This study examines facilitator competencies in Egypt's centralized planning context, analyzing how political, institutional and cultural conditions shape facilitation.
This qualitative, interpretive study draws on expert interviews across academia, practice and civil society. Literature-derived competency categories guided data collection and analysis used as sensitizing concepts.
The study identifies context-specific facilitator competencies across personal attributes, knowledge and skill domains and proposes a preliminary framework reflecting local facilitation dynamics. Facilitators in Egypt navigate centralized authority, build trust in low-trust environments and mediate competing interests in politically sensitive settings.
Findings are Egypt-specific and based on a small qualitative sample. The framework is exploratory and may inform training, education and comparative research.
Despite the promotion of participatory planning, facilitation in restrictive contexts is under-studied. This study advances that gap with a preliminary competency framework.
