To facilitate means to make something easier. If your best friend is very shy, you could facilitate her efforts to meet new people.
Facilitate comes from the Latin facilis, for easy. It means to make something easier or more likely to happen. You facilitate growth or a process, as opposed to, say, dinner. Often in business meetings someone will be assigned to facilitate a discussion so people don't just sit in awkward silence. Synonyms are ease, simplify, expedite, and assist.
