Communities of Practice (COPs)


There are currently more than 12,000 members of UNDP’s Global Communities of Practice which have been established in the five priority areas of development: Poverty, Governance, Energy and Environment, HIV/AIDS, Conflict Prevention and Resolution, as well as for Gender Equality, Management and UN Coordination. An overwhelming majority of UNDP staff are actively participating in and benefiting from knowledge sharing initiatives and approaches. Two communities of practice open to external members have also been established around the Millennium Development Goals and the Human Development Report.

The COP connects experts and practitioners with a common professional interest. COPs utilize face-to-face meetings, networks and workspaces to promote peer interaction and mutual support to address concrete business needs of frontline staff.

COPs work through social networking, learning and capacity development, exchange of knowledge and resources and extensive work on policy and programming, including linking the two. Initiatives include development of external advisory panels; country office referral service; practice meetings; peer reviews, innovation competitions, e-discussions and knowledge fairs.

Bringing benefits to …

UNDP: enhancing the Practice-based approach to service delivery, maximizing the utilization of UNDP’s human and financial resources, tapping knowledge and introducing greater innovation and excellence.

UNDP's Country Offices: establishing linkages across regions and themes, contributing to policy and programme relevance, alignment and coherence, providing advice to governments and capacity building.

UN agencies: UNDP is also working with the UN system to establish knowledge networks and develop common platforms for sharing information. COPs are important to UNDP’s contribution to UN Reform.

UNDP's partners: also benefit through their participation in activities, shared knowledge, increased collaboration on the ground, and through demonstration of a new method of working.