Are you working in gender equality? Then join our new Gender Equality Practitioners Community of Practice (GEP CoP)! A new community to promote shared knowledge, personal experiences and allow for collaboration while championing gender equality. Watch the recording of the launch and find out how to join and what you can expect as a GEP member.

Why GEP?

GEP CoP is an IDS Alumni Advisory Committee initiative which aims to promote ongoing growth and learning among IDS alumni working in gender equality. Despite recognisable advances in gender equality, this century has seen a kaleidoscope of polycrises where the marginalised have suffered most and inequalities intersecting gender have increased. 

As development practitioners in this fast pace and changing world, we must continuously learn and adapt our skills and strategies in order to be effective. We are more effective if we are organised, engaged and sharing knowledge and experiences. There are hundreds of IDS alumni working in the field of gender equality who have a wealth of experience and knowledge on gender equality ready to be shared and reinforced through a Community of Practice.

Vision

GEP’s aim is to promote a community-led space where feminist practice, pedagogy and research fluidly intersect and IDS-associated gender equality practitioners (e.g., alumni, educators, researchers, partners and invited peers) can openly share professional and lived experiences, connect with peers, collaborate widely and in diverse ways, and exchange tested knowledge, expertise and resources for social change.

GEP CoP Launch June 2023

GEP CoP Launch (Clicking this link will automatically download the recording of the launch.)

4 Core Pillars and Knowledge Agenda 2023- 2024 

Prior to the launch of GEP CoP, we carried out a survey asking future members what they want out of community and four core pillars emerged that will shape the content and structure of the GEP in order to achieve our vision. We also asked members what they wanted to explore through the community and the 6 most popular themes were used to create our Knowledge Agenda. Eeach theme will be the focus of the community for 2 months.

Gep CoP: The Process and Knowledge Agenda

There are 4 parts to the GEP CoP – we have our Knowledge Agenda which are our 6 chosen themes we will explore throughout the year, our Knowledge Sharing Sessions (KSS) which are hosted by GEP members, an Online Forum for discussions and our Knowledge Base to hold resources.

Knowledge Sharing Sessions (KSS)

To enable learning and collaboration, we want GEP members to put themselves forward to host an online and interactive ‘Knowledge Sharing Session’ (KSS). These can be anything you want; from facilitating a discussion or hosting a workshop.

We want the first Knowledge Sharing session for each theme to held on the last Tuesday every other month. GEP members are more than welcome to host an additional session throughout the two months, you can find out more infomration about hosting a KSS on the community platform.

Online Discussion Forum

We aim to record all KSS to benefit all members of the community so those who cannot attend the live session, will still be able to interact with the content.

After the KSS, conversations will then continue in an online forum. The online forum is a space for critical discussions, interaction and collaboration providing members the opportunity to ask questions, receive peer to peer support and share knowledge and expertise. All members will receive a weekly roundup email so you don’t miss any parts of the conversation.

Knowledge Base and Featured GEPs

Each theme will have its own Knowledge Base where members can upload their own resources to share with the community and where you can find previous recordings from KSS. 

We also invite members to put themselves forward as ‘featured GEP’s’ members who have specific knowledge and expertise within the theme allowing other members to send direct messages or tag them in the forum if they have any specific questions.

GEP Members, Events and Group News

Online members will be able to access the online forum and Knowledge Base through the community home page where you will also find announcements for future events and knowledge sharing sessions as well as news stories, other community members and GEP CoPs ground rules. You’ll also be able to send direct messages to other GEP members.

How can you contribute directly to the GEP CoP?

The GEP CoP needs active participation from members in order to be successful and thrive as a community, therefore we need all GEP CoP members to play a part and contribute to the community in one way or another.

Here are some examples of how you can be directly involved in the GEP CoP:

• Keeping the CoP alive and active by intermittently logging in and seeing what’s new  **
• Developing an activity  (informal, formal, very small, medium or larger)
• Posting a reflection about lived experience working as gender practitioner
• Sharing a resource (artwork, photos and other media, grey literature, research, etc)
• Inviting a speaker from your network
• Participating in community e-discussions and sharing your insights or asking questions
• Lots of other ways…

  ** This is the most important! If you do nothing else, please log on regularly to engage with the community and see what is new!

How to Join

The GEP community sits in a new IDS Community Platform which is supported by the IDS alumni office and will eventually play host to several other communities.

To join the GEP CoP you need to become a member of the IDS Community Site

www.community.ids.ac.uk

If you are already a member of the IDS Alumni Network, you do not need to register and can use the same details to log in to the community site. If you do not have an IDS Alumni Network account, you need to create an account, this can be done through the community site by clicking the ‘Login’ icon in the top right-hand corner.

GEP CoP is currently running as a pilot community and so it will only be open to those who are connected to IDS in some way (e.g., alumni, researchers and invited partners etc.) We also want members of the GEP CoP to be engaged in gender equality through either their work, volunteering, study, membership etc. This is to ensure the community will be thriving with lots of active participation from its members which will contribute to the CoPs success in the long term.

If you have any questions, please contact Zoe Windsor.