---
id: "coronavirus-smarter-crowdsourcing:strategies/Offer-informal-peer-learning-opportunities.-Govern"
type: "GovLab policy strategy"
title: "Offer informal peer learning opportunities."
url: "https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/offer-informal-peer-learning-opportunities.-govern"
summary: "Offer informal peer learning opportunities. Governments or representative associations should coordinate informal forums or opportunities for individuals designing,implementing,and managing contact tracing programs to share ideas,challenges and best practices. These opportunities should be extended to include researchers,epidemiologists,or non-governmental actors with contact tracking experience."
source: "The GovLab (coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Offer informal peer learning opportunities.

Offer informal peer learning opportunities. Governments or representative associations should coordinate informal forums or opportunities for individuals designing,implementing,and managing contact tracing programs to share ideas,challenges and best practices. These opportunities should be extended to include researchers,epidemiologists,or non-governmental actors with contact tracking experience.

- Timeframe: 1-3 Months (immediate)
- Audience: Private Sector, Academia, Government Workers
- Type: Partnerships, Capacity Building
- Recommendation: [Interjurisdictional Coordination](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations/interjurisdictional-coordination)
- Part of: [Smarter Crowdsourcing in the Age of Coronavirus](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/)

## Actions governments should take

1. Develop a database with personal contact information of individuals designing, implementing, and managing contact tracing programs.
2. Create an email listserv where individuals designing, implementing, and managing contact tracing programs can crowdsource questions to the group.
3. Create an online community or social media platform like a reddit thread or facebook group where individuals designing, implementing, and managing contact tracing programs can crowdsource questions and ideas.

## Examples from around the world

1. individuals appointed to lead contact tracing programs in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania have capitalized on informal networks and communications to improve interjurisdictional coordination. These informal communications and engagements were established through professional contacts and professional networking opportunities. One individual interviewed indicated that he was able to foster a connection between his jurisdiction and a neighboring jurisdiction because he had worked with his counterpart in a previous role. The benefits of informal networks, compared to formal networks, is that individuals were liberated to be more candid and open about experiences, successes and the challenges they faced. They were also able to strategize about the optimal ways to coordinate efforts without the restrictive environment of formal communications, meetings, or memorandums of understanding or agreements. The downside of the openness and informality of these communications is that they lacked the authority of official communications; on the other hand they influenced more formal agreements and arrangements that have made the region one of the most successful in terms of a coordinated approach to contact tracing.