# Mentor Facilitator Orientation, Odisha (Bhubaneswar, 7–8 August 2026)

**URL:** https://grove.rainmatter.org/t/mentor-facilitator-orientation-odisha-bhubaneswar-7-8-august-2026/5256
**Category:** Events
**Created:** [September 28, 2026, 5:04am UTC](https://grove.rainmatter.org/t/mentor-facilitator-orientation-odisha-bhubaneswar-7-8-august-2026/5256 "2026-09-28T05:04:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Common\_Ground](https://grove.rainmatter.org/user_avatar/grove.rainmatter.org/common_ground/32/4643_2.png) [@Common\_Ground](https://grove.rainmatter.org/u/Common_Ground)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2026, 5:04am UTC](https://grove.rainmatter.org/t/mentor-facilitator-orientation-odisha-bhubaneswar-7-8-august-2026/5256/1 "2026-09-28T05:04:52Z")

</div>

A key part of Common Ground’s work across is building facilitation as a distributed capability across the ecosystem, to ensure that changemakers, catalysts, and grassroots actors already embedded in landscapes are equipped to run inclusive, thoughtful, and action-oriented processes. Through this, multi-stakeholder dialogue processes, including multi-actor platforms, can become more inclusive and informed, and lead to collaborative action on context-based ecological, economic, and social priorities.

As a step towards this, Common Ground recently held a two-day orientation for prospective mentor facilitators in Bhubaneswar.

**Day One: Orientation and Methods**

Day One focused on aligning participants with the Common Ground initiative and introducing them to the tools, methods, and processes used to engage with Catalysts, landscape partners, and community networks. Sessions covered the role of mentor facilitators in enabling collaborative action, and building a shared understanding of concepts such as “landscape,” “landscape approach,” and “multi-actor platforms.”

Participants were also introduced to tools used by Catalysts in the field, including landscape profile mapping, shared visioning, stakeholder mapping and influence-support matrix, Solver Jams, and Addas.

The sessions on Solver Jams and Addas were led by the Reap Benefit team, with a focus on online facilitation practices. The day also highlighted the importance of mentor facilitators taking a helicopter-view approach, practising deep listening, and being prepared to support Catalysts in navigating the challenges they face on the ground.

**Day Two: Facilitation in Practice**

Day Two gave participants the opportunity to demonstrate their skills. In the morning, each participant led a short facilitation demo session, drawing on the tools and methods introduced on Day 1 or working from prompts shared ahead of the orientation.

The afternoon focused on a facilitation clinic, where participants examined recurring challenges that Catalysts encounter in landscape processes, including unequal participation, power dynamics, conflict, limited engagement, lack of follow-through, and balancing multiple stakeholder expectations. Discussions explored how facilitators might respond to these situations, and one-on-one conversations between the session facilitators and participants further enriched their learnings.