Setting up a LIFE-AR community of practice: A practical guide

A community of practice in LIFE-AR can be set up right at the beginning of the Establishment phase.

As soon as a LIFE-AR task team is established, a CoP that can function as a more informal learning group. The task team can take the lead in deciding when one is needed, how best to set it up and when it is appropriate to close it down.

Is it needed? Assess whether there is already an existing organisation or structure fulfilling this function. Is it open to all stakeholders? If not, which organisation or Ministry host this CoP?

Who has capacity to lead? Are there people with the capacity to take on the key responsibilities of coordinators and facilitators who have enough experience and the right skills and knowledge?

What is it for? Discuss and agree the key purpose and benefits of the CoP and use these to invite others to join (eg ‘exchange ideas with others facing similar challenges and develop new approaches’, ‘share your knowledge and expertise with others who are keen to learn’).

What will the group be called? Decide what will resonate well and convey the purpose most effectively.

Keep it informal: It is important to keep a CoP as informal as the host organisation will allow, introducing more formal elements only when necessary. How the CoP takes decisions, reports on its activities, and manages its affairs should be open and transparent, but it does not need to be overly hierarchical or complicated.

How to maintain oversight? To function, a CoP should hold regular meetings, bring in and support new members and publicise what it has achieved. If members feel the CoP is getting too big, consider sub-dividing it (e.g. into subnational chapters). Do a simple health check with members every six months to assess whether the CoP is effective and should continue. Can it adapt to the changing context and needs of members? If it has served its purpose it is better to close down the CoP while making sure to celebrate its successes and achievements with members, and beyond.

Once these the requirements and implications of the CoP have been discussed, implementation can begin to make it a reality.

What follows is practical guidance on key aspects of facilitating or coordinating a CoP. This is drawn from authoritative sources and adapted based on valuable insights and suggestions from LIFE-AR stakeholders. The guidance is designed specifically for national LIFE-AR focal points and coordinators, but could easily be adapted to running a thematic or LDC platform level CoP.

There are 13 key elements to coordinating and facilitating an effective and sustainable COP:

1. Find a facilitator and coordinator.
2. Select and invite a core group of initial members who want to play a role in running the CoP.
3. Define the purpose, external value and benefit of the CoP to members.
4. Establish and promote CoP membership.
5. Decide on initial priorities but keep the learning journey flexible.
6. Identify resources and roles needed to run the CoP.
7. Embrace gender equality and social inclusion from the start - to reflect LIFE-AR’s socially just and inclusive approach.
8. Use informal learning through effective facilitation to share knowledge and experience in the CoP.
9. Harness simple communication and collaboration tools to engage members.
10. Manage the knowledge and experience of members to realise its full potential.
11. Put plans and mechanisms in place to achieve the CoP’s sustainability.
12. Monitor, evaluate and learn to ensure the CoP is working well and contributing to positive change.
13. Ensure the CoP is governed properly, and is always accountable and transparent to its members.

• Identify both a coordinator and facilitator that have the skills, experience and capacity to take on these roles over at least a six months period.
• A facilitator’s initial role includes promoting collaborative working. They need a wide range of skills and personal attributes to be effective including conflict management and cultural sensitivity.
• A coordinator’s initial role includes strong administration and steering the group to set strategic direction. Key skills are needed such as project management, communications and external relations.
• As CoPs evolve, coordinators must be able to recognise the need for change, develop proposals for new CoP structures and communicate clearly with members about change processes.
• Terms of reference for both roles should be developed, reviewed by the core group and shared with the membership.

• Invite the group for a first informal chat to discuss the details of the CoP like regularity, location, agendas, communication tools, and who to invite.
• The core group can define the peer learning purpose and objectives and draw on the LIFE-AR situational analysis. These can be adapted as the CoP matures and the context changes.
• The LIFE-AR pilot countries have already identified the external values that could come from CoPs. Another valuable aspect of a CoP is it brings together individual learning and group reflection, thus contributing to systems change.
• The CoP’s benefit to its members can also be described in individual terms (e.g. personal growth, access to information, problem-solving). Examples of these personal benefits can be shared between older and new members.

• Plan initial CoP activities based on a realistic level of inputs by members but don’t create high expectations on what can be delivered within the timeframe.
• After onboarding initial members, quickly deliver a few simple activities that do not require many resources or input but that do meet a clear need of members. For example discussions, blog posts, frequently asked questions about a theme. Avoid activities that are better done by task teams and ensure the CoP is driven by member interests and not external pressures or expectations.
• Keep the CoP agendas flexible and be open to exploring emerging issues, trying new approaches, comparing experience across organisations, and capturing unexpected insights.

Reflect LIFE-AR’s socially just and inclusive approach in designing and running the CoP:

• Learning processes, tools and facilitation should ensure that the most vulnerable stakeholders actively participate.
• Target individuals from specific groups to become members to ensure that the CoP is inclusive and gender responsive.
• Challenge the beliefs and structures that exclude and limit people’s potentials and bring a focus on gender transformation and social justice.
• Hold discussions in languages that are accessible to local people. Translate information that needs to be shared at LDC platform level into UN working languages.
• Since cost is a barrier to vulnerable people participating in events, address this through the CoP budget.

Successfully engaging members is a key element for the CoP to be dynamic and active.

• Use simple ways to keep members talking such as email, WhatsApp and Zoom.
• Translate key documents into the national languages of front runner countries.
• Support members’ online privacy and ensure that governance systems enable reporting and action on online abuse.
• Create a regular schedule of meetings and annual events that members can plan ahead to engage with.
• Engage with government communication strategies and with national media to share good practices and lessons, including through websites and social media.

• Consider offering non-financial incentives to members who take on CoP roles. These could include peer recognition or opportunities to participate in events.
• Ensure the CoP is financially autonomous to avoid funders influencing the learning agenda and thereby undermining member accountability. Run the CoP as efficiently as possible and reduce costs by engaging members as volunteers.
• Consider sustainability (financial, institutional) at the outset rather when challenges arise.

How the CoP is governed will depend partly on its size and complexity and partly on how it evolves:

• Simple horizontal governance structures are agile, have low overheads, encourage innovation, and are more sustainable. They could be appropriate at the start of a new CoP.
• Formal and vertical governance structures may be suitable for a large CoP and at LDC platform level. This type of governance may also be necessary for governments to participate, make commitments and receive performance reports. In the initial phase of the LDC platform level, it may be appropriate to rely on existing LIFE-AR governance structures.
• For a large CoP or where required, structural elements of governance may include a board, advisory committee, honorary members, secretariat, core group, and ordinary members.
• Guiding principles for governance may include: independence and equality of members; non-discrimination; transparency in reporting; data protection; and gender balance.
• Operational guidance for governance may include: appointments to decision-making roles; asset ownership rules and sanctions for unacceptable behaviour.
• Produce a public document setting out clearly how the CoP is run, including who is involved, how activities are resourced, who is accountable to whom, how decisions are made, and how it reports on activities. This is essential to sustaining trust of members and other stakeholders.

CoPs are unique to context and are shaped by their members. In this section we look at how relationships may evolve between different stakeholders involved in a CoP and possible structures that could be set up. LIFE-AR CoPs are essentially organic and flexible mechanisms for informal learning learning and reflection on climate change adaptation and resilience.. They may change over time and operate at different levels. Initially, a CoP is likely to start-off small and simple. Some CoPs may change but never become complex or large. Some that have grown may shrink back and reconfigure.

Each CoP is made up of members who engage voluntarily, supported by coordinators and facilitators who work together to enable learning. A core group of the most active members volunteers supports facilitation, and honorary members contribute specific support. Each CoP is hosted by an organisation that manages its coordinators and facilitators, with the possibility of that hosting role shifting over time. Across all types, the emphasis is on shared knowledge and experience as the primary source of value for members.

We look at the different models for CoP relationships and structures at four levels: national, subnational, thematic and LDC platform.

The national CoP provides an informal space for reflection and learning for members that complements and informs formal climate change adaptation and resilience spaces. It is hosted by the lead ministry for LIFE-AR which manages the coordinators and facilitators. Later another organisation could take over as host (e.g. a university).

A national CoP:

• Is supported by coordinators and facilitators who are initially drawn from the focal point and task team and later recruited.
• A core group of the most active members volunteer supports facilitation.
• Honorary members offer specific support (e.g. introductions to guest speakers).
• A board often oversees the governance, supported by an advisory committee which provides political and policy guidance (e.g. LIFE-AR task team).
• May support the formation of subnational chapters when citizens call for these. Together they can share knowledge and experience.

The subnational chapter is formed when citizens want to learn about and reflect on adaptation and resilience from LIFE-AR implementation (e.g. at district/county/region/zonal level).

A subnational chapter:

• Depends on the ability of the national CoP to support it. As there could potentially be multiple chapters at this level, the total resource requirement could be significant, but so could the benefits.
• Actively engages with subnational government (e.g. district environment depts), town/village councils and local civil society in relation to climate change adaptation and resilience - sharing experience and benefiting from their advice.
• Is made up of citizen members who self-organise through a core group of the most active members.
• Honorary members offer support to coordination.
• Could seek hosting support from a local civil society organisation.

A thematic CoP is established by the LDC platform CoP and two or more national CoPs. Members learn about and reflect on adaptation and resilience related to a theme (e.g. best practices on implementing the locally led adaptation principles) across all front runner countries. Initially, the LIFE-AR interim secretariat hosts the thematic CoP and manages the coordinators and facilitators.

A thematic CoP:

• Shares knowledge with national CoPs, ensuring that this creates incremental improvement in implementation practices across the initiative.
• Draws on knowledge and experience in pilot countries, other LDCs and technical experts.
• Informs the LDC platform CoP, as well as more formal climate change policy spaces (e.g. COPs) and international bodies (e.g. UNFCCC).
• Is made up of members from national CoPs and the LDC platform CoP.
• Honorary members (from other LDCs and technical advisers) volunteer as guest speakers/contributors on the theme.
• There is no core group, board or advisory committee as a thematic CoP is a more temporary entity than other LIFE-AR CoPs.

LIFE-AR sets up an LDC platform CoP to learn about and reflect on experience from national and thematic CoPs and from outside LIFE-AR. It is initially hosted by the interim secretariat which also manages coordinators and facilitators. If the CoP expands or if needed for formal reasons, the LIFE-AR board oversees its governance and hosting. The board is supported by the LIFE-AR advisory committee who provide policy guidance.

An LDC platform CoP:

• Shares knowledge in learning loops with national and thematic CoPs.
• Support thematic CoPs to learn about and reflect on adaptation and resilience related to a theme (e.g. enhanced direct access to finance).
• Structure is made up of members operating at the international level. Some will also be members of national and thematic CoPs.
• Learning and reflection among members is supported by facilitators and coordinators working together.
• A core group volunteers to support facilitation.
• Honorary members support the coordination.