From short working sessions to full training programmes.
From design-thinking sprints to strategic retreats, future-forecasting labs, or simply meetings that truly deliver. Wherever people come together, facilitation makes the difference.

A skilled facilitator helps people work effectively and enjoyably—ensuring every voice is heard, group dynamics are well managed, and collective ideas are turned into clear results. Through engaging methods, serious games, visual thinking, and human-centred approaches, facilitators create spaces where learning happens, emotions are acknowledged, and outcomes are made visible and actionable.

Now imagine going further: not just facilitation, but facilitation for development—rooted in values, inclusion, ethics,  impact and social justice.

Join our Sprint to help shape the ultimate version of the Global Facilitator Training. By participating, you don’t just attend—you contribute, influence, and truly make the programme your own. Be part of it. Elevate your facilitation. Make a difference where it matters most.

A training designed with you

The Global Facilitator Training is an innovative hybrid programme designed to empower facilitators and trainers to operate effectively in international and multicultural contexts, by becoming more emotionally intelligent and making the most of their human uniqueness. The training begins with a creative Sprint (Day 1), a collaborative design process where participants co-create the Global Facilitator Profile, defining the skills, values, and mindset that characterise global excellence in facilitation. Building on the outcomes of this creative phase, participants advance into the Facilitator Training (Days 2–4), an advanced learning pathway that integrates high-level facilitation skills with a strong emphasis on emotional intelligence, intercultural facilitation, coaching mindset, and inclusion.

By combining virtual engagement with face-to-face collaboration, the Global Facilitator Training creates a vibrant international learning community where participants learn from each other, co-design innovative facilitation approaches, and strengthen their capacity to foster engaging, respectful, and inclusive learning environments.
This initiative reflects the ILO’s commitment to promoting human-centred actions, diversity, and inclusive development through transformative learning experiences.

The Global Facilitator Training is designed for professionals engaged in facilitation, learning, and capacity development within international and multicultural settings, including:

• Facilitators and trainers working in development cooperation, social dialogue, or capacity-building programmes
• ILO staff and professionals from UN agencies, international organisations, and partner institutions involved in learning and training delivery
• Consultants and resource persons supporting workshops, training, or participatory processes at global, regional, or national levels
• Learning and development specialists seeking to enhance facilitation skills for diverse and inclusive environments
• Project coordinators and technical officers leading multi-stakeholder or cross-cultural initiatives requiring facilitation and engagement skills
• Academics and educators interested in facilitation methodologies, innovation, and experiential learning approaches
• Social partners (employers’ and workers’ representatives) involved in dialogue, negotiation, and learning initiatives

This will be your opportunity to:

• Harness emotional intelligence to create more impactful, inclusive, and human-centred learning experiences.
• Connect with and be inspired by trainers and facilitators from across the globe, transforming diverse country experiences into fresh ideas and innovative solutions.
• Immerse yourself in a truly multicultural learning environment and strengthen your intercultural facilitation skills through practice and exchange.
• Adopt a coaching mindset that elevates your facilitation and empowers others to grow.
• Explore visual language, cutting-edge methodologies, and powerful technologies, and build the confidence to apply what works best for you and the communities you serve.

In specific, you will explore

Hybrid Facilitation

Ensuring equity between online and in-person participants

• How can you ensure equal voice and visibility across modalities?
• What concrete design choices support participation for everyone?
• How will online and in-person experiences stay connected and synchronous?

Empathy & Emotional Intelligence

Seeing and working with the human dimension

• What emotions might be present (spoken or unspoken)?
• What needs, fears, or expectations could be behind participants’ behaviours?
• How can you acknowledge emotions without judging or fixing them?
• How can you guide participants from emotional awareness to self-regulation and group engagement, with a view to helping them upgrade their social skills?

Intercultural Facilitation

Working with difference through curiosity and humility

• What cultural dynamics may be influencing participation, silence, or conflict?
• What assumptions (yours or the group’s) need to be questioned?
• How will you foster acceptance, tolerance, and integration?

Coaching Mindset

Supporting reflection, ownership, and growth

• What powerful questions could help the reflection?
• How can you encourage accountability without controlling the process?
• What space needs to be created for individual insight and collective learning?
• How can you support people to unlock their potential?

The course unfolds over four days, each designed to foster your EI and CQ (cultural intelligence) using creativity, collaboration, and practical learning:

• Day 1 – Design Thinking Sprint: Participants engage in an interactive design thinking process to explore what it means to be an emotionally smarter global facilitator today. Through emotional mapping, brainstorming, and rapid ideation, they generate ideas and define the key elements of the Global Facilitator Profile.
• Days 2–4 – Training and Co-Creation: Over three immersive days, participants deepen their facilitation practice through exercises that enhance emotional competences, peer learning, coaching, and serious games, such as the emotional pathway. These sessions focus on advanced facilitation techniques, intercultural facilitation, inclusive learning design, emotional intelligence, and a coaching mindset. The experience culminates in a Forum Theatre session, where teams present session prototypes that are collaboratively improved.

• Facilitated by certified facilitators and learning experts.
• Integration of digital tools, online platforms, and innovative learning methodologies.
• Trusted by global leaders such as the ILO, FAO, and WIPO for delivering measurable impact. 

Participants completing all required activities unlock an official ITCILO Certificate of Participation in Digital Credentials Format while gaining  access to a 500+ Global Youth Forum Alumni network. 

Ready to transform your (organization’s) facilitation and make a difference in development-led gatherings? Contact us at learninginnovation@itcilo.org ; m.lisa@itcilo.org to take your facilitation to another level.