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.

The Global Facilitator Training is an innovative hybrid programme designed to empower facilitators and trainers to operate effectively in international and multicultural contexts. 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 characterize global excellence in facilitation. Building on the outcomes of this creative phase, participants advance into the Facilitator Certification Training (Day 2,3,4) an advanced learning pathway that integrates high-level facilitation skills with a strong emphasis on social justice, development cooperation principles, and emotional intelligence, coaching models, intercultural facilitation 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 social justice, 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 organizations, 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:

• 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.
• Harness emotional intelligence to create more impactful, inclusive, and human-centred learning experiences.
• 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

1. Hybrid Facilitation

Ensuring equity between online and in-person participants

• How will 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?

2. 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 will you acknowledge emotions without judging or fixing them?
• How can you guide your participants from emotional awareness to management with a view of helping them to upgrade their social skills?

3. Coaching Mindset

Supporting reflection, ownership, and growth

• What powerful questions could help the group reflect?
• How will you encourage accountability without controlling the process?
• What space will you create for individual insight and collective learning?
• How can you support people to unlock their potential?

4. 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?

The course unfolds over four days, each designed to foster 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 a global facilitator today. Through brainstorming, empathy mapping, and rapid ideation, they will generate ideas and define the key elements of the Global Facilitator Profile.

• Days 2–3- 4 – Training and Co-Creation: Over three immersive days, participants will deepen their facilitation practice through training sessions, peer learning, and collaborative prototype development. These sessions will focus on advanced facilitation techniques, intercultural facilitation, inclusive learning design, emotional intelligence and coaching mindset. The experience culminates in a final pitching session, where teams present innovative prototypes that will inform the design of the upcoming Global Facilitator Training.

• Facilitated by IAF certified trainers and international experts.
• Integration of digital tools, online platforms, and innovative learning methodologies and technologies. 
• Enriched by the view of global leaders from the UN system and the international community. 

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.