If I Build It, Will They Come? Sustaining Active Communities of Practice for Global Health 

Purpose:

The purpose of this two-week discussion is to share experiences in using virtual communities of practice (CoPs) for global health and learn about innovative approaches to nurturing the engagement and participation of CoP members. CoP novices as well as veterans are welcomed! In order to share successes and challenges, we would greatly appreciate that CoP leaders, moderators, and facilitators participate since we hope that this community will become an ongoing place where CoP leader/moderators/facilitators can share experiences, tools and lessons learned.

        

Objectives:

• We plan to spotlight many areas including the following:
• Benefits and challenges of CoPs
• IT considerations
• Engaging and energizing participants
• Nurturing your CoP 

                                            

Questions:

In your opinion, do CoPs that reach across organizations have more success than those who only focus internally? What defines and makes these types of communities valuable?

Day 1 Summary:

We received 9 contributions to the day 1 post from individuals working for international NGOs, colleges and universities, an international news portal, and a web technology firm, all of whom are leaders or participants of communities of practice.

Collectively, we agree that building a CoP is simple while maintaining and growing a CoP has its share of challenges. Some challenges shared by members include the following:

• Inactivity after an event or discussion
• Limited or no internet connectivity in developing countries
• Lack of funding for CoP managers/leaders
• Concerns regarding confidentiality of discussion
• Lack of real time discussion
• Limited time to participate

Question:

In your opinion, do CoPs that reach across organizations have more success than those who only focus internally? What defines and makes these types of communities valuable?

Day 2 Summary:

We’ve received 8 contributions today from the US, Nepal, Nova Scotia, South Africa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Geneva. Most participants agree that working across organizations increases the diversity of a community and tends to add to the value of the discussion around a particular topic. Maggie Usher-Patel describes experiences with the Knowledge Gateway and reminds us how important the development of a strategy is when building your community. This is particularly important in terms of sustainability. Professor McPherson from Nova Scotia echoes these sentiments, “By working across organizations within a CoP model there is added-value in that you broaden the possibilities to not only increase partnership numbers, but to also diversity--its resources (possibly more inter-professional; more in-kind supports for the endeavor, such as paying for a web space or conference call phone line), cultures (which may bring more diverse views regarding the etiology of the issue as well as strategies to address it), etc.”
                              

Question:

What do you think is important to consider in creating an online community of practice? What tools or best practices have you used to create an online community of practice?

Day 3 Summary:

Based on your responses, we agree that developing overarching objectives is key before starting a community of practice. But the ability to be flexible and modify the objectives as your CoP evolves is equally as important. As I mentioned on Day 1, Etienne Wegner argues that there are three key characteristics that define a CoP: (1) the domain, (2) the community, and (3) the practice - and this discussion focuses heavily on the “the community.”

Many of you mentioned the importance of a moderator whether to encourage direct interaction between members or to serve as a gatekeeper to a discussion. Other contributors mentioned the lack of technology or the inability to access technology, which is a great lead into Day 4’s posting that will be posted shortly concerning IT considerations in starting and nurturing a virtual CoP.

     

Question:

What are the important IT considerations in starting and nurturing a virtual CoP?. 

Day 4 Summary:

We’ve received 6 contributions today from the Nepal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, US, and Switzerland. Your experiences reveal that there is a lot of innovation taking place and hopefully one day everyone will have similar access. Until then, “let's use the opportunities we have, while we look for other solutions” and don’t waste resources reinventing the wheel as suggested by Maggie Usher-Patel in today’s posting (see Contribution 6 for the full text) and Neil Pakenham-Walsh (from yesterday’s post). Also included in the full text daily digest are innovations put forth by participants.

                                                

Question:

1. We have discussed a number of challenges faced in nurturing an online CoP as well as learned about a number of solutions to addressing these challenges. For instance, we learned about one CoP’s strategy of selecting the moderator of the CoP from the member who is most active in a forum. Have others tried this? What has your experience been? Have you ever tried rotating the role of moderator/facilitator? How did this work out?
2. We’ve also learned that often less is more in terms of functionality and ensuring access. At the same time, we’ve heard again and again the importance of ensuring that the technology meets the ever changing needs of the CoP members. Do you assess your CoP members’ needs? If so how, often? What strategies do you 

Day 5 Summary:

Thank you for your contributions. We’ve received 4 contributions today from Uganda, Nepal, South Africa and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We identified two main themes from today’s contributions:

The importance of integrating face-to-face meetings and/or technologies that allow participants to meet “in person” with virtual CoPs.

We learned about a number of approaches that community moderators and leaders use to encourage CoP members’ active participation. Some of these approaches include:

• Using a rotating moderator among the members to share responsibility.
• To take into account members with limited internet access, “we planned by giving schedules to those people on when they should engage us basing on their preferred time and availability of internet.” (Gotto Danny, Uganda).
• Sending out monthly or quarterly newsletters to recap previous work and information from members.
• Using side chat rooms for more specific conversations which allows for camaraderie and encourages discussions.

                                 

Question:

1. How have you combined face-to-face activities and virtual activities? What did you find to be most effective or challenging in doing this?

Day 6 Summary:

We’ve received 7 contributions from members in South Africa, Nepal, Scotland, and the US. Comments from guest experts on this topic included the following:

• Lissette Bernal-Cruz says “Regarding levels of participation, we are fortunate in this discussion to be reminded that there is value in all levels of participation (long thoughtful replies and brief, e-mail links are both valid). Welcoming a range of participation is absolutely essential for a CoP to work and be of value to its membership”
• Dr. Patricia Abbot says “Build it and they may come. If there is not value associated it – they will not come back. So, a CoP does not run itself – it works best when there is a team.”
• Dr. Neil Pakenham-Walsh says in his original message “There is no doubt that this (combining face-to face and virtual activities) helped to raise awareness about the forums, and attracted a substantial number of early members. It also helped to focus our attention in each case on careful planning and preparation, which are so important for the success of any new forum.”

                             

Question:

What is the role of incentives in encouraging and nurturing participation?

Day 7 Summary:

Today we received 4 contributions from members in the United Kingdom, Kenya, Nepal, and the US. Guest expert, Jude Griffin, responded to each contribution. Topics included the type of facilitation approach used for different communities of practice, the ebb and flow of activity in a community, the importance of giving members a way to manage how discussions will evolve, and the important role of culture in discussion dynamics.

                                 

Question:

What does it take to host an effective online discussion forum as well as successfully engaging the audience?

Day 8 Summary:

Today we received 8 contributions from members in the United Kingdom, Nepal, South Africa and the US. Participants commented on translation and multi-language discussion forums, moderating a CoP and maintaining databases of members, and many participants provided examples of successful CoPs.                    

Question:

What strategies and experiences do you have to share on developing multi-language communities of practice?

Day 9 Summary:

We received 3 additional responses to the Day 9 question (about multi-lingual communities of practice). Elizabeth Westley, Aaron Beals and Maggie Usher-Patel share some of the efforts they are undertaking to overcome the language barrier within and across the COPs they support.                              

Question:

Have you developed an online communication strategy that incorporates social media tactics? What social media platforms do you use to engage stakeholders or communities of practice?

Day 10 Summary:

Thank you for your participation, insightful contributions, and sharing your experience using and leading communities of practice- both internally and externally.

Today we received 2 contributions from members in the United Kingdom and Scotland who shared their experiences with Groupsite and TKN.

                                

• The IBP Knowledge Gateway. The IBP Knowledge Gateway has hosted over 20 online discussions since 2005.
• S4Health. S4Health functions as an online community of practice run by the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco. The CoP seeks to identify, understand, and promote innovative models for engaging the private sector in health systems strengthening in developing countries. Stakeholders from around the world exchange information and innovations. The CoP intends to decrease duplication of efforts and increase interest in the topic of social franchising.
• Alumni CoP. Shishir Dahal, a medical doctor in Nepal, noted that the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium conducts a short online course on antiretroviral treatment in English and French every year. Approximately 300 alumni recently decided to start a CoP.