In May 2023, iCHORDS held its first annual members’ meeting. We had over 70 members register from all over the world. It is amazing to think that iCHORDS was just an idea only a few years ago and now we are a fully operational community of practice (CoP)! The idea for iCHORDS came about in 2019 when experts in NTDs and the social and behavioural sciences met following the COR-NTD meeting outside of Washington DC. Individuals at that initial workshop discussed emerging areas and challenges faced by NTD programs and recognised the need for social and behavioural research to address these gaps. In 2020, iCHORDS was officially launched with an aim to increase collaboration and communication between NTD researchers, professionals, and program implementers in the field of social and behavioural research.
The concept of a CoP was established by Etienne Wenger in the early 1990s based on social learning principles which suggest that people can enhance their knowledge when learning in collaboration with others. According to Wenger (1998) a CoP must have three things: community, domain, and practice.
iCHORDS was built using this model and can be represented as the following:
| Domain | Community | Practice |
| Interest, knowledge, experience and/or expertise in the field of NTDs and the social and behavioural sciences | Researchers, students, professionals, frontline health workers and government officials working in NTDs and the social and behavioural sciences. | Knowledge exchange cafes, Blog posts, Podcasts, Mentorship program, Focus Areas, Member database, Quarterly newsletter, Annual members meeting, Welcome package |
If you look closely at the iCHORDS logo, you’ll see these three domains represented in the three circles. Check out this short video aired during our launch week in 2020 to explain the purpose of iCHORDS.
During the annual members’ meeting it was wonderful to hear what iCHORDS members value about being part of this CoP. One reflection we heard that stood out was, “I enjoy the ability to connect with other individuals around the world who are working in NTDs, people I might not otherwise have had the chance to meet.” This is exactly the purpose of a CoP – bringing people together around a domain of interest.
Since iCHORDS was conceptualized, our community has grown to over 400 members from more than 55 different countries. We have been able to facilitate connections for knowledge mobilization through our knowledge exchange cafes, mentorship program, focus areas and blog posts. Every year we engage new members and further develop our “practice” element to enhance global collaboration between social scientists working in the field of NTDs. iCHORDS is dynamic. We count on our members to participate and provide input to keep our CoP vibrant and relevant to the current needs facing the NTD community as it strives to reach the 2030 WHO Roadmap goals. If you missed the annual members meeting, you can watch the recording by following the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2euGvCdUgKk
