Project Sustainability online training for Cities Alliance

In September 2018, INTRAC worked with the Cities Alliance to design and deliver some Project Sustainability online training and coaching. The aim of the training was to support grantees of Cities Alliance’s Catalytic Fund in identifying challenges and opportunities for project sustainability and develop strategic options for continuation or scaling up their activities after the end of the grant.

Participants in the training worked in projects that had received a grant under the 2015 call on “Migration and the Inclusive City”. As they were based in different regions of the world – Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Subsaharan Africa, Europe, South America – the training was delivered online, and participants divided into two groups according to their time zones.

The training was delivered by INTRAC’s associate Ajay Mehta, a capacity development specialist with longstanding expertise in fundraising. The training was structured into two sessions (each session was delivered twice, once per group).

• The first session focused on challenges to sustainability, deconstructing the term “sustainable” and exploring the key elements that can make a project sustainable or vulnerable.
• The second session looked at opportunities for project sustainability and fundraising by introducing the fundamentals of fundraising, and providing recommendations on how to create a fundraising strategy and a strong case for support.
• In the weeks after the sessions, participants were offered a coaching session with Ajay to provide further tailored advice to each project on how to go about fundraising.

The Cities Alliance is the global partnership supporting cities to deliver sustainable development. It brings together organisations with different perspectives and expertise on city issues around common goals: well run, productive cities that provide opportunities for all residents. The Cities Alliance Secretariat is based in Brussels and is hosted by the United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS). The Cities Alliance’s Catalytic Fund is global funding instrument which provides grant support for innovative projects around the world.