Contractualisation between levels of government: Capacity building, monitoring and evaluation in Portugal

The Portuguese Cohesion and Development Agency (AD&C), with the support of the European Commission’s SG REFORM through the Technical Support Instrument, has entrusted the OECD with a two-year project to support the implementation of Portugal’s deconcentration reform.

The project provides technical assistance to help operationalise the new multi-level governance for regional development. It aims to support monitoring of the reform’s implementation and strengthen institutional and administrative capacities at the subnational level.

The project directly benefits AD&C and the five Regional Coordination and Development Commissions (CDDRs):

• CCDR Alentejo
• CCDR Algarve
• CCDR Centro
• CCDR Lisbon and Tagus Valley
• CCDR Norte

It also engages national-level stakeholders, including sectoral entities, line ministries affected by the reform and the Territorial Concertation Council.

Portugal is implementing a reform of its CCDRs and redefining their relationship with the central government in the delivery of public policies.

In May 2023, the CCDRs changed their legal status to Public Institutes and took on a new set of competences across six policy areas:

• Agriculture and fisheries
• Culture
• Economy
• Education
• Nature conservation
• Spatial planning

Further adjustments to the reform have since been introduced, including the transfer of additional competences in the areas of Education and Health and further changes to the organisational and governance structures of the CCDRs.

These changes expand their planning and co-ordination responsibilities and strengthen their role in regional development.

By enhancing the capacity of the CCDRs, the reform seeks to:

• Facilitate better territorialisation and place-based approaches to policy design and implementation
• Stimulate investment, enhance competitiveness and support sustainable development and resilience
• Strengthen institutional and administrative capacity to enable socially inclusive green and digital transitions,
• Improve the implementation of EU law

Effective co-ordination between central and regional levels of government is essential to achieving these objectives.

The reform is supported by programme-contracts between the central government and the CCDRs, valid until 2029.

These contracts formalise the transfer of competences and define clear indicators and target objectives across six sectoral areas. They serve as a key governance instrument to structure co-ordination between levels of government and monitor reform implementation. 

Workshop – 20-21 October 2025, Lisbon

The OECD organised a two-day workshop bringing together more than 40 representatives from the CCDRs and national-level entities to co-design the monitoring system for the programme-contracts.

The workshop combined international peer learning and practical working sessions. Participants exchanged experiences on contractual governance and monitoring practices across OECD countries, including insights from the Occitanie Region (France) and worked collaboratively to refine monitoring indicators, sectoral approaches and participatory communication methods.

Webinar – 11 April 2025, Online

The OECD hosted an international webinar on “State-Regions contracts to support administrative reforms and regional development: What makes them effective?”.

The event brought together international experts and representatives from all CCDRs, AD&C and SG REFORM to discuss good practices in contractual arrangements across levels of government. Presentations covered experiences from France, Anglo-Saxon countries and Iceland, highlighting governance models and monitoring tools supporting regional development.