Involvement of Managing Authorities in the URBACT Projects : Results from the survey

While over a hundred Managing Authorities have signed letters of intent to support partners involved in an URBACT project proposal, this commitment does not always translate into an active participation when the project is implemented. Project Lead Partners have regularly informed the URBACT Secretariat about the difficulties partners were facing in getting their Managing Authorities on board, both at local level and at project level.

As a first response to this concern, the URBACT Secretariat has launched a series of actions aiming to develop a better knowledge and understanding of the dynamics related to the (non) involvement of Managing Authorities in the programme.

A first enquiry was conducted in April 2010 among project partners, which showed that the participation of Managing Authorities varied a lot from one project to another and even from one partner to another within the same project. Partners also stressed how challenging it was to get their Managing Authorities on board in most cases.

A group of active Managing Authorities was gathered in November 2010 to share their experience of being involved in an URBACT project and discuss on the difficulties they had faced, the incentives and added-value of such a cooperation, etc. The group was also consulted on the questionnaire to be addressed to Managing Authorities involved in the programme.

During the URBACT Annual Conference in Liege in December 2010, a Download URBACT Annual Conference What role for Managing Authorities of Operational programmes in urban policies? (431.5 KB) was dedicated to the participation of Managing Authorities in the programme. The issue was also discussed by URBACT community members during the URBACT café.

In order to complement the perceptions collected from project partners, the present survey was addressed to Managing Authorities themselves. It aimed to cast light on the dynamics underpinning their involvement: how do they actually get involved, what difficulties they may face, what is the added-value of this cooperation, etc.

The experiences, perceptions and insights developed through these different actions provide an important material on which to draw at a moment when both the reprogramming of the URBACT programme and the 3rd call for proposals are being discussed. This should allow the URBACT Managing Authority to improve the framework for the participation of Managing Authorities in the near future.


Read more:

• Download URBACT Project Results from the survey to Managing Authorities (996.38 KB) - PDF