Services We Offer > Facilitation Training
Please note: We offer
training workshops both for people who want to volunteer as Jewish
Dialogue Group facilitators and for people who plan to use
these skills in other ways.This
page describes our training program for JDG volunteers. Check
back soon for more information about our other trainings.
Training for Volunteer Facilitators -- 2009
Are you interested in working with the Jewish Dialogue Group as a volunteer facilitators? Please join us for one of our introductory facilitation workshops in Philadelphia or New York. If you'd like to participate or if you have any questions, please email us at info@jewishdialogue.org or call 215-266-1218.
Who are JDG's facilitators? Who are the introductory trainings designed for?
We welcome people with all backgrounds and all levels of experience to work with us as facilitators. Our facilitators are teachers, students, rabbis, mediators, psychologists, social workers, graphic designers, writers, and tech workers. They are religious and secular, and they hold a wide range of political views.You do not need to be an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order faciltate well. You simply need to be skilled in helping people to talk across differences about complex, emotionally charged issues, and comfortable addressing this particular issue. Our training workshops will help you to develop the needed skills. Whether you’ve never served as a facilitator before or you're a professional facilitator who simply wants to learn our specific approach, our trainings will be useful to you.
What is involved in facilitating dialogue sessions as part of the Jewish Dialogue Group?
We define “dialogue” as a conversation in which people seek to understand each other better and reflect on their own ideas, feelings, questions, and dilemmas, but don’t try to convince one another or reach a compromise or solution.
In our programs, the facilitator sets up a structure that will help the participants to have a constructive conversation, then guides the participants through their conversation. Facilitators do not share their own ideas or feelings about the issues at hand, but focus solely on serving the group. As facilitator, you will:
- help the participants to establish a clear purpose for the conversation and suggest communication agreements (like ground rules)
- pose questions that will help them to learn about each other’s and their own perspectives
- suggest constructive ways that they can respond to each other
- keep track of time
- remind the participants about their agreements when necessary, and help them to maintain the spirit of dialogue, even when they disagree passionately
Our guidebook for facilitators (jointed published in 2006 with the Public Conversations Project) provides step-by-step instructions and other information that will help you to carry out these tasks.
What kind of commitment is involved in training and serving as a volunteer facilitator?
As a first step, we will ask you to participate in a JDG dialogue session. Next, we you will participate in a one-day introductory training workshops. After that workshop, you will assist a more experienced facilitator in leading a dialogue session. We will then work with you to find roles that match your particular interests, skills, and experience. JDG holds shorter follow-up workshops for facilitators several times a year, and we will ask you to participate in those as you continue your involvement.
Facilitators always work in teams, and we generally pair new facilitators with more experienced facilitators. We will start you off with whatever amount of responsibility and whichever specific tasks make sense for you. Our facilitation teams meet before each dialogue session in order to plan to workshop, and they always debrief afterwards.
As a facilitator with the Jewish Dialogue Group, you can volunteer for as few or as many dialogues as you'd like. Some of our facilitators help to lead dialogues on a weekly basis, while others facilitate only once ever several months. We welcome you to get involved no matter how frequently or infrequently you will be available.
What does an introductory training cover?
In an introductory training workshop, you will explore some of the basic concepts and skills that are involved in our approach to dialogue, learn about the mechanics of leading a JDG program, practice facilitation, and discuss some of the "internal work" and emotional preparation that will help you to facilitate effectively. The workshops consist mainly of participatory execises and discussion, although there are also some short presentations.
What is the cost?
We charge a sliding scale fee to help cover costs. Scholarships are available, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
