What is a Community of Practice?

– A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a common concern, a set of problems, or an interest in a topic and who come together to fulfil both individual and group goals. The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning.

– Our Community of Practice will focus on sharing best practices and creating new knowledge to advance professional practice within the field of homeshare. Interaction on an ongoing basis is an important part of this process.

– A Community of Practice framework develops around three core elements:

• Purpose: making homeshare a safe and affordable option for all who could benefit from it. The term ‘homeshare’ is used here according to HI’s understanding of it as an exchange of housing for help around the home, with matches facilitated by established homeshare providers.
• People: HI Core Members who deliver homeshare programmes around the world.
• Practice: members of the community commit to coming together every three months to explore and deepen their practice and take away shared objectives for improvement.

This is a useful overview of a CoP, and the principles behind it.