A Global Community of Practice to support active lives for all

By Hayley Lever | 19 June 2023 | TAGS: Global Community of Practice

The Global Community of Practice and Learning: Active Lives for All was launched in spring 2023. It had started with a question, as these things often do. How can we learn from theory and practice beyond our borders?

The spark came from a place of curiosity and a desire to look outside of the UK, and across sectors and missions for learning. Globally we are all working against an epidemic of inactivity and inequality, and the associated impacts they have.

We often notice new legislation, policy, ideas, or approaches in other countries and are curious about how they have come about and how they are going.

We were keen to learn from other people, places, and contexts. Identify common barriers and enablers to change, and develop relationships that will help us all on our shared missions for active lives for all.

Then there were some informal conversations, sense checking and clarifying need, purpose and to ensure that this wouldn’t be duplicating something that already existed.

Enough people showed an interest and a desire to get involved, so an initial invitation was sent to colleagues through their networks of practitioners, policy makers, academics, and evaluators.

At the first session, the group explored what brought them here, what would bring them back, and what feels important in how the group develops. Input was captured on a Google Jamboard, which helped to inform the design of the second and will continue to be used to design future sessions.

May 2023

The second session took place in May 2023, with the meeting welcoming people in different roles from seven different countries, including Finland, New Zealand, Australia, and the World Health Organisation.

This community aims to create and connect people from all walks of the physical activity umbrella, practitioners to academics and policy makers to activists all who want to champion and learn about a whole-systems approach to tackling inequalities and inactivity.

The agenda for this second meeting was wide-ranging, with the idea being that there would be something for all interests.

Topics included findings and recommendations from early adopter areas, for those taking whole-systems approaches from Jack Wakelet’s PhD Thesis (Cardiff Metropolitan University); learnings from Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilot; learnings from GM Ageing Hub; World Health Organisation Age Friendly Cities around the value of international Community of Practices (CoPs); and a discussion around disruption.

Discussions during May’s CoP were lively and enthusiastic with people eager to share their perspectives, knowledge, and ideas. Already connections are being made, and resources shared with those early in their whole-systems journey being able to ask for key pieces of advice and learnings from those considered to be ‘early adopters’ and vice versa. There is always shared learning in all directions.

The group was able to pull out patterns and common threads that were interwoven through the breakout discussions around tensions, importance of accessible languages and the challenge of how to truly represent the people's voice.

Although only in its second session, the Global Community of Practice and Learning: Active Lives for All is self-organising, with an open invitation for people to join a small design group each time. Initial ideas from those who have joined, have helped seed the roots for this group and whose reflections, vision and hopes can be found below.

Creating a community of practice is not for the faint hearted.

Time, patience, and passion and a shared purpose are some of the many key ingredients for supporting and creating a community that comes together to both share and advance learning and practice. While community of practices can be challenging to seed, grow and flourish, the value they can bring, the relationships they grow and impact they can have can be transformative. 

Some of the design group have shared their reflections and experiences so far and their hopes for the future:

Professor Di Crone, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales:

“It’s been amazing to see such interest. To grow things further, we need to link with other stablished networks such as ISPAH, HEPA EU and others and piggyback on events folks will be going to and set up satellite meetings to network and share at these events.

"We could also get this Community of Practice on the agenda of the UK Four Nations Physical Activity group and engage the Physical Activity leads at the European Commission. This would help it to become a useful forum and maybe also a lobbying network to support its people in their work to facilitate change.” 

Mike Parker, Progress Health Partnerships:

“The journey so far has been interesting. There is clearly enthusiasm amongst academics and the physical activity community to create a shared community. This in itself is encouraging and highlights a need – but how do we engage and influence beyond speaking to ourselves?

"Real success is active engagement outside of our physical activity ‘bubble’. To grow we need to engage a wider audience, for example planners (urban and rural), designers, politicians, corporate business, policy makers beyond sport and physical activity.

"I would love it to become a community of influencers beyond the traditional physical activity people; one that links physical activity expertise with the professionals who are working outside of this ‘core’ arena – for example those that that support active environments through design."

Tim Crabbe, Substance:

“It is encouraging to see the initial steps being taken with sufficient engagement to justify follow up sessions and active knitting going on in the background to help shape the future.

"It is particularly interesting to see a willingness [in the group] to explore organic development with no pre-determined model, owner, or structure. This of course bring challenges as well as opportunities where people might not know what they are getting involved in or how to describe it to others alongside the potential liberation of a ‘free space’."

To help the Community of Practice truly blossom and reach its full potential it needs to grow, diversify and expand. To be truly global we need guidance and support from other passionate individuals, inviting different perspectives, learnings and knowledge.

If this sounds like it would be of interest to you, find out more information here. To be involved and help shape future sessions please contact Hayley.