Scriptapedia/Template for Workshop Facilitation Manual

Cover Page

Project Title Subtitle Location, Group Model Building Workshop Date of Workshop Workshop Facilitation Manual Workshop Estimated Date: Month Date, Year Created: Month Date, Year Last revised: Month Date, Year Logos or Names of Project Sponsors and Partners

Table of Contents

Project Background................................................................................... (page)

Objectives.................................................................................................. (page)

Modeling Team......................................................................................... (page)

Participants:........................................................................................... (page)

Planning Logistics................................................................................ (page)

Agendas..................................................................................................(page)

Group Model Building Scripts........................................................... (page)

Objectives

Workshop Objectives (Explicit):

1. Objective 1ː
2. Objective 2ː
3. Objective 3ː

Workshop Objectives (Implicit):

1. Objective 1ː
2. Objective 2ː
3. Objective 3ː

Modeling Team

Core Modeling Team

The core modeling team (CMT) is responsible for the design of the workshop.

Role	Name

Facilitation Team

The facilitation team is responsible for the delivery of the workshop itself.  Facilitation team members may be a part of the core modeling team, or could be brought in for the facilitation only.

Role	Name

Facilitation Team Roles

• Meeting Convener/Closer: Primary responsibility for starting the session, introducing participants to the exercise, making sure that participants understand the purpose of the exercise within the context of their organization or community, and introducing the facilitators. Closer has primary responsibility for bringing the session to close and thanking participants for their time.
• Community Facilitator: The community facilitator's primary responsibility is to extend their social capital to help the community accept and work with the modeler facilitator. This is a person who is familiar with the local or substantive knowledge of the problem being modeled and knows the local language and community norms in cross-cultural situations. The substantive expert/facilitator should have strong group facilitation skills, some exposure to system dynamics (e.g., through the planning process and training session or workshop), and have sufficient knowledge of the topic and/or community to anticipate and mediate conflicts that might arise within the group model building session.
• Modeler Facilitator: Primary responsibility for system dynamics modeling and group model building process. This is a person who is trained in systems thinking/system dynamics model with expertise teaching and leading groups in the use of systems/thinking/system dynamics. The person should also have experience facilitating groups and leading group model building sessions. If the goal of the project is to develop a simulation model, it is expected that the modeler/facilitator also be an expert modeler and able to anticipate and address the variety issues that can arise in data and modeling.
• Modeler: The modeler's primary responsibility is to build the system dynamics causal maps, models, and simulations. This is a person with expertise in system dynamics modeling and software (Vensim, IThink/Stella, etc.), formulating and entering equations, testing and analyzing the model, and running simulations for answering policy questions.
• Note Taker/Time Keeper: Primary responsibility for taking notes about what is said in the workshop and notifying the facilitation team when time is short. It is overall very important to start and end on time as much as possible.
• Process Coach: The process coach's primary responsibility is to observe the group process with attention to how participants are experiencing the session. This role requires someone who is able to reflect on the group process and accurately identify what is happening for participants based on observing their behavior and language. The process coach also plays an evaluation role and helps provide accurate feedback to the core modeling team about how the sessions are going. The process coach should be noticing when group dynamics begin to interfere with the process and identify potential solutions.
• Production Coordinator: The production coordinator’s primary responsibility is to ensure that the information collected during the exercises, which includes diagrams, group model building scripts, agenda, pictures, notes, electronic versions of diagrams, etc., are collected, appropriately archived, and made available.
• Reflector: Primary responsibility for helping the group reflect on what they have done so far and recognize the issues/insights that have been developed during the modeling. This role requires someone who can speak to the relevance of the activities and insights to a larger substantive context, or to system dynamics modeling more generally.
• Runner: Primary responsibility is to be available to solve logistical problems as they emerge – including technical assistance, materials, etc. These people can also be on hand to support with wall building.
• Wall Builder: The primary responsibility of the wall builder is to organize products from an exercise into thematic clusters, as well as to explain the clusters to the participants in order to elicit their feedback.

Agendas

Summary Agenda

Activity	Duration	Time

Anticipated Outputs

Activity	Output

Detailed Agenda

Time	Activity (Public Agenda)	Roles	Facilitation Details(Description)

Group Model Building Scripts

The following scripts were used in the group model building workshop. Scripts are structured small group exercises used in group model building.  These scripts are compiled in a wikibook called Scriptapedia which is intended to be a freely distributed book and easily edited to support the creation of new scripts, discussion of what works and what doesn't, and internationalization of group model building practice. Scriptapedia is available at https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Scriptapedia.

License

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