Peer-To-Peer Learning Approaches - Main Users / Purpose

Many government bodies have limited human and budget capacities to appropriately fulfil the tasks a government has to perform. Due to unequal availability of expertise and knowledge within government bodies, good practices are often not replicated. These deficits can be overcome through peer-to-peer learning approaches.

Peer-to-Peer learning is a mutual learning approach. It identifies experts and their successful performance in one area and propagates its usefulness for adaption in other areas, by promoting exchange of their experience and knowledge. The approach can be applied on local, provincial, national or regional level and various formats can be chosen to stimulate this transfer of knowledge.

Therefore, it is important to identify and document showcases of best practices have been successfully transferred from one area to another. The transfer of knowledge includes a critical reflection of a given concept and identification of ways of adopting (or adapting) a concept in one area or another. Peer-to-Peer learning supports the natural behaviour of learning from others with similar expertise, where good ideas and concepts are reflected and adapted into another environment.