BMJ Global Health
February 2022 – Volume 7 – 2
https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/1

Commentary
Digital communities of practice: one step towards decolonising global health partnerships
(2 February, 2022)
Carmen Sant Fruchtman, Muhammad Bilal Khalid, Tshiamo Keakabetse, Antonio Bonito, Dell D Saulnier, Lucia Mungapeyi Mupara, Shahid Iqbal, Afonso de Almeida, Hendriketa da Silva, Diamantino de Jesus, Helen Prytherch, Ellen Mokalake, Daniel Cobos Muñoz, Shamsa Zafar
Summary box
:: Historically, global health partnerships have been led by scholars in high-income countries with colleagues from low-and middle-income countries acting as ‘local’ partners.
:: The COVID-19 pandemic and the response to it, including travel bans, as well as ongoing discussion and movements to decolonise Global Health have finally accelerated changes in our collaboration patterns.
:: We describe lessons from the shift to a digital community of practice, which combined with a strong intention to treat all partners as equal entities, resulted in the emergence of a more horizontal and inclusive partnership across and between research institutions in the Global North and South.
:: The flexibility of the funder to adapt to the emerging needs and approaches, as well as an equal funding scheme across institutions, facilitated the initiation and success of the community of practice.
The online community of practice enabled multidirectional peer-to-peer learning and coproduction of knowledge.
CONCLUSION: TOWARDS MORE JUST GLOBAL HEALTH PARTNERSHIPS
From our experience with the online CoP, we believe that when used consciously, online CoPs can facilitate the development of more equitable, horizontal partnerships. Establishing such a CoP puts the coproduction of knowledge at the heart of the partnership. Still, some challenges need to be addressed, such as flexibility in funding and outputs, and that those digital environments cannot fully replace human interaction. The future may not be lived fully online but the gains for more just global collaborations are already becoming clear. We foresee that the partnerships and friendships developed within such an environment can live beyond the end of a funded project.