What Does It Mean to Facilitate Across Difference?
To facilitate across difference means to be grounded in an awareness of your identity and where you experience privilege as well as oppression. This understanding can help facilitators to raise issues in a way that will keep a safer space for all the participants. This is especially important because as a facilitator your own privilege and oppression will shape the way you see the world, as well as how you are perceived by others. Your social location shapes your worldview, yet it is important to understand that there are many other worldviews and to reflect this awareness when discussing topics with the girls in your group.
Creating a safer anti-oppressive space means that facilitators should understand their own identity, as well as considering the identities of the girls. As the facilitator you are the one creating the space. It is important to think about the needs of the girls, given their different social locations (their ability, ethnicities, races, religious affiliations, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientations, to name a few).
It is important not to assume that everything is fine in the group and in the activities unless a participant raises an issue with you. This puts the girls in an awkward situation and perpetuates the way certain cultures and practices are marginalized and made invisible within larger society. An example of this would be only talking about holidays from one particular faith or assuming that all the girls in the group are heterosexual.
Incidents are bound to arise where you will need to intervene and mediate based on social location or difference. For example, when hurtful or oppressive comments occur in the group based on race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and so on. Making group guidelines is a way to proactively discourage such behaviour.
It is also possible that girls will raise issues in the group that are not so obviously linked to social location. For example, if girls begin talking about bullying, it is important to look at the underlying causes of the bullying. Sometimes bullying amongst girls can be a manifestation of racism, homophobia or other discriminations.
When not so obvious situations of discrimination occur, use these incidents as a learning moment to talk about location and anti-oppression, drawing on shared experiences and addressing issues in the moment, as they emerge. When a comment is made, or an issue is raised in the group, it is more important to focus on addressing these types of emergent needs than any agenda you had planned.
Facilitation across differences should unpack assumptions or discriminations that underlie situations and conversations we sometimes take for granted. We find that attention to the informal culture of the group, such as comments that are made and interests that are focused on, helps girls to understand difference, respect, and social location. Actively naming and addressing oppressive comments and behaviour, demonstrates communication skills, conflict resolution, critical thinking, and life skills that the girls will carry with them for life.
