Concepts

A Community of Practice is a specific form of knowledge management. Six elements are essential and define a Community of Practice:

  • Community: A CoP is a self-organising group: the associates agree on the thematic scope, the form of working and sharing and the results they want to produce. The members may be from within one organisation or from many different ones; a CoP never consists of members of one department only.
     
  • Domain: A CoP is dealing with a theme that interests people who are having a variety of professional backgrounds and who are looking at the topic from different perspectives.
     
  • Practice: The interest in a CoP is focused on practical experience and questions. The associates share their experience and together they look for answers to their questions and for helpful ways in solving their problems.
     
  • Motivation: The associates have a passion for the CoP based on the fact to take a personal profit out of it. It is a matter of personal interest and not a question of being delegated by the institution.
     
  • Mandate: By their mandate, the organisations show their interest and commitment for the CoP. They define the thematic focus of interest and the expected results.
     
  • Structure: Every CoP has a typical balance between formal and informal structure. A CoP exists beyond organisational lines and boxes – it interlinks them.

 
More on CoP concepts:

Solution Exchange India, an initiative of the United Nations Agencies in India, is harnessing the power of Communities of Practice to help attain national development goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), leveraging the knowledge, experience and energies of development practitioners towards the common objective of problem-solving.

IKM Working Paper No. 4. Learning networks for bridging knowledge divides in international development, August 2009

In this concept paper we reflect on the ideas and the background around the term "Communities of Practice". A few selected concrete examples illustrate the reflections (English).

A flyer presents the state-or-the-art thinking on CoPs (also available in French, Spanish and German).

CoP definitions from different sources are of an impressive variation.

CoP quotations from different sources give an impression of what is felt essential about CoPs.

On January 17, 2007, SDC organized the "CoP Dare to Share", a fair combined with a workshop, among stakeholders of SDC CoPs. Participants collected Insights and Lessons Learnt from this event.

In a workshop during the CoP Dare to Share, material was collected for the "CoP Manifesto".

The COP Manifesto is now available also in German!
Das CoP Manifest gibt es jetzt auch auf deutsch!

This start-up guide provides a basic understanding on what a CoP is (also available in French).

In these slides you find experiences, examples and opportunities around Communities of Practice (German).

Print version  |   Send page as a link
News and Events

Here you find news about CoPs and infos on CoP-related events.

NEWS

Launching Networks - on this new page you will find a start-up guide with important aspects to take into account when setting up a network, a series of links to experiences made with networks and a fitness test to check where your network stands at the moment. 

EVENTS and TRAININGS 2010

June 7 – July 2, 2010: Online training on E-Facilitation I
Basic e-Facilitation Skills for sucessfully handling web-based teamwork, collaboration and communication.
Deadline for application: April 23, 2010
Course Flyer with further information/Application form
A new training on E-Facilitation II - successfully leading e-discussions is taking place at the moment (February 8 - 26, 2010). Next course in 2011.

June 15 - 16, 2010: Sharing Knowledge in networks and Communities of practice 
Two days dedicated to understanding how CoPs and Networks work and what is important for their success. Language: German. Wissen teilen in Netzwerken und Communities of Practice (CoP)).

October 5 - 6, 2010: Wissensmanagement praktisch: Auf dem Weg zur Lernenden Organisation
Two days for a better understanding of learning processes at individual, team and organizational level. Designing concrete steps towards a learning organization.

If you would like to place news or information about an event that you think it is interesting to a broader public of CoP activists, please mail to AGRIDEA.