Ukraine after 20 Years of Independence: Models of Development, Narratives of National Identity, and Crisis of Legitimacy of Power
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Leading Discussions by Taking Questions
Workshop on Moderation — Kyiv, 17.-18. October 2009
The Regional Office of Friedrich Ebert Foundation offered a training on moderation techniques to representatives of the Ukrainian and Belarussian civil society, mainly young people active in NGOs and Trade Unions. Participants were introduced to methods and techniques which facilitate the moderation of an event.
In the moderation technique, it is up to the participants to take decisions and the moderator remains neutral and focussed on guiding the discussion process. In contrast to common forms of conference design, workshops aim at actively involving all people present and thus go beyond the mere role of listeners of "normal" participants. Everyone is to be treated as an expert, no matter which background s/he has. In this light, it has for instance been suggested that workshops could make up parts of a conference, thus combining traditional and more interactive methods.
The participants experienced themselves how it is to work with cards and other methods of visualization by working on their expectiations to the seminar. In general, much could be learnt from the behavior of the trainer due to the fact that he included many different methods that are also appropriate for use in a workshop. Later on, the participants designed their own workshops and presented the different steps to be undertaken to the group.
However, another conclusion was that one has to carefully think about how an event should be designed.
Impressions of Student Republic