CoP Guidance Note

From BDPWiki

Strengthening Community of Practice: A Strategic Agenda For Action

Knowledge management has become a strategic growth area; helping in building synergies and increased knowledge and information sharing. The UNDP Strategic Plan (2008-11) included specific knowledge management related outputs, indicators and targets for the first time. Arguably Networks and Communities of Practice are now the primary mechanism for moving knowledge and learning across traditional boundaries in global organisations like UNDP. This rise of Communities of Practice (CoP) to prominence has no doubt arisen from the need for UNDP to adapt to the increasingly fast changing environment it operates in where the need to transfer learning from day to day practices in country offices in order to enhance development effectiveness.

These communities, operating at country, regional and global levels have enabled teams of UNDP staff to interact closely in the development of new tools and methodologies to support UNDP work after extensive peer reviews and analysis of comparative experiences. UNDP now has over 20 global virtual networks with about 8,000 subscribers allowing real time discussion on key issues and sharing of experiences across the globe. The presence of such powerful knowledge and practice networks contributes directly to the growth and sustenance of CoPs.

From bottom-up policy development process to top-down policy agenda setting, there has been a stronger tendency in UNDP to involve and/or consult relevant members of the CoP. A consistent effort to give to the regional and sub-regional CoPs a meaningful role in identifying, designing and implementing regional programmatic initiatives has also been noted. Communities focus on practical aspects of a practice, everyday problem, development in the practice and/or thematic area, new tools, things that work and don’t (lessons learned), good practices etc.

The value of CoPs should be measured by the usefulness they bring to practitioners in their work and their ultimate development impact. Of course, value can be added to the CoPs through a host of activities, including Face to Face (F2F) meetings, support missions, study tours, virtual discussion forums, mutual support initiative, innovation fund, participation fund, fellowship, intensive CO-to-CO support, e-discussion, formal training, resource mobilization, etc.).

The present guidance note attempts to identify some of the lessons learned and good practices to strengthen the CoP processes. An integrated plan of action with dedicated follow-up is required with some quick wins that can deliver more immediate benefits (e.g. address specific suggestions shared by CoP members for improvements in products and services).

Other issues such as sponsor engagement and helping to make sure networks address business issues will take more time and work to engage senior management. While the Guidance Note identified different ways communities could impact individuals and organisations (e.g. increasing learning and knowledge sharing or motivation and commitment for members), several factors in the guidelines also focus on one of the dimensions of individual and organisational impact: increased performance.