Facilitation - a new skill

I am currently in Paro, co-facilitating a BRIDGE(Building Resources In Democracy, Governance and Elections)  workshop at Tashi Namgay Resort. Yesterday was the first day and it was a bit intimidating at first facing 31 adults, who work for the ECB while I, who works as a GAO, am trying to teach them something about election and that is also with Brian and Beatrice watching my every move. I am sure they could tell that I was a nervous wreck during the introduction and that did nothing to boost my morale either.

My nerves got calmer as the day progressed and after sometime I was doing fine(at least I hoped so....:)) But we have a very quiet group of 16 females and 16 males this time. At first I worried that it was me, thinking that maybe I was not clear enough or that I was not doing it in an interesting manner but they were the same when Brian and Beatrice and Tashi did their presentations also. I guess they were a bit shy since it was the first day yesterday and today they were a bit more responsive, they just needed a little push. We weren't getting any volunteers so we just got some people to do things and they did them quite well - I guess they are just not the voluntary type.

The two days have been hectic with early mornings and late nights, preparing presentations and trying out different ways because we don't have very outspoken participants. There's a lot of skills and preparation involved here and I don't know how the teachers do it day in and day out(no wonder my husband complained so much - it IS a lot of hard work). Tashi and I will be busy the whole morning tomorrow with the 'First Past the Post' mock election. Sigh....it's going to be another hectic morning and although three more co-facilitators will be joining us, they are just driving in from Thimphu in the morning so they won't have any preparation time. That just leaves us then.

All things said, it has been a very good learning experience for me and I am glad I got this opportunity. Hopefully I can become a workshop facilitator soon, then an accrediting facilitator and finally an expert facilitator. Its just wishful thinking, but hey, who knows! So keep your fingers crossed for me!