The Facilitator Method continues to spread across the AIC network

As part of their annual meeting of April 14, 2016, the volunteers from the Liguria region (AIC Italy) participated in a regional training day entitled “Growing together by valuing our strengths”. This gave them the chance to discover and experience the “Facilitator Method”, a way of behaving and of bringing out people’s strengths to help them solve the difficulties they face in life themselves. Presented during the last AIC International Assembly in Guatemala, on this occasion the method was the topic of a practical workshop called “Valuing each person’s strengths”, led by Marina Costa, the Regional President, and Tayde de Callataÿ, Liaison and Project Officer for Europe at the AIC International Secretariat.

The volunteers participated enthusiastically in the training session and through exercises and real-life examples they had the chance to rediscover the importance of listening and having a positive attitude in Vincentian service:

• “It’s incredible what we manage to discover, even about someone who we’ve known for a long time. I think the group could learn a lot by listening more closely to some of the beneficiaries we have been accompanying for years and who we think will never change.”
• “If we don’t know how to listen to each other, what hope do we have of being able to listen and support vulnerable people properly?”
• “The most difficult part is moving from being an expert to a facilitator and rather than giving solutions, looking for strengths and instilling confidence. This method can help us but we need to start by applying it in our group meetings. I’m going to try and pass on this enthusiasm, strength and new approach to service to my group.”

To ease the transition from enthusiasm to truly applying this method in the volunteers’ day-to-day work of supporting people living in poverty, the Regional Board decided to make it the training topic for the next few months and to support local groups as they put the method into action in their grassroots activities, notably by giving them the necessary tools.

For more information about this method and how to apply it in your group, see training booklet n°24