As researchers working in different subareas within human-computer interaction, we have been keen to explore alternative approaches to designing with communities. In particular, we are enthusiastic about moving away from focusing on a community's needs toward building on its strengths. However, our varied experiences with assets-based design across contexts have also unearthed two fundamental questions: *What is the right thing to do?* and *How do we know we have done it?*
I survey past literature of ICTD interventions targeting practitioners to identify a common typology that spans domain and context. I use Lave and Wenger’s Communities of Practice (CoP) theory as a way to understand the situated and social aspects of practice and describe how ICTD interventions have often engaged with such communities. I discuss how a CoP lens may intersect with other theoretical lenses in ICTD and related fields, to address issues around concepts of agency, intrinsic motivation, amplification, and sustainability.