In Bistriţa, the journey of sharing experience in how procurement is done, with different European partners, started in 2018. As all URBACT projects are well organized, at the moment of starting the implementation of the project we had a pretty clear idea of what the experience will be about. Transnational meetings, ULG meetings, shared experiences, reports…
What we had no idea at the time, was the fact that in the middle of the project we will have to change everything we thought we knew about the way the project would unfold.
We created a network in which we developed friendships, we had a tradition in connecting with one-another even outside the meeting rooms, and looked forward for the next transnational visit to another project partner.
This was until March 2020 arrived and it was as though time suddenly stood still. When the very essence of how we work as individuals and as a Transfer Network changed overnight: the workplace – not in an office or on the ground, but at home, the way we meet, the way we share experiences and transfer knowledge, the way we envisaged things to happen in our Transfer Plans, everything came to a sudden stop from one 
Total lockdown forbade us to travel anymore, so our face to face transnational meetings moved on-line. It goes without saying that this was a totally different approach, starting with the way we communicate and bound when being in the same room, or just waving to one another from a screen…
At local level, in the beginning everyone was scared, so everything froze for a period of time. We were all convinced that after three months we would go back to normal, back to what we knew, to what we had planned. But now, after seven months, we look back and we realize that day by day, we didn’t go back, but we adapted everything to the new normal. The ULG meetings
Of course, this means an obvious slowing down in all the interactive sessions, in asking the questions or advancing proposals and receiving the feedback, as the participants were as well adapting to this other way of doing things.
But, at this point we started to get used to this type of interaction and we adapted to the exclusive on-line meetings. Transnational or ULG, are now part of our transfer story, part of our Transfer Plans and even though we are looking forward to the day when we will meet face to face again, our project will show that the pandemic didn’t change who we are as individuals and partners but it strengthened the so much needed solidarity in these times.
Article by: Cristina Cudrec, Making Spend Matter project manager assistant, Bistriţa
