach developed by Paulo Freire (in contrast with the ‘banking’ method).
3.4. Development Facilitation Theory
Defining Development
There are many different definitions and understandings of development. According to Anne Hope and
Sally Timmel from Training for Transformation:
“Development is a process in which a community of people strive to make it possible for all its members
to satisfy their fundamental human needs and to enhance the quality of their lives”. (Training for
Transformation, Book 1)
Development is a natural part of life and is happening all of the time. Any living thing is developing on its
own because development is life. This is why some people might refer to developmental work as an
organic (living) process which is ongoing.
As facilitators we might engage with a particular group or community at a particular moment in time.
But they are in a development context with or without us and even our engagement will have ripple
effects after we leave. So it is optimal to try and ensure that every engagement has the best possible
intention and outcome whether it is a short meeting or an extended project or program.
The ‘Banking’ Approach
According to Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) education is traditionally framed as "an act of
depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor" (Pedagogy of
the Oppressed 58). In this framework, a teacher lectures, and the students "receive, memorize, and
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