Participation 101

Thursday, 18 March 2010
As at the time of writing, I have just returned from ten days in Timor Leste. A small team of us were training extensionistas – government agribusiness extension workers – in Technology of Participation™ facilitation and communication basics. ‡
Tuning in for better training
We all tune in to other people when we talk and work with them. This helps us to understand where they are coming from. In other words, the meaning/s behind what they say and do.

As we were working with the participants, it became clear that the training was not connecting with them. Their starting point was not what we had assumed, based on our previous experience of participants in other sectors. Their education had included little or no interaction or participation. They therefore had no real idea of what to do in a facilitation context.

Our responsibility was therefore to figure out where they actually were and start from there. It was up to us to fit with them, and then move along in small steps.



Our solution was to add a direct “facilitation does…” component onto the existing facilitation is not… facilitation is… and from… to… chunks.

In summary, this component said:
  • Facilitation enables participation by getting the people in a group to talk with each other.
  • You do this by asking open questions (and waiting for responses), providing contextual information and giving appropriate instructions.
  • The group does the work of generating and organising information, identifing what is important and stating the outcome/s.
  • There is a sequence to doing this – one structure, many applications.
  • If you are doing more talking than listening, then it's actually a presentation.
We used the metaphor that the facilitator is like a guide – they navigate the group through a journey to an outcome, such as a plan, or decision, or solution.

So, what’s your experience of participation? Go online and post a comment.

Go well!


‡ Training run under the USAID BACET (Building Agribusiness Capacity in East Timor) Program, managed by Land O’Lakes.