Perspectives on the art of facilitation: a Delphi study of natural resource management facilitators

Abstract

The new regional arrangements for natural resource management (NRM) in Australia have been built upon a premise of community-based management, reflecting the increase in participatory approaches and citizen involvement within NRM. Given this increase there is still a paucity of literature regarding the field of facilitation for researchers and practitioners currently working within participatory frameworks in NRM. A Delphi survey technique was used to conduct an Australia-wide study on NRM facilitation. The study highlighted that NRM facilitators often preformed a multiplicity of potentially conflicting roles (e.g. facilitator and change agent). Many challenges were also identified by study participants, such as institutional dysfunction and overloading community volunteers. However, a number of facilitation strategies were also identified, such as stakeholder mapping and capacity audits, as a means to combat the challenges. While the facilitation challenges were framed within the context of NRM, the strategies to improve facilitation may be transferable to other sectors and applications.

Keywords:

• facilitation
• Delphi method
• natural resource management