Timeline of ADB-Hosted Communities of Practice

Abstract

"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a passion for something they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better. By engaging in rich conversations in informal and welcoming social environments, they break down communication barriers to populate and reference their knowledge network workspace. By asking, learning, and sharing, they help manage tacit knowledge. Communities of practice have become the heart and soul of knowledge generation and sharing in the Asian Development Bank. First introduced in 2002 after a bank-wide reorganization, communities of practice received a boost when their empowerment was mandated under the Action Plan for Knowledge Management, 2009-2011. Today, these communities Promote innovative approaches to address specific development challenges Develop, capture, and transfer good practices on specific topics by stimulating the active generation and sharing of knowledge Link diverse groups of practitioners from different disciplines and are thus intertwined with ADB's organizational structure Serve as an ongoing learning venue for staff who share similar goals, interests, problems, and approaches Respond rapidly to individual inquiries from members and ADB clients, audiences, and partners with specific answers. This evolving timeline catalogs major decisions, events, and activities touching ADB-hosted communities of practice since the 1990s."