Communities of Practice Guideline
CoPs: Membership, Roles and Responsibilities
Membership
Once it has been decided to establish a CoP:
- Groups will canvass interest in membership within their groups and nominate two Wellington based group members who will participate as core members;
- An administrator for the CoP will be proposed by the Coordinator and endorsed by the administrator’s manager.
- Other membership is voluntary and open to all staff in NZAID and the wider ministry interested in the CoP. As appropriate other agencies and NGOs may be invited to participate in CoP meetings on an occasional basis
If core members are no longer able to participate in the CoP, they ask their Director to seek a replacement. Participants in the CoP are included in the distribution of minutes of the meetings and of progress reports. (See the section Reporting to AIDMGT later in this document).
AIDMGT is informed of the CoP’s coordinator and its core members.
Good practice tips regarding CoP membership
- CoP opportunities should be shared evenly within Groups.
- Being a core member of a CoP is significant time commitment. In general, an individual should serve as a core member in only one (and certainly not more than two) CoP.
- Voluntary participation based on strong interest in the area of the CoP should be encouraged.
- While staff of NZAID and the wider ministry form the membership of a CoP, other ministries and agencies, and NGOs can provide opportunities to strengthen policy coherence and to access wider knowledge and experience. CoP can consider, for example, inviting participation by practitioners from other development agencies (linking via teleconferencing) in a meeting on an issue of shared interest.
Roles and responsibilites
Coordinators: To ensure continuity, CoPs should have a coordinator and a deputy coordinator or two co-coordinators. The coordinator(s) of a CoP has overall responsibility for ensuring that it achieves its objectives and work plan effectively and efficiently and for preparing the annual report for AIDMGT. Coordinators and their managers should agree on the level of commitment that is required.
The administrator reports to the coordinator and provides administrative support in pursuit of the CoP’s purpose and objectives.
Core members contribute to the effective and efficient achievement of the CoP’s purpose and objectives and its work plan, and may take the lead on specific activities. Core members each report on the CoP work plan and activities to their group and each communicates the interests and concerns of their group to the CoP.
CoP members contribute to the achievement of the CoPs purpose and objectives and the development and implementation of its work plan, including outreach activities.
See Annex 2: Suggested Roles and Responsibilities of CoP Members.
Commitment
CoPs only work effectively if members not only have enthusiasm and interest, but also have sufficient time available to participate in CoP meetings and activities and receive recognition for participating through their work plan and the performance management process.
- CoP members should work with their line managers to agree on the level of commitment that can be made. Being a core member serving as a representative of a group and engaging in CoP activities requires a substantial commitment of time. Other members may take a lesser role or have limited engagement. However, it is expected that all members will take on the role of being a ‘champion’ for the CoP.
- CoP members should record their roles, responsibilities and time commitments in individual performance agreements, and monitor these.
It is important that managers facilitate and support staff participation on CoPs and recognise staff contributions in performance management processes.