Knowledge exchange activities are central to GIA’s goal of consolidating a Community of Practice and Learning (CoP-L) around infrastructure governance. We understand CoP-L as networks of actors who interact regularly and learn together through exchanges of experiences, skills, and approaches to improve their practices. These interactions enable social learning, to increase knowledge that can be applied by CoP-L participants to improve outcomes of infrastructure governance.
Concepts and Approach
GIA aims to create new spaces for learning together and from each other, to consolidate knowledge and collaboration, and develop a shared repertoire of resources and methods to address common issues of concern regarding infrastructure governance. Activities within and across regions will allow participants to learn about what others are doing, to monitor changes, and to mentor and coach others in a space conducive to self- and collective reflection. The CoP-L is also a forum where partners can search for guidance and support to improve the effectiveness of their tools, strategies and other conditions that shape and determine infrastructure governance outcomes.
To understand how social learning processes take place among members of GIA’s CoP-L, the UF/GIA team broadly adopted and adapted the concepts of “Social Theory of Learning”* and “Communities of Practice” proposed by Etienne Wenger and colleagues. We understand that the two concepts are interconnected and that they encompass changes in understanding and behavior by and among the members of a broad community who share commonalities in their practices, discover meaning in their interactions and learning activities, and create a common identity that brings them together. In that sense, the four main components of our approach are: community, practice, meaning, and identity, which have four corresponding processes: belonging, doing, experiencing, and becoming, as laid out in the figure below, along with key questions to be addressed in the context of GIA for each component.
*Wenger, E. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. 1998. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
The meaning of the “GIA Community of Practice and Learning” was co-created with GIA’s partners based on their practice and the experience of interactions at each of the focal mosaic workshops in 2019. Groups created word clouds that were placed on large banners to represent the emergent identity of each CoP-L. These events set the stage for social learning to occur throughout the lifetime of the GIA project.
Knowledge Exchange Activities, Outputs and Goals
The GIA CoP-L is guided by a theory-of-change, which specifies lines of action and their linkage to the project’s ultimate goal of strengthening infrastructure governance. CoP-L activities such as workshops, exchanges, and webinars facilitate social learning by building capacity, sharing information and practices, research, reflection and analysis. The resultant increase in knowledge and its application are meant to enhance participants’ ability to address infrastructure threats by either pausing / stopping projects or mitigating their impacts.
Given the adaptive nature of GIA project management, and as learning occurs, activities will continue to evolve, and new ones may emerge throughout project implementation. Long-term GIA outcomes such as improved ability to mitigate and or pause/ stop infrastructure projects may occur well beyond GIA’s life.
Monitoring and Documenting Social Learning
To assess progress toward GIA’s CoP-L consolidation, we have defined both indicators and methods, based on the project and activities’ expected outcomes. Results of this ongoing monitoring process reflect GIA partners’ own reflection, and guide adaptation of our actions. Click below to learn more about this work.
Find out more about Knowledge Exchange activities and events:
Interactive Discussion On Practices To Influence Governance
We invite partners to share examples of how they have applied each of these strategies in the discussion boards below, one for each strategy. Please share information on how the strategy has been applied, if and how the strategy has influenced infrastructure governance, and lessons learned.
