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Tool: Facilitating Political Discussions

Facilitating Political Discussions from the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University is designed to assist experienced facilitators in training others to facilitate politically charged conversations. The materials are broken down into "modules" and facilitation trainers can use some or all of them to suit their needs.

Those who want to run all of these modules will need two seven-hour days. The early modules address basic skills: active listening, framing conversations, mapping the trajectory of an effective dialogue, the facilitator's "job description," and troubleshooting. The later modules address the richness and challenges of facilitating groups of people with diverse perspectives, social identities, and lived experiences. Participants will gain the tools for immediate application for better conversations, leadership, and teaching.