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Collaboration Governance Network Peer to peer learning Stakeholder engagement

CASE STUDY from ASToN (2019-2022): Evolving the role of Lead Partner

At the start of ASToN (2019-2022) and following the URBACT methodology, it was originally envisaged that one city would be taking on the role of Lead Partner. They would be in charge of the overall progress, project management, and financial management of the net- work. However this did not happen and eventually we cancelled this component in Phase 1. Lead tasks were delivered instead by the ASToN Secretariat and Lead Expert.

Kampala was chosen as Lead Partner for ASToN in 2019, and roles were distributed between the Kampala team and Secretariat based on competences and availability to work on the inception of the programme and prepare the kick-off of the whole network, however our collective team had not foreseen a couple of complications which made us abandon this model:

  • French and English both being working languages of ASToN participating cities, the delivering administration of the city holding the Lead Partner role would have needed to have a bilingual team to deliver on this role effectively, and this was not the case of any of the participating cities in the network.
  • In the URBACT model where cities apply as a group, the Lead Partner has stronger responsibilities, but also stronger resources. It is the Lead Partner who submits the application for the creation of the network and manages the overall budget for the network. Overall, this stronger level of buy-in and commitment benefits the success of the Lead Partner role. Conditions that were not present in ASToN the way it was set up.

In spite of these challenges, the role was adapted into a much lighter model of rotating ‘critical friend’, which still helped us build deep and valuable connections. Each quarter a different city was the designated critical friend working with the Secretariat and Lead Expert to test ideas, collaborate on session designs, and more. While not what was originally envisaged, it was more adapted to the resources and context of ASToN (2019-2022). A reflection on roles we’ll keep on having as the network changes.