Neliswa Fente, Mandela Washington Fellow 2015, interviewed by Mark Turpin

Communities of Practice for Young Professional People in Joburg

In Johannesburg, we are setting up our 2nd Community of Practice for Young Professionals - due to public demand! We have been running one group every few weeks since last August last year, and the interest has now led us to formalise this exciting way of working with young professional people, and our 2nd group will kick off in May.

The Community of Practice is tightly facilitated, and enables young professionals to explore their questions in a safe and non-threatening environment, and for the participants to share their own experiences and ideas about what works for them. Usually we work with 5 or 6 people for 2 hours at a time, and use the opportunity also to build good listening and questioning skills. After a while we move into deeper skills development, exploring the art of facilitation, issues of transference etc.

What is a 'community of practice'?  This description comes from Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger.  Wenger writes: "Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly".

Contact me for more information!