EMpower Launches Two Online Communities of Practice in Latin America

Posted 07 May 2021 in EMpower News, Grantee Partner News   |   Share

EMpower is excited to launch two virtual Communities of Practice with our Latin American partners! In a recent global survey, several of our partners expressed a desire for more South-to-South learning and collaboration. Responding to this need, EMpower helped facilitate two Communities of Practice: one with a focus on livelihoods and the other with a focus on girls’ programmes. All five countries EMpower works with in Latin America were represented in the kickoff call— Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru— which was hosted on the World Health Organisation’s IBP platform.

EMpower is thrilled that both Communities of Practice are being led by grantee partners, demonstrating EMpower’s commitment to supporting the leadership of organisations in the Global South. Grantee partner Fundación Alvaralice is the coordinator of the Community of Practice on livelihoods and Fundación Tiempo de Juego is leading the girls programming Community of Practice. Both organisations are located in Colombia and have significant programmatic expertise in these areas and will be in charge of facilitating the dialogue among participants. The virtual meetings will occur monthly and encourage leaders on the ground to share their knowledge, tools, and best practices. During this moment in time, when individuals working at local organisations can feel overwhelmed and isolated, this kind of virtual community offers a powerful platform to find support and useful resources.

Following this launch, partners will meet monthly for the next nine months and at the end develop a report of best practices and lessons learned from the experience. EMpower will take any relevant learnings and use them to inform our grantmaking. We are excited to join our partners in this exciting cross-learning experience.