Facilitators· Guide

Facilitating is always hard work. and the success of thisworkshop series depends on the facilitator. In this sectionwe look at how to prepare for the workshops, how youintroduce the series to participants, how you link oneworkshop to the next, and some points on writing up theworkshops.We then go onto a section to assist newfacilitators by reminding them of some importantfacilitation skills.There are many books on facilitationskills and people facilitating these workshops might wantto look at these. Facilitators running these workshopsfound 'Lifeskills: a resource book for facilitators' by EdnaRooth. published by Macmillan useful.There are manysuch books, some published by NGOs and internationalagencies. Reading these can assist you in planning.

If you are new to facilitation you could prepare byreading this section before each workshop. If you are wellprepared and comfortable with the methods, yourworkshop will be better. If these methods are new to you.try them out first with a group of people who are notworkshop participants. Do not get discouraged if thingsdo not go as well as planned. We found that the methodsalways worked better the second time around.

We also found it easier to work as a tearn of two ratherthan alone. and we strongly recommend that you alsowork as a team. Remember that when two or morepeople run the workshops, you need to plan together andwell. Another advantage of working as a team is that youhave the opportunity to observe and comment on each

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other's efforts. and thereby learn and grow as facilitatorsduring the workshop series.

To help participants develop realistic expectations of theworkshop process. you need to be honest about what youare trying to achieve. If your goal is to facilitate change,say so. Remind everyone that change is slow and requiresthe efforts of all. But if your goal is simply to make a case(to lobby) for change, then everyone must understandthat change is not guaranteed.

Preparing theworkshopsWhat this workshop series does is present back to peopletheir own experiences. Each workshop has an exercisewhich helps people reflect on themselves.The facilitator'sjob is to run these exercises and then to facilitate thediscussion after the exercise.The discussion will generatethe content of the workshops and will come from theparticipants themselves.The manual presents eachworkshop as a separate chapter. Each chapter begins withthe title of the workshop, its objective, and a shortdescription of the 'Background' to this objective.Then welist the materials you need to run the workshop and atimetable. A section called 'Methods' provides detailsabout running the workshop.In some chapters, we have included examples of thesituations that we used in the various workshops, andhave written down examples of some of our findings.Where appropriate, we have included special notes toassist you if you have people in your group who cannotread or cannot read in the language you are presenting.

In the Addendum to the manual you will find ice breakersand team-building games.You can use these or other icebreakers and team-building games that you think are moreappropriate.

Introducing theseries to participantsIntroducing the workshop series to participants andgetting their voluntary agreement to participate is an

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important step. But in order for participants to be able toagree, they need to know:

• Who you are and whom you represent

• What they will be doing

• Why they will be doing it

• How much time they must commit to theworkshops

• That all information that is collected during theworkshop will be anonymous. No comment oropinion will be attributed to a specific individual.

We found that a good way of going about theintroductory process is to tell participants who you areand where you are from, and then to select an exercisethe whole group can do to break the ice (see theAddendum for examples of ice breakers).As with otherworkshop techniques, if the ice breaker you have chosenis new to you, practice it before meeting with the group.Some of the ice breakers include having people introducethemselves as part of the exercise. If you have chosenanother one, go around the group after the ice breakerand have people introduce themselves to you, andintroduce yourself to them.

Explain why you are running the workshops. If you havebeen employed by the department of health or auniversity, for example, say so.Tell the participants a littlebit about the history of the workshops. If you have beenbrought in as a facilitator, you may fmd that you areintroduced by the health service manager who has hiredyou to do this work.

Before the introductory meeting, you should draw up thediagram on the 'Workshop process chart,' (see below) on

a large sheet of paper. Put the paper up on the wall andexplain to the participants that these are the titles of thesix workshops, and that all of you together will be lookingat these six issues. Explain that each workshop builds onthe previous ones and they all work towards the 'Solution'workshop. It is preferable to follow the workshops as theyappear in the manual.

Explain that the reason you are doing the workshops isthat people frequently talk about the health service, butfew people ask health workers themselves what theythink. In this workshop series you are interested in whathealth workers think and in their experiences. Oftensolutions are decided by people on the top. In this serieshealth workers themselves will identify solutions. Some ofthe solutions would be an individual's own personalcommitment to change, some would be for healthworkers as a team and some would be for people incharge of them. The personal commitments will form partof five workshops. Based on what emerges in each of theworkshops, participants will decide on one thing thatthey will either start doing as of today or they would stopdoing as of today.These personal commitments will bedrawn together in the workshop on 'Solutions'.

Then tell the participants that each workshop will takeabout 2 hours. Explain what the findings will be used for.Ask if there are any questions, and if there are, answerthem. If you do not know the answers, say so, and say thatyou will try to find out the answers by the first session.After this, agree on the dates, times and venue of the sixworkshops. It is important to stress that people shouldattend all six workshops.

To keep people in touch with the process all the waythrough, bring the workshop process chart to each

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workshop. As you are introducing the workshop, remindparticipants which workshops have already been doneand which one you are doing on that day.The chart willalso be a good reminder for participants during the lastworkshop, which summarises the work done in all thepreceding workshops.

Writing up theworkshop sessionsYou will see that we have asked you to write down yourfindings at the end of every workshop session. We want toemphasize this, as you may want to leave it for later.Thelonger you wait, the more likely you will forget importantdetails. You need to record what happened so that eachworkshop leads smoothly to the next. You will also needthe notes from each workshop to prepare for the finalworkshop. You may want or be asked to write a report topresent your findings to administrators that you hope tomotivate for change. Or you may want or be asked topublish your results to lobby for change.

It is best to write up your findings immediately after eachworkshop. At the start give some demographicinformation about the participants, age, sex, qualifications,skills and functions. Describe the circumstances in whichthey work, rural or urban, if the services are wellequipped or not, how many patients they see a day etc.For each workshop you should write the title of theworkshop. In reporting the findings of each workshop tryto be as detailed as possible. Remember to represent therange of opinions that came from the discussion, as wellwhat the predominant view was. If people disagreed on aspecific issue include it in your report. The way peopleexpress themselves often illustrates a point well, so

Workshop process chart

My Childhood

Overcomingobstacles at work

I will stopor I will start

I will stopor I wi II start

Solutions

But why didZanele die'?

I will stopor I will start

How do we see ourclients and colleagues'?

I will stopor I will start

Rights andResponsibilities

I will stopor I wi II start

include this in your report by writing what they said

word for word. Remember to maintain confidentiality at

all times. Do not assign information to a specific person.

The way we have used quotes in this manual is an

example of how to do this. Within each chapter a short

section on writing up is included to assist you.

Things to keep in mindEven though each workshop has a different objective

and may employ different methods, there are some

general considerations that apply to all of them. These

are some of the points that you should keep in mind

to function as an effective facilitator:

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Plan Adequately• Discuss which issues are likely to arise in the

discussion, and how you will respond to them.

• Tryout unfamiliar methods with colleagues beforethe workshop.

• Decide what kind of information you want tocollect and in how much detail. Decide when towrite down exact wording, and whether you andthe group would be comfortable using a taperecorder.

• Define the roles of each facilitator clearly, forexample. who will take notes, who will lead adiscussion, and who will be the timekeeper andensure that the workshop stays on schedule.

• If necessary, arrange for an interpreter at theworkshop and translation of notes.

• Be aware of possible problems in the groupprocess. For example, you might say, "Some people

often talk less than others. So in this group, let's try

to make sure everyone gets an opportunity to talk if

they want to."

• Be prepared for emotional responses during aworkshop. If someone cries, say that it is okay to cry

and ask what they would like to do. Some people

may want to leave the room, let them do so, and ask

them to return when they feel ready. Some people

may want to stay, let them do so. Go on with your

workshop, but do talk to the person alone

afterwards about how they are feeling.

• Know when you need to take control and direct theproceedings to maintain the focus and when you

can let the discussion flow and let people voice

their feelings and frustrations.

Focus on the ObjectiveSometimes the discussion can go off track.To avoid this

you must always focus on the objective and bring people

back to the point at hand.

• Reinforce important points as you go along.

• Draw together common themes.

• Ask a group member to summarize the proceedingsas needed. Add your own summary points if

necessary, and relate them to the objective of the

workshop.

IIIIIII

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Establish rapport and build trust• Invite health workers to ask questions of you and

what you are doing.

• Where appropriate, participate in exercises. Do theworkshop with rather than on the group members.

• Break down barriers between the facilitator and theparticipants. For example, if you as the facilitator area health worker, you can say, "we are all health

workers." If all of you are women, you can say, "we

have a common bond as women," "we are all

parents" - or whatever common ground you have.

• Ask each person how he or she would like to beaddressed. Make people feel comfortable: use their

names, make small talk, use humour where

appropriate.

• Give participants privacy where necessary. If theyare doing exercises that require them to reveal

details about their personal lives, do not intrude. Ask

permission to join in a small group discussion.

• Be careful not to find fault or make criticalcomments when you respond to people.

Maintain good communication• Arrange seating to enhance communication. For

instance, remove physical barriers, and use a circle

where possible.

• Listen to what people are saying. Check yourunderstanding by summarizing what you heard and

requesting examples to open the discussion.

• Watch for nonverbal messages.

• Make eye contact with all participants, ifappropriate,

• Speak slowly and clearly but don't be patronising,

• Check that participants understand what you mean,It is not good to say, "do you understand?" Rather, behumble and say. "I am not sure if I have made myselfclear, Can someone here say it another way?"

• Use open-ended questions. For example, asking "wasthis session useful?" is a closed question; the groupcan only answer yes or no. But if you ask, "how haveyou found this session?" the group is free to discussanything about it.

• Acknowledge contributions. Reinforce points thatfocus on the objective of the workshops eitherverbally or nonverbally.

• Be comfortable with silence when appropriate ­give people time to think.

• Do not interrupt.

• Remember that all workshop participants have aright to their own opinions. If there aredisagreements, you can simply note that on aparticular issue people disagree.

Conclude each workshop carefully• Remind participants of the objective.

• Summarize the main findings.

• Ask participants if you have accurately summarizedwhat was said; ask them to add to the summary ifthey like.

• Evaluate the workshop with the health workers. Askthem what they learned, and what they liked anddidn't like about the workshop.

• Thank participants for their time and contributions.

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Know yourself• Be aware of your own feelings and prejudices and

try to avoid imposing your views on the group.

• Take time after each session, just before you write itup, to think about how it went. Consider what youmight do differently the next time, and what youwill try to continue to do. If you work with a co­facilitator, talk about your work, as well as how youfelt working with each other. In this way you avoidproblems developing between you.