All government spheres in multi-level governance systems face challenges of co-ordination and alignment of scarce resources for the common good - while retaining their distinctiveness and independence. Within a decentralised system, the challenges of poverty and inequality require a co-ordinated response by all spheres of government, and it is considered that network governance may provide a useful model for co-ordinating a joint response to such complexity. This article examines network governance using two case studies. The first is South Africa's KwaNaloga Games, an annual sporting event run under the aegis of KwaNaloga (the KwaZulu-Natal Local Government Association) and the second is Uganda's Nutritional and Early Childhood Development Project (NECDP), which aims to improve the quality of life of children below the age of six years. The programmes are a microcosm of active network governance and their success is attribut