Metaphors for Equitable Facilitation by Equity Unbound

Buffet Not Set Menu

unboundeq — 2024-05-02 20:19:26 UTC

For me, equitably hospitable facilitation is more like a buffet than a set menu. It's not about making a unique meal for each individual, but having a buffet that meets the needs of a majority of diverse needs, and gives agency to the individuals to choose how to navigate the menu.

Dancing in the rain - with the sun shining

irene457 — 2024-05-03 09:28:25 UTC

Equitable hospitable facilitation is the feeling of the rain drops on your face and still enjoying the sun rays and the warmth. Everyone should experience something so awesome that when it has an unforgettable and unexplainable feeling.

A house with a widely open door

2024-05-03 14:25:11 UTC

Equitable facilitation, for me, is like a house with an open door, brimming with lots of people/guests, all of them advancing to the door and welcoming everyone who comes, and including them within their community, guided by the owner of the house.

Light between the clouds

2024-05-04 09:25:10 UTC

The world and education too can be inhospitable and scary, but equitable facilitation is about consciously acknowledging and countering this to open up and invite in despite this

My family ☺🧡

awwo342016 — 2024-05-04 10:16:18 UTC

Equitable facilitation is the warmth, security, safety, contentment, pride, and satisfaction I feel when I meet my direct and extended family at my granny's huge Arab-style house in Syria. As always, she welcomes us with a hugging smile full of pride and love and feeds us her love and delicious food while talking nonstop about anything and everything!

Dynamic balance

2024-05-04 11:03:37 UTC

For me, equitable facilitation is that dynamic and constant work to be in harmony with the people, tasks, place and other elements involved in a particular effort. Metaphorically, it’s like a braid where you can see it all coming together, but each distinct part is still visible; its contribution noted. It’s not something you ever achieve, not completely. You have to keep braiding to keep it going. There is a sort of constant renegotiation between people, an evolution of comfort/discomfort in the space and etc. A crucial element in what makes it equitable facilitation is that it happens out in the open and with the consent and awareness of everyone involved.

More than the sum of its parts

2024-05-04 11:26:17 UTC

Equitable facilitation is made up of many care-full thoughts and actions, some of them almost invisibly small. Together they make people feel welcome, cherished and valued.

Wild Geese

bstachowiak — 2024-05-04 14:50:08 UTC

From the Mary Oliver poem, Wild Geese

"Whoever you are,

no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese,

harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."

The idea that we aren't in it alone and that we each have a place resonates with me. May we ignite each other's imaginations and experience the richness of a trusted community where we are known and our strengths are valued.

We're all ears, here!

knyngve — 2024-05-04 18:04:48 UTC

Moves beyond the notion of the facilitator as listener, to a metaphor of everyone being receptive and actively engaged ... and dancing with it.

Ideally Moving To Invisible

cogdogblog — 2024-05-05 15:53:39 UTC

Ideally this becomes just more built into what/how we work and act in this world, still a web, connected, but what if equitable hospitality becomes just a norm we do not have to draw attention to (cf David Foster Wallace on water).

One can be an idealist here, right?

In the Kitchen, Together

cogdogblog — 2024-05-05 16:54:28 UTC

I'm all in for the food metaphors, and meal tables are a wonderful image, but I prefer more to think about the place in a home that often has the communal conversation, and in many cases more than a facilitator (cook) participating, indeed the kitchen.

I've used the metaphor before, more than once, but the idea of working together for a purpose, talking as we do things, making a mess, and people either working to their strengths or being mentored by others says I'd rather be where food is made together than at a pretty table being served.

Mosaic for Humanity

aine44 — 2024-05-06 17:31:15 UTC

EHF emanates from a deep commitment on the part of the facilitator to develop their awareness of and to counter the production or reproduction of discrimination. It embodies an approach to education that empowers choice, agency, solidarity and epistemic justice