The WBG Community Development Framework is a roadmap to support teams design and develop successful Communities of Practice (CoPs) proposing important steps to guide the community through a healthy lifecycle.
This framework is important because it balances the strategic focus on creating long-term value with adopting an experimental, short-term action orientation of building community on the go by carrying out a set of experiments, identifying what works, and iterating from there.
According to the WBG Community Development Framework, there are four key stages of building an effective community: forming, engaging, developing, and managing.
What is the WBG Community Development Framework?
The WBG community development framework is a roadmap to support teams design and develop successful Communities of Practice (CoPs) proposing important steps to guide the community through a healthy lifecycle. The framework was developed based on the Communities Reinvented team's experience coaching more than 150 CoP teams. It draws on a human-centered design methodology and an agile, iterative, and empathic approach. At its core, it is about starting small, building a sense of community, and co-developing the community with core members.
Why is it important?
The WBG CoP Development Framework is important because it balances the strategic focus on creating long-term value with adopting an experimental, short-term action orientation of building community on the go by carrying out a set of experiments, identifying what works, and iterating from there.
How does the WBG Community Development Framework work?
The WBG CoP development framework identifies four key stages of building an effective community: forming, engaging, developing, and managing.
Community Development Stages
Forming: The “Forming” stage is about setting up the CoP. It includes learning fundamental concepts for developing a CoP and establishing a Core Team – the people who are taking the leadership of building the community. It could be as little as two or three people with a desire to accomplish a specific goal. The Core Team then identifies a basic purpose and vision for the community which remains fluid as it gets refined and validated with members and other stakeholders. The Core Team also divides the basic roles and responsibilities needed to kickstart the community and a rudimentary plan of action for the next three months.
Engaging: The “Engaging” stage is about discovering the CoP landscape and then defining and testing an initial CoP model. It is important to explore the broader CoP landscape in two ways: first, analyze the ecosystem (set of groups and initiatives that are interconnected with the CoP's domain) in order to identify what other groups or initiatives might already exist in the domain area and avoid doubling; second, seek to understand prospective members’ needs – why they might want to join the community, what they might be looking to gain from the community, and in what ways they might be willing to engage. This phase is never completed because the ecosystem is by its very nature dynamic and thus likely to change. The insights from the CoP landscape exploration are used to develop a draft community charter - a concept note that describes what the community is about, and how it's set up to achieve its purpose. The companion piece to the charter should be a short-term (3 months or less) action-focused member engagement plan which outlines a list of community activities. These activities serve as the real litmus test of community viability because they would either validate some or all of the original design and purpose or yield important insights that might lead to a community pivot. Thus, the key in this phase is to stay open-minded and focus on experimentation, learning, and iteration, which frequently means letting go of previously held assumptions and goals.
Developing: Reaching the “Developing” stages implies that the previous phases have yielded useful results and knowledge, and most importantly, ‘proof’ that there is a need for such a community and high potential for the community to bring value to all stakeholders. This phase is then about laying solid foundations and basic community infrastructure, such as an online platform and other convening venues, setting up a member roster and starting to track progress, adopting the charter as a guiding document, attracting more resources to the community, growing the membership, and possibly, more staff, developing a calendar of events and establishing a vibrant community rhythm.
Managing: The “Managing” stage will coincide with the maturity phase of the community lifecycle in which the community is well-established and focused on developing the practice. The focus here should be on continuing to evolve the CoP concept, monitor performance, adapt as necessary to continue delivering value to members and to the sponsoring organization, and continuously demonstrate impact to sponsors and stakeholders. The managing stage will continue until the current CoP purpose and value proposition is relevant. If the context changes, the CoP could pivot, going back to the initial states and redefining its purpose and operating model. It could also broaden, becoming an umbrella CoP for smaller nested communities under the same domain, or it could decline if it is no longer needed.
Community Development Example: The Social Entrepreneurship Community of Practice in Türkiye (SECoP)
The Social Entrepreneurship Community of Practice in Türkiye (SECoP) is a Community of Practice gathering experts from the government, multilateral organizations, NGOs, and academia around the topic of social entrepreneurship to collaboratively share knowledge and identify solutions to contribute to the development and sustained growth of the social enterprise sector in Türkiye.
SECoP was established under the World Bank project “Strengthening Economic Opportunities for Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTP) and Turkish Citizens in Selected Localities” (No: IPA/2017/394-635 - P165687). The project, financed by the European Union, provides assistance to the Government of Türkiye to strengthen its capacity to assess demand for skills, support job creation, and promote entrepreneurship in selected provinces with a high incidence of SuTP and evaluate results.
The SECoP development journey provides an example of the WBG community development framework. It started small in November 2019 co-designing the initial community concept with a committed Core Team and a Core Group of active members. Then, during its first year of operations, SECoP strengthened internal collaboration by piloting knowledge-sharing activities with its Core Group and some active members and gradually expanded membership to key social enterprise stakeholders starting with a virtual launch in December 2020. Since then, the number of SECoP members, participating organizations, and meetings have continued to grow and contribute to maximizing the potential of social enterprises in Türkiye.
Blog » WBG Community Development Framework
WBG Community Development Framework
Summary:
What is the WBG Community Development Framework?
The WBG community development framework is a roadmap to support teams design and develop successful Communities of Practice (CoPs) proposing important steps to guide the community through a healthy lifecycle. The framework was developed based on the Communities Reinvented team's experience coaching more than 150 CoP teams. It draws on a human-centered design methodology and an agile, iterative, and empathic approach. At its core, it is about starting small, building a sense of community, and co-developing the community with core members.
Why is it important?
The WBG CoP Development Framework is important because it balances the strategic focus on creating long-term value with adopting an experimental, short-term action orientation of building community on the go by carrying out a set of experiments, identifying what works, and iterating from there.
How does the WBG Community Development Framework work?
The WBG CoP development framework identifies four key stages of building an effective community: forming, engaging, developing, and managing.
Community Development Stages
Forming: The “Forming” stage is about setting up the CoP. It includes learning fundamental concepts for developing a CoP and establishing a Core Team – the people who are taking the leadership of building the community. It could be as little as two or three people with a desire to accomplish a specific goal. The Core Team then identifies a basic purpose and vision for the community which remains fluid as it gets refined and validated with members and other stakeholders. The Core Team also divides the basic roles and responsibilities needed to kickstart the community and a rudimentary plan of action for the next three months.
Engaging: The “Engaging” stage is about discovering the CoP landscape and then defining and testing an initial CoP model. It is important to explore the broader CoP landscape in two ways: first, analyze the ecosystem (set of groups and initiatives that are interconnected with the CoP's domain) in order to identify what other groups or initiatives might already exist in the domain area and avoid doubling; second, seek to understand prospective members’ needs – why they might want to join the community, what they might be looking to gain from the community, and in what ways they might be willing to engage. This phase is never completed because the ecosystem is by its very nature dynamic and thus likely to change. The insights from the CoP landscape exploration are used to develop a draft community charter - a concept note that describes what the community is about, and how it's set up to achieve its purpose. The companion piece to the charter should be a short-term (3 months or less) action-focused member engagement plan which outlines a list of community activities. These activities serve as the real litmus test of community viability because they would either validate some or all of the original design and purpose or yield important insights that might lead to a community pivot. Thus, the key in this phase is to stay open-minded and focus on experimentation, learning, and iteration, which frequently means letting go of previously held assumptions and goals.
Developing: Reaching the “Developing” stages implies that the previous phases have yielded useful results and knowledge, and most importantly, ‘proof’ that there is a need for such a community and high potential for the community to bring value to all stakeholders. This phase is then about laying solid foundations and basic community infrastructure, such as an online platform and other convening venues, setting up a member roster and starting to track progress, adopting the charter as a guiding document, attracting more resources to the community, growing the membership, and possibly, more staff, developing a calendar of events and establishing a vibrant community rhythm.
Managing: The “Managing” stage will coincide with the maturity phase of the community lifecycle in which the community is well-established and focused on developing the practice. The focus here should be on continuing to evolve the CoP concept, monitor performance, adapt as necessary to continue delivering value to members and to the sponsoring organization, and continuously demonstrate impact to sponsors and stakeholders. The managing stage will continue until the current CoP purpose and value proposition is relevant. If the context changes, the CoP could pivot, going back to the initial states and redefining its purpose and operating model. It could also broaden, becoming an umbrella CoP for smaller nested communities under the same domain, or it could decline if it is no longer needed.
Community Development Example: The Social Entrepreneurship Community of Practice in Türkiye (SECoP)
The Social Entrepreneurship Community of Practice in Türkiye (SECoP) is a Community of Practice gathering experts from the government, multilateral organizations, NGOs, and academia around the topic of social entrepreneurship to collaboratively share knowledge and identify solutions to contribute to the development and sustained growth of the social enterprise sector in Türkiye.
SECoP was established under the World Bank project “Strengthening Economic Opportunities for Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTP) and Turkish Citizens in Selected Localities” (No: IPA/2017/394-635 - P165687). The project, financed by the European Union, provides assistance to the Government of Türkiye to strengthen its capacity to assess demand for skills, support job creation, and promote entrepreneurship in selected provinces with a high incidence of SuTP and evaluate results.
The SECoP development journey provides an example of the WBG community development framework. It started small in November 2019 co-designing the initial community concept with a committed Core Team and a Core Group of active members. Then, during its first year of operations, SECoP strengthened internal collaboration by piloting knowledge-sharing activities with its Core Group and some active members and gradually expanded membership to key social enterprise stakeholders starting with a virtual launch in December 2020. Since then, the number of SECoP members, participating organizations, and meetings have continued to grow and contribute to maximizing the potential of social enterprises in Türkiye.
This article is part of the WBG Communities of Practice Toolkit licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The toolkit features practical resources to help you develop impactful Communities of Practice. 📖 Learn more about the Toolkit. ▶ Access the Toolkit.