Democracy starts in the smallest conversations, dialogues and meetings by raking in most diverse opinions and ideas, piecing them together to create something new and meaningful to all participants.
Building Democracy through Democratic Facilitation
Course Description
We all have attended meetings where decisions were made by only a few members, most outspoken ones or someone at the top. We may have once thought, “Why am I even here?” and left without saying a word. Democracy starts in the smallest conversations, dialogues and meetings by raking in most diverse opinions and ideas, piecing them together to create something new and meaningful to all participants. This course provides the organizing tools to discuss and practice exactly how to do that. Each session is a training where participants are expected to exercise the tools of democratic facilitation we discuss.
- Teaching: 6 Weekly Online Sessions / 1.5 hour per session
- Course Fee: USD$60 (Regular Price) / USD$40 (Students/Workers/Unemployed)
- Class Size: Class Limited to 15 Students
Course Facilitator
Chie Matsumoto is a labor organizer. As a member of media union in Tokyo, she works to build grassroots power with women in unions and civil society organizations. Most recently, she’s contributed to organizing East Asia Labor Conference in Taiwan in 2023, women in Media Network Japan – the very first nationwide women-only media group in Japan on the back of sexual harassment by the authorities.
Class Time
- 4pm: Pakistan
- 4:30pm: India/Sri Lanka
- 5pm: Bangladesh
- 5:30pm: Myanmar
- 5:45pm: Nepal
- 6pm: Indonesia/Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam
- 7pm: Hong Kong/Taiwan/China/Philippines/Singapore/Malaysia
- 8pm: Japan/Korea
Weekly Class Schedule
Session 1 – March 25, 2025: What does democratic facilitation look like?
What are the good and bad of regular facilitation? What are the principles of democratic facilitation?
Session 2 – April 1, 2025: Stepping into others’ shoe – thinking about diversity
Who is in the room? And, how to ask the right questions?
Session 3 – April 8, 2025: Dealing with difficult situations
What are the commonly difficult situations? Why are they difficult? How can we analyze the reasons for a difficult situation to address the roots of the problems? Why is radical (self-)respect important?
Session 4 – April 15, 2025: What to do when “divide and conquer” happens within allies?
How should we think about the motivation behind that? Why is proactivity not always the solution? And, how can we turn conflicts into something positive?
Session 5 – April 22, 2025: Case studies and exercises – 1
Session 6 – April 29, 2025: Case studies and exercises – 2
To contact us: convenor@labourschool.org
