Conservation Council SA is organising a series of one off skills trainings for members, supporters and friends of the climate and environment justice movement in SA.

Why Facilitation?

In the face of the climate and biodiversity emergencies, we don’t just need more activists; we need activists who can work effectively together. Environmental justice work is inherently complex, involving messy systems, high-pressure decision-making, and deep emotional stakes.

Facilitation is the “secret sauce” of healthy and effective movements and organisations. It’s about creating spaces where people feel heard, valued, and energized so they can move forward together.

Led by a specialist Groupwork facilitator Che Biggs, we dive into a practice based training incorporating:

Some of the hardest facilitation involves working with strong emotions and pop-up conflict, but if we can navigate the heat wisely, these experiences are where we can often help individuals and groups make the biggest breakthroughs.

In this facilitation taster session we will explore some fundamental elements for facilitating ‘hot spots’ and difficult conversations. Starting from a recognition that our own relationship with conflict and strong emotions will shape how we respond as facilitators, we will:

Normalise conflict in groups and explore how ‘hot spots' are a source of significant insight and potential gateways for change.

Unpack our responses to conflict and some principles for navigating hot spots in ways to that don’t ‘other' or shame.

Practice some communication skills that can help us support those principles.

Being only a short ‘taster’ session that delves into some of the more emotionally-laden elements of facilitation, attendees are requested they have prior facilitation training experience. This workshop is designed to ‘go deep lightly’ and aimed at everyday hot-spots - not for resolving your facilitation nightmares :).

The prior event Facilitation Essentials was is an introduction and is a prerequisite to this event “Facilitation skills for difficult conversations - “Facilitating Hot Spots.”

(Anyone with other facilitation training or enough experience is also eligible for this ‘Part 2’ session).