A good facilitator: Essential skills and attitudes for facilitation
Soft skills are considered to be the key to the success of the animation because it is fundamental to building good relations with the public - in this case the farmers’ groups.
—> The main attitudes to be adopted are those of listening, being attentive, open, democratic and humble. This is the ideal posture to adopt during collective reflections, but it is also adapted to the prevention and management of conflicts within groups, and more generally to the maintenance of social cohesion.
DEMOCRATE : the facilitator must develop a posture where all participants have the right to speak and listen, which can be translated into accepting ideas different from one’s own, not locking oneself into one’s convictions or accepting criticism.
PATIENCE is an indispensable attitude : the support process is a long-term process. This attitude is particularly important during the phase of understanding the demands and needs of the groups being supported (attention: if things are rushed from the outset, this can create a break with the group).
REACTIVITY AND ADAPTABILITY to be able to choose the approach or method best suited to the audience and the message it needs to convey.
HAVE CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF in order to inspire confidence in its audience.
BUT trust must necessarily be associated with HUMILITY : the facilitator does not have "all the answers", does not know better than everyone else; he or she is in some ways a research facilitator.
IN SUMMARY :
The posture of the UGPM’s facilitator can be defined as Maieutics.
Its role is to help all the targets give birth to their own ideas.
The facilitator should not think he knows everything, he should allow the audience to come up with a solution, an analysis, a personal reflection on their own situation.
