Facilitating with Ease! is an updated version of the best-selling resource that offers easy-to-follow instructions, techniques, and hands-on tools that team leaders, consultants, supervisors, and managers have used to learn the basics of facilitation. Complete with worksheets on CD-ROM that can be customized to fit your personal needs, it's a complete facilitation workshop in a take-home format. (continue)

This League of Women Voters booklet is designed to share some of the basic principles involved in public dialogue processes and to acquaint the reader with what is needed to organize various types of gatherings, from small- and large-group interactions to online formats. Included are some basic planning questions as well as resources to help the reader conduct citizen engagement through dialogue at the community level. Citizens Building Communities is designed to help users understand some of the basics and guide them to resources so that they can foster dialogues at the community level. (continue)

A leader is anyone who wants to help, anyone who is willing to step forward to help create change in their world. Change begins with conversation. From the Four Directions, an initiative of the Berkana Institute, offers a simple, yet powerful way for people to be in meaningful conversations. (continue)

This quick-reading 100-page book is a how-to collection of tools that have proven to be highly effective for facilitation of group conversation about difficult topics. The book shows how to help people hear each other when they feel like shouting; how to focus on the issues at stake rather than having a war of personalities; how to employ actual practices for better understanding (interviews, small-group discussions, role-reversal presentations); and how to move a group toward making a decision that all can honestly support. (continue)

Our ancestors gathered around a fire in a circle, families gather around their kitchen tables in circles, and now we are gathering in circles as communities to solve problems. The practice draws on the ancient Native American tradition of a talking piece and combines that with concepts of democracy and inclusivity. Peacemaking Circles are used in neighborhoods to provide support for those harmed by crime and to decide sentences for those who commit crime, in schools to create positive classroom climates and resolve behavior problems, in the workplace to deal with conflict, and in social services to develop more organic support systems for people struggling to get their lives together. The Circle process hinges on storytelling. (continue)

This 242-page handbook by Bettye Pruitt and Philip Thomas (2007) is a joint effort of CIDA, International IDEA, OAS and UNDP, receiving valuable input from a wider network of organizations (including NCDD). This handbook is the result of a joint initiative to provide decision-makers and practitioners with a practical guide on how to design, facilitate and implement dialogue processes. It combines conceptual and practical knowledge, while providing an overview of relevant tools and experiences. NCDD highly recommends this handbook. (continue)

This concise 7-page guide to the World Café (2002) covers the basics of the process. It includes brief outlines of each principle, a description of Café Etiquette, an outline of key elements of the World Café conversations, and tips for creating Café ambiance. Download from www.theworldcafe.com/hosting.htm. (continue)

This 116-page guide was developed for public bodies such as local authorities, government departments or other statutory agencies who commission or deliver participatory processes; those with similar roles in the voluntary and private sectors; and people who want to know what to expect when they get involved in decision-making processes. This document is the first publication from UK-based Involve. It is based on research funded by the Home Office Civil Renewal Unit during 2004/5. Involve aims to create new systems that enable people to influence decisions and get involved in actions that affect their lives. (continue)

This research project was commissioned by GTZ as part of their supporting the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) to explore ways in which dialogue can be used to address social challenges in South Africa. During and since South Africa's transition to democracy, Nelson Mandela has exhibited a formidable ability to forgive and suspend judgment, along with an awareness of the importance of listening to all sides. Pioneers of Change was asked in this context to map out a variety of approaches, and to provide an overview, case examples and commentary on each. (continue)

Developed in 1999 for National Service programs interested in fostering understanding, respect and teamwork among their diverse participants. The Dialogue guide is designed to help National Service leaders engage their members in meaningful dialogues on race. Written by NCDD's director, Sandy Heierbacher, when she served as a Fellow for the Corporation for National Service. A good primer on intergroup dialogue, the 24-page guide includes sections about why and when to engage in dialogue, what a typical dialogue looks like, a sample dialogue for AmeriCorps programs, and more. (continue)