Facilitation is a specific skill that requires training, know-how and experience. Its independence from the organisation hosting the process ensures its legitimacy and success.
Vulnerabilities with examples:
- Perceived facilitation biases due to polarisation
- Ethnic Polarization: Facilitator biases or insensitivity towards ethnic issues.
- Post-Conflict: Difficulty in maintaining neutrality in charged post-conflict settings.
Mitigating Techniques/Strategies, with Examples:
- Train facilitators in cultural sensitivity and conflict resolution.
- In the case of the BiH National Citizens’ Assembly, facilitator training was organised specifically around the polarising issues, and also to allow for teambuilding among co-facilitators.
- Employ co-facilitation with facilitators from different ethnic or conflict-affected backgrounds.