Communities of Practice for Development

Communities of Practice “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” Etienne Wenger 2

Communities of Practice … It’s all about social mobilization in to development programming - particular development objective through dialogue Social mobilization was first coined in 1991, the hype has recently started to increase but we center our ideas on Communities of Practice (CoPs) and how they are a strong mechanism for knowledge generation, learning and policy participation. It is through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group that the members learn from each other, and have an opportunity to develop themselves personally and professionally CoPs can exist online, such as within discussion boards and newsgroups or in real life, such as in a lunchroom at work, in a field setting or elsewhere in the environment. CoPs also can exist across and outside of organizations 3

Basic Structures of CoPs The core group – manages coordination, moderation, technical and administrative support to the community based on agreed terms The inner circle – compromise of active members and contributors of the community The outer circle – interested members, readers, and contributors who engage from time to time 4

Why participate in CoPs Engage partners in discussions to find solutions to current economic and social development issues A way of transferring tacit knowledge Sharing country specific best practices on policy issues of various thematic areas Social bookmarking and tagging of shared interest Quick answers and knowledge resources Quick access to experts Professional identity Enhanced networking, cooperation and synergies Cross collaboration 5

Examples in Organizations Communities in some organizations mentor new hires, disseminate processes and best practices to a large group, solve emerging problems, and engage in continuous improvement initiatives. 6

CoPs at work for Africa’s Development Human and Social Development – African countries sharing best practices and dialogue on: Social Integration; International Migration; Youth; Ageing; Disability; Health; HIV and AIDS and Population and Development in Africa. Civil Registration and Vital Statistics – African countries sharing among each other how to use civil registration and vital statistics as the building blocks for establishing good governance and securing human rights in a country. KM4Dev Africa Personal experience in West Africa 7

CoPs at work for Africa’s Development UN Country teams and programme coordination mechanisms, eg. the case of Ethiopia, DAG, UNDAF etc Other examples include CoPs built around relevant topics for Africa’s Development such as Gender Mainstreaming, Enhanced Energy Access, Regional Integration in Africa, Renewable Energy Financing, Sustainable Tourism for Development, Trade and Environment in ECOWAS etc. 8

Thinking of setting up a CoP? The first questions when setting up a CoP include: what is the knowledge focus? who can contribute? what are the common needs and interests of the group? and what is the group’s ultimate purpose Four ingredients for success: 1.A shared concern or passion 2.A shared practice 3.A commitment to learning 4.A commitment to interact regularly 9

Starting up a CoP In his CoP start-up kit, Nickols (2003) provides a very useful step-by-step view of the process 10

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Resources McDermott R. “Nurturing Three Dimensional Communities of Practice: How to get the most out of human networks.” Knowledge Management Review, Nichols.F. “Communities of practice: A start up kit”. Distance consulting, communities-of -communities-of 12