This reflective essay explores the comparative benefits of short-term Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training and long-term mentoring Communities of Practice (CoPs) for city managers, drawing on two interlinked initiatives between the University of Birmingham and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). The first initiative involved a three-day CPD workshop in Accra, designed to co-develop a training framework for local government officers. The second was a transnational CoP hosted in Birmingham, which brought together Ghanaian city managers and academics for a week of collaborative learning and institutional exchange. Through these experiences, the essay examines how CPD offers structured, time-efficient learning while CoPs provide sustained, relational, and context-sensitive development. The essay argues that these approaches are not mutually exclusive but can be integrated into a hybrid model that leverages the strengths of both. CPD can serve as an entry point for skill acquisition and mindset shift, while CoPs can deepen learning, foster innovation, and inform future CPD design. The hybrid model is positioned as a dynamic and cyclical learning ecosystem that supports adaptive leadership and institutional transformation. The essay concludes by advocating for universities to play a central role in convening and sustaining such models, particularly in the context of global public sector reform. This reflection contributes to the discourse on professional education by demonstrating how academic institutions can bridge theory and practice through collaborative, international partnerships.
A relevant article by Dr Popat, focusing on the international collaboration with Ghana, can be seen here.
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