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The aim of the ACT conceptual framework is to clarify key concepts and identify the relevant literature to construct the evidence base for subsequent project development. This document includes a state of the art on how communities of practice can promote gender equality issues in HE and R&I and GEP implementation. 

Section 1- 6 of the ACT Communites of Practice Co-creation Toolkit. 

Cambridge et al. (2005) propose that beyond the above CoP lifecycles, each community is characterised by their unique goals, purpose and the members’ characteristics and needs. Therefore, it is important that all social and technical design choices are primarily driven by purpose and the context of the CoP. Communities that succeed and last are characterised by focused and well-defined purposes that are linked to the strategic mission of the sponsoring organisation. The most effective way to define a CoP’s purpose is to assess how this initiative will benefit the community’s stakeholders and also what specific needs are to be met by the community.

As proposed by McDermott (2002, cited in Cambridge et al., 2005) CoPs have lifecycles and they begin, grow, and have life spans. Specific design, facilitation, and support strategies exist to help reach the goals of the CoP during each lifecycle phase and elevate it into the next stage of development. If the CoP is successful, the energy, commitment, and visibility of the CoP will grow until the CoP becomes institutionalized as a core value-added capability of the sponsoring organization (Cambridge et al., 2005: 2). The different development stages are inquire, design, prototype, launch, grow and sustain. They will be briefly described in turn (see the figure below).