Aligning grants and activities
How to best use grants to support learning and experimentation?
Grant funding should be deployed in alignment with the activities planned and delivered by the cities, and should come in support of them. Create a process to formally validate and celebrate progress. And make sure to use grants to support experimentation and direct cities towards more iterative and experimental ways of doing things.
Grants are a powerful tool to encourage positive risk taking, learning and drive progress. Align grants and activities, and align payments to outputs:
- It allows flexibility for participating cities to adjust their timeline and activities, based on results and time needed and spent on each phase.
- It simplifies paperwork, making payments output-based, rather than time-based.
Our approach and methods
- Grant funding dedicated to experimentation gave clarity
- Flexible payment timetables: Be flexible with participating cities and work with their calendars, following their needs rather than being strict. Avoid implementing a common framework for all. Work around an indicative grant allocation calendar that can shift as project timelines change.
- Light paperwork: Keep paperwork light and combining with activities.
