Facilitation

 

DSC_3530Facipulation time

Lots of contracts require some kind of group feedback: a presentation and Q&A session.  But the jobs outlined below all required specific facilitation skills and processes which are a bit more developed than managing a simple workshop.

In addition to facilitation as a component of a contract,  I’ve increasingly been contracted to facilitate a large and tricky meeting – to stimulate debate, manage conflicting positions, generate consensus and steer participants towards a common set of actions.  And sometimes, the need for this has become apparent during the course of the consultancy process, and I have offered to play this role.

Either way, facilitation (or as consultants like to joke, facipulation – getting the result you want out of a group of people) is a specialised skill.  You need to manage time, process, egos and agendas, and always keep the purpose of the event at the front of your mind.  It’s fun, too.  And exhausting.

And no, the picture isn’t relevant.  I wasn’t about to put a boring picture of people in a room playing with sticky notes up there.  It’s a pretty raised path / flood prevention scheme from Bangladesh.


Facilitation contracts, and other jobs where formal facilitation was necessary


Urban feedback on Sphere revision

2017Facilitator – Habitat for Humanity GB
Role: Facilitate a gathering of urban experts to provide feedback on the first draft of the revised Sphere Standards

Facilitating the DMWG (iii)

2017Facilitator – International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
Role: My third and last time to facilitate the DMWG – this time in Helsinki.

Response Option Analysis – Sindh Province, Pakistan

2017Facilitator for FAO and the Food Security Working Group
Conduct a response option analysis to consider responses to floods and drought in Jamshoro, Umerkot and Tharparkar districts of Sindh Province, Pakistan

Facilitation: Global Surge Meeting

2017Facilitator for IFRC through the British Red Cross.
Task: design a meeting programme to deliver a complex set of linked outputs with a diverse group of participants, and facilitate that meeting successfully.

Simulation Exercise: Nepal Floods

2016Lead consultant for the Danish Red Cross on behalf of a DIPECHO consortium and a range of partners including the Government of Nepal.
Role: Design and facilitate national level simulation exercise.

Facilitating the Disaster Management Working Group (II)

2016Facilitator – International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
Role: My second time to facilitate the DMWG – this time in Switzerland – with a strong focus on global surge response tools.

Facilitating the Disaster Management Working Group

2016Facilitator – for the RC Movement DMWG
Role: Facilitate three day meeting of senior international disaster managers

Nepal Earthquake: Recovery Advisor

2015Nepal Earthquake Recovery Advisor / Coordinator – for IFRC
Role: Provide technical advice and coordination support to Nepal Red Cross, develop the recovery plan and gain buy in from RC Movement partners. Facilitate Movement Wide partnership meeting.

Pakistan Simulation Exercise: country-wide flooding

2013 Team Leader – for IFRC and the Pakistan RC
Tasks: Design of simulation materials; management of facilitation team; facilitation of 3 day event; lead lesson learning workshop and document.

Evaluation of cash transfer projects

2013Team Leader – for IFRC and Bangladesh Red Crescent
Task: Lead the team to undertake a detailed review of three linked cash transfer programme components for floods / landslide response. Facilitate a lesson learned worship for key stakeholders.

Global Learning Event: Improving preparedness for CTP

2013Designer, facilitator, and report author – for IFRC and CaLP
Key questions: what can be done by humanitarian agencies to better plan for swift, large-scale cash transfer programmes?

Programme design: integrated rural DRR programme, North of Haiti

2012Team Leader and facilitator; proposal author – for American Red Cross, Haiti.
Main tasks: included detailed multi-sector options analysis and participatory workshop with HQ and field stakeholders to finalise proposal.
Innovation: Detailed technical approach to response option analysis

Review of CTP training materials and monitoring tools

2011Sole consultant – for CaLP
Key tasks: consult trainers and participants, review monitoring tools, recommend changes to approach, content and monitoring

Recovery business plan

2010 sole consultant – for IFRC Geneva / Haiti
Task: Develop a business plan for the recovery operation

Early Recovery Adviser, Suriname Floods

2009Sole consultant – for UNDP Suriname
Objective: support the GoS in a multi-stakeholder process to reflect on the floods of 2008, develop a capacity analysis, hazard mapping, action plan, and strategic framework

Develop Strategic Plan for India Red Cross.

2009Author – for IFRC and Indian Red Cross
Key task: Support the finalisation of the 5-year strategic development plan