Skills facilitation has been identified as a unique and important activity that is key to attaining organisational goals and objectives. Delivering the Fourth Lecture Series of the College of Agricultural Management and Rural Development (COLAMRUD) titled, “Facilitation Skills: Panacea For Successful Meetings, Workshops and Adult Training”, a Don, Professor Michael Ajayi, of the Department of Agricultural Administration of the University, said facilitation entailed planning, guiding and managing an event to ensure that an organisation attained its objectives.
According to him, facilitation of skills was one of the most important requirements for the field staff working with farmer groups and those invited to facilitate meetings and workshops because they help in creating good atmosphere for participants to contribute maximally at meetings. Explaining further, Professor Ajayi pointed out that a facilitator should be able to use a variety of communication techniques to facilitate the exchange of experiences among participants and create opportunities that participants can learn from.
The guest speaker highlighted some qualities which a successful facilitator should possess such as being a role model,a teacher, an interpreter, an organiser, a listener, a moderator, a leader, a coordinator, a time keeper, an entertainer and a motivator. This he said is because “the role of the facilitator is more or less directive and show how particular activities, and indeed complete sessions, can vary from being more teacher-centered to being more learner-centered”.
Enumerating the benefits of facilitating meetings and workshops, Professor Ajayi said they include taking high quality decision-making, aiding greater buy-in from all stakeholders, building of team spirit and consensus. He also advocated for an increase in facilitation of skills because it makes decision processes more collaborative.
The Dean of COLMARUD, Professor Bolanle Akeredolu-Ale, said the Programme was to address key issues, current trends, designed developments, evolving philosophies and surmountable challenges of the present time through the provision of workable and acceptable solutions. She added that the Lecture Series was the College’s unique way of stimulating academic discourse on issues germane to agricultural development of the country through the provision of sound policy framework recommendations which were capable of re-launching the country into a first rate producer of food.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Professor Adekojo Waheed, lauded the College for its contributions to knowledge and the development of country as a whole, as he charged other Colleges in the University to take a cue from the idea.
