Cities’ experiences of using the model for cross-sectoral cooperation – Results from peer-review report

During Spring 2021, partner Region Västerbotten has been responsible for conducting peer-reviews in the Healthy Boost project. The aim was to provide an understanding in relation to the piloting cities’ usability and experiences of using the Model for Cross-Sectoral Cooperation. The information was collected using questionnaires and one-on-one interviews with each of the primary pilot city coordinator in the Healthy Boost project. The results from the peer-review report are intended to bring the learnings for further development, unification and generalization of the Model, and was recently presented at the Project Meeting on May 27.

Overall, most cities were positively surprised and found the Model to exceed their expectations. Some of the positive aspects included that the Model was found to be supportive, clear, well-structured, and interesting to use. This in turn was beneficial in several aspects such as in situations of problem solving, for promoting creative and flexible thinking, for improving and establishing external and internal communication, and for promoting common grounds of motivation.

67 % found the Model to be slighty above expectations, 22 % slightly below and 11 % far below expectations.

The Model was particularly useful in early phases of pilot projects in relation to improving the structural and preparatory parts of the work, for identifying and minimizing potential risks, and for establishing good strategies for communication. The generic design of the Model was an important advantage which means that the Model can likely be applied in a variety of different projects, settings and organizations, as the Model is designed to allow for personalized usage. 

The cities identified some suggested areas of further improvement of the Model. Among those mentioned, the most dominant ones related to:

  1. enhancing the specificity, such as incorporating indicators of successful cross-sectoral cooperation.
  2. including case-examples which would help to reduce the learning period for novel users by helping them understand how the Model can be applied and utilized. And finally,
  3. improvements related to the layout of the Model in order to make it easier to use both for the end-user and for promoting it to partners. 

From here on, Riga Stradiņš University will make use of the output report and the results to further revise and improve the Model for Cross-Sectoral Cooperation.