The toolkit booklet

This handbook presents all of the facilitation and debate techniques that have been used for the purpose of involving the whole team in the thinking process of the third phase of the project. These techniques are regularly used during the missions of Frères des Hommes or during the Train to Transform collective seminars. They are popular education methods.
In the handbook, we can find the following techniques :
–  Examples of icebreakers
–  Colored cards
–  The speech tickets
–  The moving debate
–  The fishbowl
–  The snowbowl
–  The turning tablecloths
–  Bubbling
–  The idea chain [1]

Picking your facilitation techniques

This booklet has been designed to allow the participants in the workshops to more easily reuse the techniques they’ve tried out together. These techniques can be integrated in team meetings, as well as the collective support practices used by project teams.

When we elaborate a pedagogical sequence for a training course, a workshop or an event, it is essential that we pick suitable modalities at the different steps, all while taking our goals in account. It is equally important to consider the specificities and the modalities of each technique.

Here are some examples of questions to ask ourselves to choose the tools we are going to use :
–  Think of the goals of the activity to know when to use it : Are we going to use this activity to regulate public speaking and encourage active listening ? To make self-expression easy for all of the participants ? To make a decision with consent ? To collectively think of multiple aspects of a situation ? To encourage or think of new actions ?

–  Take into account the necessary durations to use the technique : how much time would we need while using this tool ? Would we have enough time to use it, in our pedagogical sequence ?

–  Think of the practical use of the tool : which material would we need ? Can this technique be used by people that are not comfortable reading, writing or expressing themselves in front of others ? With how many participants can we use it ?

–  Detail the differents steps : Is there a time dedicated to explaining the instructions ? To the group work ? To the restitution ? To exchange in plenary ?