Toolbox

After having co-created and implemented first community-centered initiatives to improve the healthy lifestyle of the local citizens, it is important to sustain the social innovation environment.

In this context, the COP sustaining phase is about keeping the dynamic of a community of practice. It is about feeding back the learning from the local healthy lifestyle activities into the COP learning pathway and driving forward the common concern.

At the same time, the sustaining phase is when the local COP has usually most momentum and shows highest commitment from its members. It is when COP members have created and taken collective ownership. However, it is also when usually first members drop out or co-creation processes may stall.

In order to sustain the dynamic of your local COP, a focus on stakeholder engagement is needed. Which means that it is important to go beyond stakeholder involvement.

One approach to do this is the incubation of social enterprises or the acceleration of social business cases. In addition, the extension of your local makerspace is of help.

The following tools provide change agents and members of a COP with background information and tools towards sustaining.