1.  Facilitation Versus Mediation:

• "The role of the development practitioner or change agent is that of catalyst and information broker rather than of decision-maker or information giver, that of promoting self-reliance rather than dependency" (Knippers, 1991).
• "Mediation attempts to facilitate a negotiated settlement on a set of specific, substantive issues through reasoning, persuasion, the control of information and the suggestion of alternative compromises" (Bercovitch and Rubin, 1992).
• "Mediators' resources constitute the basis required for exercising leverage, or better still, any form of influence" (Bercovitch and Rubin, 1992).

• Should development practitioners strictly act as facilitators and not introduce outside resources as the mediator does? What conditions could justify a facilitator introducing outside financial assistance?
• Should the facilitator have a vision of the most viable project that would serve the most needs and encourage the participants in that direction?
• Can a facilitator be truly neutral in his/her own conduct or in the consequences of her/his efforts?

• "PD demands an unusual degree of awareness and humility on the part of the investigator" (Burky, 1993).
• "It is possible to prepare a manual for trainers" (Burky, 1993).

• What personal qualities lend towards being an effective facilitator? Can we be trained in those qualities?

• "Participatory development processes normally require an external catalyst to facilitate the start of the process and to support the growth of the process in its early phases" (Burky, 1993).
• Exploitation and racial and class discrimination may well be built into national and international systems, but the expression of these evils with which the poor must live on a daily basis is local. Thus, a requirement for changing traditional relationships may be the intervention of agents who are not local" (Knippers, 1991).
• Foreigners, and particularly young ones, are able to cross the lines of class in a manner that would be far more difficult for nationals" (Knippers, 1991).

• Why can outside facilitators be more effective that local ones (at least in the early periods)?

• "The development specialist may find that the information or skills he is expected to pass on to host country authorities or counterparts are likely to be used in a manner utterly at odds with his own objectives or the stated purpose of the program. In such a case, he may find it necessary to redefine his own role or to sabotage his own project" (Knippers, 1991).

• Describe a situation when your efforts were used for ulterior purposes.
• Where should the ultimate loyalty of a development specialist lie?

• "The structural foundations for the necessary dialogue on development are laid only when the intermediate level (third sector) between government and people has been developed and strengthened" (Gsanger, 1994).
• "The ultimate challenge is the establishment of social and political institutions that are problem solving, and not adversarial and confrontational" (Burton, 1992).
• "All this points to the need for institutional developments to reform the scope of the public sector, public sector management, the relationship between the public and private sectors, and the management of public enterprises" (Serageldin, 1993).

• How can third-party facilitation be further institutionalized in society?
• Do you agree that establishing third-party institutions will create "the basis of an alternative to the adversarial production, legal and political systems that Western societies have inherited and promoted" (Burton, 1992).