A Community of Practice for Chinese NGOs
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A Community of Practice for Chinese NGOs Reza Hasmath 1 & Jennifer Y. J. Hsu 2 # Journal of Chinese Political Science/Association of Chinese Political Studies 2020
Abstract A community of practice represents an important resource for the sharing of sectorspecific knowledge. Embracing a mature community of practice allows Chinese NGOs to forge networks to share best/worst practices, and foster common norms of conduct. This, in turn, offers a chance to increase the speed of professionalizing the sector, to the extent that there will be greater predictability in NGOs’ activities. Predictability is important since it increases the state’s trust of the NGO sector, and improves greater odds for soliciting external funding. Drawing upon original survey data elicited from over 100 NGOs, this article analyzes the organizational capacity for Chinese NGOs to cultivate a community of practice, and discusses the headwinds and challenges that will ensue. Keywords NGOs . Community of practice . Knowledge sharing . Professionalization .
China
Introduction Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have numerically increased in the past three decades, particularly those focused on social service delivery [17]. This is partially due to the changing institutional environment and devolving state responsibilities in delivering social and welfare provisions [18]. This is characterized in the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP) (2011–2015) where the state articulated an explicit goal to outsource public goods and social services to non-state actors such as NGOs. The 12th FYP outlined a number of principles for the participation of non-state stakeholders involved in social service delivery. This notably included: (1) abiding by a multistakeholder governance mechanism to deliver social welfare provisions; (2)
* Jennifer Y. J. Hsu [email protected]
1
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
2
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
R. Hasmath, J. Y. J. Hsu
strengthening the capacity and autonomy of local communities to provide services; and, (3) emphasizing the development of social organizations. With the state actively encouraging Chinese NGOs to participate in social service delivery, we suggest that developing a community of practice has become an even more important mechanism for the sector to transmit knowledge and information (see Hsu and Hasmath [19] for background information). This article examines the organizational capacity for Chinese NGOs to cultivate a community of practice. At the most basic level, a community of practice provides a mode to share sectorspecific knowledge with stakeholders and participants, and therefore, it is important for NGOs in China since it is a medium for individuals and organizations in the sector to learn and collaborate. As Sharkie [29] suggests, a community of practice represents shared practices built on a platform of trust. This is reinforced by studies by McDermott [24], Kaser and Miles [21] and Probst and Borzillo [27] who see networks amongst the key vehicles for knowledge sh
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