Increasing the Capacity of Individuals, Families and Communities

Identifying and Promoting Best Practices

Identifying Best Practices | Current Initiatives in Faith-Based Best Practice Identification

Key Steps in Promoting and Fostering Best Practices

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There are many ways in which best practices can be promoted and fostered among FBCOs, and each intermediary will have its own creative ways of doing this. For more information and ideas, see the Delivering Training and Technical Assistance guidebook, part of the National Resource Center's Intermediary Development Series.

It is critical to note the difference between communicating with FBCOs about best practices and actually ensuring that FBCOs incorporate the best practices into their organizational processes and structures. You are responsible for both the key tasks of promoting best practices (distribution) and fostering best practices (incorporation into the FBCO).

Promoting and fostering best practices requires a combination of training and one-on-one consultation and technical assistance with FBCOs. This task can be accomplished in one of two ways.

First, intermediary organizations can create peer-to-peer networks and communications systems that enable FBCOs to share and exchange best practices among themselves. This peer-to-peer method of distribution places you in the role of organizer or facilitator.

A second way of promoting and fostering best practices among FBCOs is for intermediary organizations to take the new and existing best practices that have been identified through research and validation and distribute these among FBCOs through training and technical assistance. This direct training and distribution method places intermediaries in the familiar role of trainer and capacity builder. Each of these two methods has been outlined in greater detail below.

Peer-to-Peer Learning Method
A recommended starting point for promoting and fostering best practices among FBCOs is for intermediary organizations to create peer-to-peer networks and communications systems that enable organizations to share and exchange best practices among themselves. FBCOs working in similar sectors or locations can communicate with one another to share best practices and provide peer support in replicating or adapting practices in other organizations.

This method of promoting and distributing best practices provides an entry level, low cost and low effort venue for sharing best practices that yields high value for the FBCOs. Through creating a “clearinghouse” for best practices, intermediaries function as a facilitator or organizer as well as a source of support for collaborations among organizations to learn and share.

There are several venues through which peer-to-peer learning can be enabled. The following list provides several examples but is by no means comprehensive.

1. An online searchable database of best practices—One way to enable peer-to-peer learning is to create an online searchable database of best practices where FBCOs can post practices to share with their peers. The key to an effective online database is ensuring that posted practices meet a minimum standard of criteria and have employed a recognized validation process, as well as ensuring that the database is searchable by sector, area of programmatic activity and organizational operations.
   
   
2. List Serves—A list serve is an email mailing list that allows members to send messages to one another. A public list serve allows anyone on the public list to initiate communication with someone else. You can host a list serve that enables FBCOs to sign up to communicate with one another regarding best practices and their adaptation, replication and implementation. For an example of a list serve, see the Community Technology Centers' Network web-site at www.ctcnet.org/connect/.
   
   
3. Face-to-Face Peer Learning—There are many ways for intermediaries to facilitate face-to-face learning among FBCOs. Holding best practices peer learning groups as part of regular capacity building training seminars is one idea. Another is to form a best practice team made up of members from FBCOs who design creative ways for sharing best practices among organizations.

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Identifying Best Practices | Current Initiatives in Faith-Based Best Practice Identification