Braakman, Lydia

This manual is designed for trainers and facilitators who have an interest in improving the facilitation skills of field workers in the context of community forestry development. The manual is designed as part of a facilitation training package supported by a training video that helps the trainer bring real life scenes from the field into the classroom. The training sessions described have been effectively used within a wide range of audiences all over Asia, including field workers, extension workers, college teachers and managers.

This is a digital resource that allows users to direct and monitor their learning on facilitation at their own pace. It has been compiled for use by a diversity of people who have different levels of understanding and practice of facilitation, and comprises two CDs. The first is designed to give the user a choice of learning pathways appropriate to their interest or needs. These include personal assessment and reflection, interactive games and exercises, video clips and stimulating questions to challenge and probe the learnerÆs thinking processes.

This paper is based on the experiences of the Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC), based in Thailand. The RECOFTC trains people from all over Asia in facilitating participatory decision-making processes. Many of the participants already see themselves as skilled facilitators.|The paper describes how participants are challenged to revise their views, beliefs, and habits about facilitation and participation. It includes a discussion of the difficulties of unlearning being an expert from the perspective of extension workers and NGO employees.