Introduction to Chapter 6

This chapter provides a much-needed elaboration of what exactly is involved in excellent facilitation – a set of skills, attitudes and competences that are rarely spelled out and often go under-recognized. Any practitioner of ACM recognizes how central good facilitation is to bringing about a successful ACM process. This chapter deconstructs the process at both the community level and at broader scales, as community-identified needs spiral out and up to relevant hierarchies. Attempts to use ACM or similar approaches in the many arenas where we feel it can contribute will require much broader understanding of the complexities of effective facilitation.