Dialogue & Facilitation Model

Question 1

What is Soliya’s dialogue model?

Answer 1

Cross-cultural, facilitated substantive small-group dialogue

Question 2

What does cross-cultural dialogue mean?

Answer 2

Dialogue participants come from different geographical, cultural and religious backgrounds. They subscribe to a mix of different identity groups and represent a variety of different communication cultures.

Question 3

What is the role of facilitators in the dialogue model?

Answer 3

Facilitators act as process leaders: they don’t have the sole decision-making authority, nor do they contribute to the substance of the discussion. The facilitator’s aim is to lead the group process; to help the group to improve the way they communicate, examine and solve problems, and be more self-reflective.

Question 4

What are the most important characteristics of a facilitator?

Answer 4

A facilitator relies on and adheres to neutrality and multi-partiality. One key part of the facilitator role is to make the dialogue process explicit and promote awareness of dialogue.

Question 5

What is online dialogue?

Answer 5

• Online platform with audio, video and text
• Communication is a variety of different ways and forms, emphasizing the multi-tasking skills of facilitators & participants
• While physically apart, participants still feel belonging to a group

Question 6

What is real-life dialogue?

Answer 6

Dialogue takes place in participants’ everyday life, not in a bubble experience forgotten when back in normal life.
Participants reflect on topics in their own contexts and bring ideas to friends and family, and also bring their life via stories and experiences to dialogue.

Question 7

What is semi-structured dialogue?

Answer 7

• Curriculum is provided to guide the process
• Structure is necessary for the process to be successful
• Nonetheless, free-flowing dialogue on topics the groups decide themselves based on their interests. Groups can also choose how they want to talk about the topics they choose.
• Participants also learn in the process of collaborating together in dialogue. Learning how to function as a cross-cultural group and taking ownership of the dialogue are an important part of the learning process.

Question 8

What are the core facilitation principles?

Answer 8

• Facilitators are process leaders only. They have no decision-making authority, nor do they contribute to the substance of the discussion.
• Facilitators are neutral – or multipartial, curious about all the opinions that are available in a room.
• Facilitators are the guarantees of good discussion. One of your prime jobs is to make sure your group members have good quality discussions.