Implementation Toolkit: OECD Recommendation on Regional Development Policy

1. Design and implement an integrated and balanced regional development strategy tailored to different places, by:

a) defining together with subnational governments and communities, clear and differentiated objectives for regional development that ultimately foster the contribution of all regions to national economic performance, well-being, environmental sustainability, resilience, and the reduction of regional inequalities;

b) integrating a territorial lens across a complementary set of sectoral policies, investments, and public services to ensure they are mutually reinforcing and that the objectives of sectoral policies and regional development policy are aligned;

c) leveraging each region’s specific competitive and absolute advantages at the national and international levels, as well as endogenous drivers of productivity, well-being, and environmental sustainability;

d) putting people’s well-being at the centre of regional development policy by targeting and addressing the specific needs of all populations, including vulnerable, under-represented, or marginalised groups;

e) supporting regions to develop sound approaches to enhance regional attractiveness to international investors, talent, visitors, and promote their integration in global markets and value chains.

By recognising geographic diversity and regional differences, and addressing them specifically, governments can create more effective and equitable policies. Every region has unique strengths, challenges, and needs. A regional development strategy that considers territorial diversity, and tailor policies to different territorial contexts, helps prevent some places from being left behind while others advance, promoting overall national prosperity. When regions are relatively balanced in their socio-economic development, they contribute more evenly to the country's economy, reducing disparities and fostering a sense of unity and cohesion among the population. Designing and implementing an integrated and balanced regional development strategy tailored to different places is therefore crucial for governments to ensure that all places within a country can grow and thrive.

A tailored, place-based regional development strategy can improve the quality of life for people in all places. By focusing on the specific needs of each region – whether it is improving infrastructure in rural areas, supporting high-tech industries in urban centres, or promoting tourism in scenic places – governments can ensure that resources are used efficiently, and benefits are felt broadly. This can lead to better job opportunities, improved public services, and enhanced living conditions across the board. When people see tangible improvements in their communities, it can build trust in government and motivates further civic engagement, creating a positive cycle of growth and development.

• Engage with a broad range of stakeholders – including national and subnational public decision-makers, businesses, civil society, academics and citizens – early in the process to identify development trends, regional challenges and priorities for regional development.
• Set long-term, people-centric objectives for regional development that reflect the specific priorities and assets of individual regions, while promoting balanced development across the country.
• Ensure coherence between national objectives and subnational strategies, so regional and local development plans align with and contribute to, overarching national goals.
• Review and adapt sectoral policies to account for differentiated regional impacts, and align them with regional development goals, fostering complementarities across sectors and territories.
• Design sectoral policies with territorial diversity in mind, considering the unique contexts, assets and challenges of each region.
• Leverage regions’ endogenous potential and comparative advantages – such as natural assets, markets, infrastructure, skills, and innovation capacities, including in emerging sectors – to drive sustainable growth.
• Incorporate multi-dimensional well-being metrics into regional development strategies to assess and promote societal progress beyond GDP.
• Assess and enhance regions’ attractiveness in a global context, identifying international linkages and key policy levers to attract investment, talent and visitors.
• Include internationalisation objectives within the regional development strategies to strengthen global engagement and competitiveness.

• Setting national objectives for regional development in a top-down manner, without considering insights from regional and local stakeholders.
• Developing strategies with no specified time frame or that are too short (e.g. less 10 years) in their periodicity.
• Oversimplifying the regional development strategy to simple list of short- and medium-term investment projects.   
• Designing a regional development strategy that is uniform and does not account for the diversity of territorial contexts.
• Defining regional development objectives focused only on economic performance and not on societal progress and people’s quality of life.
• Failing to articulate the regional development strategy with national sectoral policies and with other regional strategies that have a differentiated impact across regions.
• Failing to consider/identify which public and non-governmental actors will be responsible for implementing the strategy and whether they have necessary resources (e.g. financial, human, information) and policy tools (e.g. planning responsibilities) to do so.
• Failing to clearly identify and mandate a public body or co-ordination mechanism responsible for guiding and supervising strategy implementation. 

Australia

In Australia, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, and the Arts (DITRDCA) advises Australian Government departments and agencies on regional impact considerations for new policy proposals. It provides advice on completing Regional Australia Impact Statements (RAIS), as part of the policy development and Cabinet Submission process to help policy makers assess how new policy proposals affect regional, remote, and rural areas compared to metropolitan regions of Australia. The RAIS also supports consideration for how new policy proposals align with the Government's Regional Investment Framework (RIF), which sets out a coordinated approach to regional investment. The RIF prioritises informed, evidence-based decision-making and values local voices and priorities in shaping policy. It focuses on smart and responsible investments that help regions adapt and thrive, regardless of economic conditions. By promoting collaboration across governments, the RIF aims to improve outcomes for regional communities, industries, and economies. Ultimately, it ensures investment is transparent, targeted, and beneficial to regional Australia's long-term prosperity .

Canada

Canada's Rural Economic Development Strategy, established in 2024, provides a place-based approach to support business development, connectivity, and regional partnerships. Key initiatives include extending high-speed internet and wireless connectivity nationwide, strengthening rural economies for job creation, renewing infrastructure to boost growth, and protecting rural communities from climate change. The Strategy aims to prepare rural Canadians for current and future jobs, ensure affordable housing, attract newcomers to rural areas, and foster collaboration through partnerships. The Strategy offers a roadmap and identifies complementary strategies from the Federal government.

Germany

In Germany, the State of Brandenburg implemented the Connecting Strengths strategy based on the promotion of core regional growth areas and clusters. The strategy capitalises on regional “strengths” including new forms of work and technologies, renewable energy, mobility, organic farming and tourism, while leveraging vertical and horizontal co-ordination among actors across themes, sectors and ministries. In the future, the strategy will evolve with an approach based on growth corridors. The aim is to better connect metropolitan and rural areas by strategically connecting people, businesses, governments and R&D along existing railway lines .

Italy

Italy introduced the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) in 2013 to revitalise sparsely populated regions struggling with depopulation and limited access to essential services. These "Inner Areas" cover nearly 60% of the country’s territory, encompassing than 1000 municipalities and home to 2 million inhabitants, and are characterised by their distance from major service centres. SNAI is a place-based policy built on a new multi-level governance approach, aiming to tackle demographic decline by leveraging local assets, enhancing infrastructure, and ensuring access to essential services such as healthcare, education, and transport. The strategy is backed by a budget of over €591 million, supplemented by resources from EU Operational Programmes, to implement concrete actions that promote sustainable territorial competitiveness, counter population decline, and drive economic growth  (Agenzia per la Coesione Territoriale, 2021_[4]).

Mexico

Mexico’s federal planning law requires development programmes at various government levels to align with the six-year National Development Plan, which sets long-term national priorities across economic, social, cultural, and environmental sectors. These programmes include institutional plans for public bodies, sectoral plans for specific industries, special programmes for cross-sectoral issues, and regional plans for geographic areas beyond state boundaries. In 2019, the Ministry of Finance and Public Funds held workshops to help national planning staff integrate cross-cutting priorities such as sustainability, equality, and gender into these programmes. Additionally, a government website was created to provide policymakers with resources, including factsheets on key economic, social, and environmental indicators, to inform programme diagnostics. This approach ensures a coordinated, data-driven strategy for addressing national and regional development challenges while promoting inclusivity and sustainable growth .

2. Target the appropriate territorial scale(s) for policy action to account for all types of interdependencies across and within regions, including through win-win partnerships, by:

a) taking into account functional areas, as a complement to established administrative boundaries of subnational governments, that reflect the potential economic, social and environmental connections across territories;

integrating urban and rural areas, including through joint strategies, to maximise their synergies, enhance the production of public goods, achieve economies of scale in public service provision, and develop new economic and social opportunities.

Different regions and places are connected through economic, social, and environmental networks. By addressing these interdependencies at the relevant territorial scale – whether local, regional, or national – policymakers can ensure that actions in one area positively influence others. This holistic approach helps create policies that are more coherent and efficient, avoiding unintended negative consequences that might arise from a narrower focus. For instance, infrastructure improvements in a metropolitan area can benefit surrounding rural regions through better connectivity and economic opportunities. Policy actions at the functional scale can complement actions taken according to administrative boundaries.

Targeting the right territorial scale facilitates the creation of win-win partnerships between regions. There is a spatial continuity and functional relations between urban and rural areas. The places where people live, work and consume span across these areas. When governments recognise and leverage the strengths of different places, they can foster collaborations that lead to mutual benefits. For example, a coastal city with a thriving port can partner with inland agricultural regions to enhance trade and economic growth. Such partnerships not only boost the economies of the involved regions but also contribute to national development. By promoting collaboration and shared goals, governments can build more resilient and sustainable regional networks, ensuring that all regions can support each other and grow together. This strategic approach helps in creating a balanced and inclusive development framework, where no region is left behind.

• Define functional areas across the entire national territory, using internationally standardised definitions (e.g. OECD) to ensure consistency.
• Develop statistical indicators at the functional area level to complement existing data at the administrative level (regions, provinces, municipalities).
• Leverage functional area data and evidence to design spatially targeted policies and improve policy relevance.
• Engage subnational governments to align efforts and foster cross-jurisdictional and facilitate collaboration within and across functional areas. 
• Foster urban-rural integration by promoting a shared understanding of socio-economic conditions and including urban-rural linkages in regional development policies and programmes.
• Support integrated territorial development strategies and inter-municipal partnerships, including for shared service delivery at the functional scale.
• Adopt enabling legislation and policy tools – such as contracts and financial incentives – to formalise and promote urban-rural and interjurisdictional partnerships.

• Defining regional development policy measures based only on administrative boundaries.
• Setting objectives for rural and urban areas in silos, without considering their interdependencies.
• Failing to provide incentives to plan and deliver development strategies at the functional scale, including joint economic development projects or public service provision.

European Union

In 2015, the Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI) was introduced in the Common Provision Regulation as a tool for the European Structural and Investment Funds programming period. It allows EU countries to implement Operational Programmes in a cross-cutting way and to draw on funding from several priority axes of one or more Operational Programmes to ensure the implementation of an integrated strategy for a specific territory. As such, the existence of ITI both provides flexibility for EU countries regarding the design of Operational Programmes and enables the efficient implementation of integrated actions through simplified financing. The European Commission provides support to regions willing to set up ITIs in the form of networking and capacity-building events in particular through the Urban Development Network. The key elements of an ITI are i) a designated territory and an integrated territorial development strategy; ii) a package of actions to be implemented; and iii) and governance arrangements to manage the ITI .

Israel

In recent years, voluntary associations of neighboring local governments, known as "clusters," have been established in Israel. Initially formed through a bottom-up approach, such as the Western Galilee Cluster in 2009, a formal pilot program was introduced in 2012 by the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance, and civil society organisations. Legislation later granted clusters legal status, and by 2019, 11 regional clusters had been created, primarily in Northern and Southern Israel, involving 120 local governments and 12% of the population. Clusters operate differently depending on their structure. Some rely on voluntary contributions from member governments, requiring agreement both to join the cluster and to participate in specific projects. The Western Galilee Cluster follows an alternative model, overseeing services such as environmental protection, waste removal, veterinary services, and specialised education programs across 18 small local councils, serving 200,000 residents in 115 communities . By 2024, the clusters included 175 local authorities, representing 67.5% of all local governments and 3.6 million residents, 37.4% of all residents of the country.

Spain

Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience national strategy includes strengthening urban-rural linkages as one of its five main objectives. It sees those linkages as key to improving territorial cohesion and includes several relevant actions. The overall objective is to take advantage of nearby agglomeration economies to help attract venture capital as a necessary element to create and grow businesses in both urban and rural areas

Türkiye

Türkiye’s Sustainable and Integrated Development Strategy recognises that the lines between rural and urban areas are increasingly blurred due to the effects of globalisation. The demography, labour market, goods and services markets, public services, and environmental externalities of rural and urban areas reveal mutual dependencies. The strategy considers those linkages from the perspective of geography or functional region, independent of administrative boundaries. It envisages their development that starts by recognising the interdependence of rural and urban areas and moves towards partnerships and, ultimately, rural-urban integration. Along these lines, Türkiye’s Urban and Rural Settlement Systems Research Project revealed an important finding when the structure of integrated rural service centres is evaluated together with the structure of integrated urban service centres. In areas where there is a high degree of agglomeration of urban settlements, there are also numerous rural settlements. In other words, strong urban systems are usually supported by strong rural systems, and vice-versa. In terms of settlements, this indicates that rural and urban areas are not rivals or alternatives but rather as complement. The project identified five main categories of interactions: demography (commuting); economy (labour, goods and service markets); delivery of public services; access to natural resources and environmental externalities (climate change, landscape, etc.); and governance (multi-level)

3. Engage actively with regional and local communities and stakeholders throughout the policy-making cycle to gather and co-produce the knowledge needed to identify regions’ needs and leverage their specific assets, by:

a) creating an enabling environment for participatory and deliberative processes involving all stakeholders and regional and local communities, including citizens, civil society, the private sector, labour groups, financial and educational institutions, and social partners, with adequate capacity and resources;

b) promoting strategic communication channels, transparency and access to clear, complete, timely, reliable, and relevant information, data, and evidence.

By involving those who live and work in regions, governments can gather valuable on-the-ground knowledge that might otherwise be overlooked. Local stakeholders, including businesses, community leaders, civil society organisations, and residents as well as marginalised and underrepresented groups – have firsthand experience and insights into the challenges and opportunities in their regions. A collaborative approach leverages the insights of regional and local stakeholders to better understand the specific needs of their respective areas. Citizen participation and stakeholder engagement are useful tools for governments at all levels to gather valuable inputs for decision-making.

Co-producing knowledge with regional and local stakeholders fosters a sense of ownership and empowerment within the community. Broad and collaborative stakeholder engagement can increase the acceptability of policies by local actors and can contribute to the success and sustainability of policies. This participatory process builds trust between the government and the community, although the design of the engagement process determines its legitimacy and impact. The participatory and engagement process should clearly identify the policy issue to be addressed and set clear expectations regarding the intended outcome of the process. It is equally important to identify the societal group to involve and select a suitable methodology for participation and engagement. These definitions should also consider the phase of the policy cycle that the participatory process will address. For example, citizen deliberation can be a useful tool to identify policy priorities, but a meaningful exercise will require these processes to take place early in the planning phase rather than during implementation when the initiatives have already been designed.

Engaging with regional and local communities also helps to identify and nurture unique regional strengths and assets that can be leveraged for broader development goals. Each region has distinct cultural, economic, and environmental characteristics that can be harnessed to promote growth and resilience. For instance, a region known for its rich cultural heritage can develop cultural-based or tourism-based economic strategies, while an area with strong agricultural potential can focus on advancing sustainable farming practices. By working closely with local stakeholders, governments can ensure that these unique assets are recognised, preserved, and effectively integrated into development plans. This targeted approach can not only boost regional economies but can also contributes to the overall diversity and vibrancy of the national landscape.

• Map relevant stakeholders at all levels of government who are involved in or affected by regional development policy.
• Develop a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy with clear objectives, aligned to the lifecycle and purpose of regional development policies.
• Define the purpose, target groups and expectations of the engagement process to ensure relevance and clarity.
• Select appropriate engagement methodologies tailored to the objectives and target audiences.
• Ensure engagement processes are inclusive, transparent and balanced, preventing capture by special interest groups and representing diverse perspectives.
• Build participation capacity among both policy makers and citizens – training officials to design and manage participatory processes, and supporting citizens to engage meaningfully.
• Promote civic education to equip citizens with the knowledge, skills and confidence to take part in public-decision making.
• Facilitate inclusive participation by reaching out to communities, especially those affected by regional policies, and making the process accessible, understandable and welcoming.
• Establish effective communication channels, including digital tools, to ensure timely, accessible information and engagement opportunities for all communities.

• Designing and implementing regional development policy without considering the insights and knowledge of stakeholders and communities in regions.
• Engaging stakeholders in regional development policymaking as a “tick-the-box” exercise but without making meaningful use of their inputs.
• Participatory exercises with unbalanced representation of stakeholders, privileging one group over another, or letting few or “usual” voices dominate.
• Generating stakeholder engagement “fatigue” by engaging stakeholders too often and in a complex way in, without clarifying how their inputs are used (or why they will not be used) in designing and implementing regional development policy

Japan

In 2022, the City of Hachioji, Japan, implemented an innovative approach to public engagement by leveraging digital tools, including the reusable PLATEAU platform (See: Pillar 5: Data), as part of their urban planning process. Through a gamified approach, the City’s Creative Workshop offered a distinctive approach for community engagement compared to traditional planning workshops. In partnership with the private sector, the workshop aimed to increase and diversify citizen’s participation and create an interactive and accessible planning session to discuss the land redevelopment of a former sewage treatment plant. During the workshop, participants utilised 3D city models and augmented reality to visualise different proposals, facilitating a more intuitive understanding of potential developments and encouraging dynamic discussions. This method allowed the participation of diverse demographic groups, and received positive feedback, with nearly 90% of participants expressing optimism about the future integration of extended reality technology in urban planning .

Spain

From November to December 2022, the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council gathered 32 randomly selected citizens to deliberate on issues directly addressing the future of the primary economic sector, including agriculture activities and climate transition. The Assembly met during four weekends for a total of 40 hours of deliberation. The Gipuzkoa Citizens’ Assembly was tasked to discuss the challenges of the green transition in the context of the agriculture activity in the region. The 32 members of the Assembly were selected via civic lottery, with an initial send-out of 15 000 letters to randomly selected households, and a stratification among the participants that accepted the invitation to secure a representative sample, including age, gender, education level, languages and place of residence. In January 2023, the Citizen Assembly presented nine recommendations to the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council.  In March 2023, the Provincial Council published a proposal to address these recommendations and shared periodical updates on the status of their implementation.

United Kingdom

In the Greater Manchester region, the Good Employment Charter initiative included an extensive co-design and co-implementation process with local employers to help define a collective vision of good employment. The contributions of employers helped to create a charter that was not only ambitious, but also economically feasible for different types of businesses. The process encouraged a wide range of local businesses to adhere to the Charter’s criteria and improve their own employment practices, thereby supporting economic inclusion across the region . 

4. Leverage regional development policy to address the asymmetric impact of global megatrends and shocks, and deliver on a sustainable and just green transition, by:

a) supporting the attainment of net-zero carbon emissions and the green transition in regions, including by promoting green innovation and investment, fostering subnational level climate actions and financing, and supporting the adoption of circular economy strategies;

b) enhancing access to digital infrastructure, sound data governance frameworks, skills, capability uplift, reducing the urban-rural digital divide and seizing the opportunities of digitalisation in all places;

c) supporting regions to adapt to demographic change including to ensure sustainable and equitable service provision, while promoting innovation and flexibility, and managing trade-offs between costs of provision and access;

d) establishing regional development objectives and priorities that take advantage of the synergies and balance the trade-offs between the transitions;

e) ensuring that regional development policies, investment decisions and public management practices are future-proof, forward-looking, flexible and agile to better anticipate and prepare for short and long term change, and build resilience of all places. 

Global megatrends, such as technological advancements, demographic shifts, and climate change, can affect regions in vastly different ways. Some areas may experience economic growth and innovation, while others face job losses, environmental degradation, or social challenges. The impact of these megatrends also risks exacerbating already large and persistent regional disparities in OECD countries. By tailoring regional development policies to the specific needs and circumstances of each place, governments can mitigate these disparities and ensure that all regions have the opportunity to adapt and thrive. This approach not only promotes balanced national development but also enhances social cohesion and stability.

Addressing these asymmetric impacts through regional development policy is essential for delivering a sustainable and just green transition. The shift towards greener economies often requires significant changes in industries, infrastructure, and workforce skills, which can be particularly challenging for regions heavily dependent on traditional industries or fossil fuels. By supporting these regions with targeted investments, capacity-building initiatives including   training programs, and innovation incentives, governments can facilitate a smoother transition that minimises economic disruptions and social inequalities. Ensuring that no region is left behind in this process is vital for achieving long-term sustainability goals and fostering widespread public support for environmental initiatives.

Leveraging regional development policy to manage global megatrends and shocks contributes to a more equitable distribution of resources and opportunities. Regions with the capacity to adapt and innovate can lead the way creating new economic prospects that can be shared across the country. By fostering inter-regional collaboration and knowledge exchange, governments can amplify the benefits of the green and digital transition, driving overall national progress. This comprehensive and inclusive approach not only addresses immediate challenges but also builds a resilient foundation for future generations, ensuring that the transition to a sustainable economy is both fair and effective.  

• Map trade-offs and synergies across transitions (e.g., climate, energy, land use) to design coherent and balanced strategies.
• Support integrated solutions – such as infrastructure and sustainable agriculture – that contribute to multiple transition goals.
• Use strategic foresight tools (e.g., scenarios, risk assessments, contingency planning) to prepare for future shocks and guide long-term planning.
• Strengthen foresight and innovation capacity along national and subnational policymakers to embed long-term thinking in decision-making.
• Prioritise investments in resilient, low-emission infrastructure, and manage risks of stranded assets.
• Mobilise green finance instruments (e.g. investment funds, green bonds) to attract private capital for sustainability projects at the national and subnational levels.
• Streamline regulatory frameworks to accelerate approval and uptake of green technologies and practices.
• Support subnational governments with technical and financial resources to implement localised climate action plans.
• Embed circular economy principles into regional development polices and promote their adoption at all government levels.
• Expand access to digital infrastructure, especially in underserved areas, through broadband investment and inclusive connectivity initiatives.
• Develop strong data governance frameworks to address privacy, security, ethical use and ensure interoperability across sectors.
• Harness digital tools and AI to analyse trends and better anticipate regional development challenges and opportunities.
• Regularly collect demographic data and projections (e.g. population ageing, migration) to inform regional development policy decisions.
• Monitor access to services in regions experiencing demographic shifts, including depopulation or rapid urbanisation.
• Adapt land-use planning and housing policy to reflect evolving population patterns.
• Innovate public service delivery with flexible, tech-enabled and cooperative models (e.g., mobile services, inter-municipal partnerships) for efficiency and quality. 

• Setting regional development policy objectives that prioritise short-term gains and economic growth over long-term sustainability and resilience.
• Failing to monitor, evaluate and manage the economic, social and environmental impacts of long-term trends and transition on different regions.
• Adopting regional development policies that cannot adapt to new information or changing conditions.
• Ignoring underlying structural issues that impact the future of regions such as infrastructure deficits or educational gaps.

Canada

Policy Horizons Canada (Policy Horizons) is the Government of Canada’s centre of excellence in foresight, empowering public servants with a future-oriented mindset and outlook to strengthen decision making. To fulfil this mandate, Policy Horizons explores trends, disruptions, potential realities, and assumptions, identifying emerging challenges and opportunities. In 2017-18, Policy Horizons, with the support of the Privy Council Office, ran the Canada Beyond 150 programme to develop leadership among public servants, experiment with new policy methods, and engage external partners in long-term policy analysis. The programme gathered public servants from across Canada to learn foresight analysis, design thinking and engagement, and explored themes like reconciliation, feminist government, sustainable development goals, open and transparent government, and socio-economic inclusion. It produced thematic reports on key policy opportunities, challenges and solution .

Canada (II)

Canada’s leading broadband strategies as a model for addressing rural digital divides at scale, including through $3.2 billion in investments to bring high-speed internet to 98% of Canadians by 2026 (and 100% by 2030). Previous programs such as Connect to Innovate have extended broadband to over 900 rural communities and investments under Canada’s Connectivity Strategy continue to promote digital connectivity as key to rural economic resilience.

Estonia

The Foresight Centre is a think tank under the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) focusing on long-term developments, new trends, and identifying potential future scenarios. Within this mandate, the Centre has developed different lines of work focusing on the future of regional policy including research on the "Future of Regional Economy in Estonia" focusing on understanding urbanisation trends and regional disparities, and the study on the "Future of Spatio-temporal Accessibility of Public Services," which examines how demographic changes, urbanisation, and service distribution affect access to essential services. This work aims to identify current challenges and project alternative future scenarios to inform the strategic planning of regional development policies. By leveraging the use of foresight methodologies, the Centre provides valuable insights for policymakers when designing strategies and policies to promote a balanced regional development. Through these initiatives, the Foresight Centre supports evidence-based policymaking to anticipate and address the dynamic needs of regions and places in Estonia .

Ireland

Ireland’s National Hub Network includes over 400 remote working hubs nationwide. As part of the Our Rural Future policy, the Connected Hubs initiative—managed by the Western Development Commission and the Department of Rural and Community Development—enhances urban-rural linkages by providing professional workspaces in both urban and rural areas. These hubs support remote workers, start-ups, and businesses with dedicated workspaces, business mentoring, and scale-up programs. The Connected Hubs platform serves as a central resource, offering information, shared services, and collaboration opportunities. The network operates under common governance standards and involves stakeholders at all levels of government .

Korea

The Broadband Convergence Network (Rural BcN) was an initiative developed by the National Information Society Agency (NIA) partnered with local governments and the network operator KT to address the regional digital divide in Korea. By focusing on villages with fewer than 50 households, the initiative provided high-speed internet (100 Mbps or more) to 13,473 rural communities, including 360 island villages between 2010-2017. The project leveraged a multi-level funding model, with 50% financed by KT, 25% by the national government, and 25% by local governments, ensuring that digital infrastructure development aligned with place-specific needs. The initiative not only improved connectivity across territories but also generated significant economic benefits, demonstrating the value of targeted, regionally adapted strategies in bridging the digital divide.

Switzerland

For more than ten years, Territorial Concept Switzerland has provided the joint strategy of the Confederation, the cantons and the municipalities for the country’s future regional development. It outlines a vision of Switzerland for the future and, since its first publication in 2012, has become an important planning tool for decision makers. In 2023, the three levels of government decided to update it as new challenges have gained importance, notably climate change, energy production and digitalisation. The updating process will include a cross-sector, multi-level reflection on what Switzerland could look like in 2050, with all major institutional partners involved. Workshops will be organised with foresight experts on themes such as climate, economy, energy and cohesion, and a youth conference will be organised, all with a view to producing an updated Territorial Concept by 2025. 

5. Promote the availability and quality of internationally comparable data and indicators at different territorial scales to inform regional development policy and produce evidence for decision-making, by:

a) improving the availability, accessibility and granularity of subnational indicators on demographic, socio-economic, environmental and financial conditions, and well-being in all types of regions and according to international standards and definitions, including through official statistics surveys and administrative data and territorial classifications;

b) promoting the adoption of international standards related to the development of subnational statistics across relevant regional development policy domains, including in relation to global transitions and megatrends, such as demographic change, digitalisation, climate and biodiversity challenges and globalisation;

c) leveraging the full potential of smart, big, and open data, including geospatial data, as sources for official statistics of sub-national data and indicators, to ground and enable regional development policy decisions in up-to-date and quality information and evidence, while ensuring sound data governance notably to safeguard the privacy of individuals. 

Accurate and comparable data allow governments to assess the performance of regions within a country and against international benchmarks. This enables policymakers to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in each region, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively, and development strategies are tailored to specific needs. Without reliable data, it is challenging to gauge the impact of policies or make informed adjustments, potentially leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for growth and development.

High-quality data at different territorial scales facilitates a more nuanced understanding of regional disparities and trends. It allows for the identification of local issues that might otherwise be masked by national averages, ensuring that interventions can be precisely targeted. For example, employment rates or educational attainment levels may vary significantly between urban and rural areas, and having detailed data helps policymakers address these disparities with specific, evidence-based actions. This level of precision in policymaking not only enhances the effectiveness of regional development efforts but also promotes fairness and equity, as all areas receive attention and support based on their unique circumstances.

Internationally comparable data fosters global learning and collaboration. By aligning data collection and indicators with international standards, countries and regions can participate in cross-country and cross-region comparisons and exchanges, learning from good practices and innovative approaches adopted elsewhere. This global perspective enriches regional development policies and helps identify effective solutions that have been tested and proven in different contexts. Moreover, it strengthens the credibility and accountability of regional development policies, as decisions are based on transparent and verifiable evidence. Ultimately, the availability of high-quality, comparable data empowers governments to make informed, strategic decisions that drive sustainable and inclusive regional development.  

Enhance data production and integration:

• Promote subnational data generation across levels of government to improve availability, accessibility and granularity
• Integrate diverse data sources (survey, administrative and big data) into comprehensive subnational datasets.
• Standardise data collection methods to improve consistency and comparability across territories (e.g., TL2 / TL3 regions, functional areas, cities, and rural areas).
• Build capacity of national and subnational data producers through training, peer learning and  clear reporting and accounting standards.

Align with international standards and collaboration:

• Adopt international standards and guidelines (e.g. by the OECD, Eurostat, UN) on data   collection, processing and reporting.
• Engage in international initiatives to share best practices, adopt innovative methods, and stay aligned with emerging norms.
• Provide regular training to support compliance with global standards for subnational statistics.

Leverage digital tools and technologies to promote data-driven policies:

• Use digital platforms and tools (e.g. API, dashboards, data visualisation) to disseminate subnational data effectively.
• Harness smart, big and geospatial data – including IoT, mobile, infrastructure, satellite and social – to support regional development policy analysis and evaluation.
• Promote GIS and remote sensing technologies to complement demographic, socio-economic, and environmental data across territorial scales.
• Adopt open data policies, ensuring public accessibility while safeguarding privacy through responsible data governance frameworks.

• Basing regional development policy decisions on national-level data and statistics only.
• Failing to harmonise methodologies, classifications, and typologies across the country, and with international standards, when collecting subnational data and statistics.
• Using outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete data to define regional development policy objectives.
• Operating with fragmented, incompatible and hard-to-access systems and dissemination platforms of subnational data.
• Overlooking ethical considerations on the responsible use of subnational data.

Canada

Spatial Access Measures from Statistics Canada quantify access to amenities and services via public transit and active transportation networks. A total of eight measures of access by transit are produced: (1) access to employment, (2) access to healthcare facilities, (3) access to public K-12 education facilities, (4) access to public post-secondary facilities, (5) access to grocery stores, (6) access to sports and recreation facilities, (7) access to cultural and art facilities, and (8) childcare facilities. Defining metrics on the dissemination block by dissemination block scale permits the most micro-level Census boundary aggregation of access indicators, in turn enabling dissemination block and census tract level comparisons across all of Canada. Further, enabling a nationwide comparable metric for access enables consistent comparisons among different regions. 

Japan

Project PLATEAU, launched by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) in 2020, is a nationwide effort to develop digital urban models to support and enhance urban planning in Japan. The initiative collects and integrates multiple data sources, including spatial data, to create detailed digital representations of cities to visualise and simulate scenarios in urban environments. These digital twin models are designed to support various urban planning applications, including infrastructure management, disaster response, and sustainable development. The common and standardised digital platform had benefitted 200 cities by 2024 and is expected to reach more than 500 cities by 2027. By establishing standardised and interoperable data frameworks, and promoting collaboration among public and private stakeholders, the project aims to improve data accessibility, facilitate informed decision-making, and create a system for continuously updating and expanding urban data across Japan.

Norway

KOSTRA (Municipality-State-Reporting) is a data platform developed by Statistics Norway to provide detailed statistics on municipal and county municipal activities across various sectors, including finance, education, health, culture, environment, social services, public housing, and transportation. Building on multiple data registers, the system offers key figures updated on a yearly basis, covering all municipalities and county authorities, in addition to the national averages of the country. Municipalities are grouped into 16 categories based on population size and economic structure, facilitating comparative analysis. This structured approach ensures the availability of high-quality, standardised data, enabling stakeholders to assess and compare performance across different regions and sectors effectively .

Portugal

The Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE) of Portugal has developed methods to assess services' accessibility using e-invoicing data, particularly in the case of pharmacies. By analysing electronic invoicing data, INE identifies the catchment areas of pharmacies, giving insights into the regional availability and accessibility of pharmaceutical services across different areas. This use of microdata allows the INE to evaluate where residents obtain services and assess their proximity to essential healthcare resources. This approach is an innovative example of how modern administrative data can enhance the granularity and timeliness of regional service accessibility statistics .

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) has developed a new service called "Explore Local Statistics" which provides users with access to over 70 indicators at a local level. The platform enables comparisons across regions and areas such as health, education, household income, and life satisfaction, improving the granularity of subnational data. This initiative aligns with the UK's broader Regional Growth agenda, which aims to reduce regional disparities .

6. Establish sound multi-level governance arrangements to foster coherent regional development policy, by:

a) adopting effective methods and instruments to co-ordinate regional development policy design and implementation among national and subnational levels of government, and stakeholders, so as to manage their mutual dependence, and ensure that the needs of, and implications for, different regions are considered by the diverse policy areas that influence their prospects and outcomes;

b) leveraging mechanisms to facilitate cross-sectoral coordination at national and subnational levels of government, such as, but not limited to, strategic frameworks for public investment, inter-departmental/ministerial committees and programmes, joint investment funds, and harmonisation of programme rules;

c) providing incentives and seeking opportunities for cross-jurisdictional co-operation among subnational governments to improve and allow for complementarities in regional development policy, including through metropolitan governance arrangements, urban-rural partnerships, inter-municipal, inter-regional and cross-border co-operation;

d) encouraging and adopting innovative co-ordination mechanisms among and across levels of government, and bottom-up regional development initiatives, including through experimental governance approaches and new types of partnerships. 

Regional development often involves complex and interconnected issues that cross local, regional, and national boundaries. These issues range from structural policy concerns (e.g. labour market composition) to socio-economic or other pressures (e.g. inflation, poverty), to managing international commitments and the impact of megatrends (e.g. climate agreements, demographic change). No single level of government can respond to such challenges alone. For example, addressing climate change requires policy setting, guidance and investment from different levels of government: the national level generally sets an overarching framework on climate change in part through its international commitments and regulatory frameworks, while regional authorities could help address climate concerns through their management of energy infrastructure and land use, while local governments may focus on urban planning and transport to the same end. This multi-level approach ensures a regional development policy (or the sector policies that contribute to regional development) cover the full spectrum of challenges posed by a particular issue, and are appropriately addressed at all levels of government.

Regional development depends on a suite of legislative/regulatory, strategic, and fiscal/financial elements being in place to support policy design and implementation in a multi-level, multi-stakeholder environment. Well-performing multi-level governance systems facilitate co-ordination (at a minimum) and, optimally, collaboration among different levels of government. Once in place, such systems can be used to support consistent, coherent and ideally complementary, policy design to advance regional development. They also can lead to more efficient use of resources and better outcomes for regional development by helping avoid duplication of efforts, conflicting initiatives, and gaps in service delivery.

Multi-level governance arrangements can support greater voice among regional and local authorities in the policy making process, empowering them as policy actors and partners. Regional and local governments are important partners for ensuring policy success: they are often more attuned to the specific economic and social needs and opportunities of their areas, can provide national or higher tiers of government with valuable insights and feedback on proposed policies and programming, and are fundamental to implementing policy and delivering services. By involving subnational authorities in national-level policy planning and decision making for regional development, the relevant policies and programmes are more likely to be well tailored to local conditions and priorities. Such tailoring injects greater relevance and increases the potential impact of regional development initiatives. Involving subnational governments in territorial policy making can also foster a stronger sense of ownership and responsibility among stakeholders with respect to policy implementation and outcomes.

Multi-level governance arrangements can promote more harmonious implementation of policies and services. A clear delineation and understanding of roles and responsibilities among different levels of government ensures that each entity knows their part towards regional development policy objectives – from its design to its delivery, including performance measurement. Regular communication and reporting mechanisms facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of the policy’s impact, allowing for timely adjustments and improvements.  Furthermore, when roles and responsibilities are clear, it is easier to build trust among stakeholders and the public, as institutions, organisations and individuals know to whom to turn when policy or service requires adjustment and/or does not deliver expected results. 

Strengthen multi-level co-ordination:

• Adopt appropriate coordination mechanism among and across levels of government and sectors – such as (inter-) ministerial committees, dialogue platforms, contractual arrangements, and inter-municipal or state-region partnerships.
• Ensure co-ordination bodies are empowered, resourced and action-oriented, with clear mandates, regular engagement, and ideally, decision-making authority.
• Clarify roles and responsibilities among different levels of government to avoid duplication, manage overlaps, and improve implementation.

Foster inclusive and collaborative governance:

• Create incentives – legal, financial or otherwise – to encourage meaningful participation of subnational governments and stakeholders in shaping regional policy priorities.
• Reinforce intergovernmental and cross-sectoral collaboration through networks, information sharing and consistent, multi-channel communication.
• Work with associations of subnational governments and/or regional development agencies to tap their expertise and networks.

Enable subnational capacity and ownership:

• Empower subnational governments to define territorial priorities, influence national policies, and pursue development, through their own plans and investments.
• Ensure subnational actors have the capacity and resources to design and implement regional development strategies that support both national and local objectives.
• Promote innovation and experimentation in regional development, supporting pilots to test approaches before broader rollout.

Promote functional and cross-jurisdictional co-operation:

• Encourage cross-jurisdictional partnerships at the functional level – such as metropolitan governance, urban-rural partnerships, and inter-municipal, inter-regional, and cross-border co-operation - to address shared development goals.
• Support service and investment delivery at the functional scale, aligned with underlying territorial synergies.

Align policy through cross-sector coordination:

• Adopt regulation or framework requiring alignment of sectoral and regional development policy objectives.
• Coordinate across sectors at both national and subnational levels to ensure cohesive policy design and delivery.
• Establish performance measurement systems with realistic indicators, ex ante evaluation and the necessary data infrastructure.
• Maintain ongoing communication with stakeholders throughout the policy cycle, using accessible
• language and feedback mechanisms for course correction.

• Making policy decisions that matter for regional development in silos, without proper co-ordination among ministries, sectors, and levels of government.
• Failing to allocate clear roles and responsibilities for regional development policy among national and subnational governments and failing to ensure a shared understanding of these roles and responsibilities, leading to overlap, duplication and inefficiencies.
• Adopting too many mechanisms to coordinate regional development policy making, leading to transaction and opportunity costs.
• Under-resourcing national and subnational level co-ordination mechanisms (inter-ministerial committees, regional development agencies, etc.) and failing to provide them with a clear mandate.
• Failing to engage relevant non-governmental stakeholders (e.g., local communities, businesses, civil society and NGOs,) in the governance of regional development policy.
• Neglecting to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of governance arrangements supporting regional development and adjusting them when needed.

Austria

In 1971, Austria’s Federal Chancellery and the Länder established the Austrian Conference on Spatial Planning (ÖROK, Österreichische Raumordnungsconferenz) as a common platform of spatial planning co-ordination involving all federal ministries, the Länder, and the umbrella associations of municipalities and social partners. Today the ÖROK operates as a central network interface for regional policies and the EU’s Structural Funds programmes in Austria. Its executive body is chaired by the Federal Chancellor, and includes all federal ministers and state governors, the presidents of the Austrian Union of Towns and the Austrian Union of Communities and the presidents of the social and economic partners as advisors. Decisions are consensus based. Thematic committees and working groups, formed by senior officials of the territorial authorities and social and economic partners, were set up at the administrative level to achieve ÖROK’s tasks and projects .

Canada

Limited access to a skilled workforce is one of the largest barriers to growth in Atlantic Canada. The region’s population is more rural and older compared to rest of Canada: more than 1 in 4 of people of working-age are aged 55 to 64, and about 55% of businesses in Atlantic Canada report difficulty in finding workers. The Government of Canada and the four Atlantic provincial governments convened to address this issue under the Atlantic Growth Strategy (AGS). Launched in 2016, the AGS is a federal-provincial approach where investments are strategically leveraged in infrastructure, clean growth and climate change, trade and investment, innovation, and skilled workforce/immigration. As one of the first initiatives under the AGS, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP), launched by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, aimed to address the unique needs of the region and test new approaches to immigration. As the federal regional development agency responsible for the Atlantic region, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency promoted the AIP through the work of its officers and through partnership projects with other organizations such as the urban partnerships and boards of trade and the Regional Economic Networks. Over the course of the pilot (2017-2021), the Government of Canada and the Atlantic provinces worked closely to support its success, including offering additional supports for employers and applicants as well as ongoing promotion of the pilot. The pilot was a success and, in light of this success, the Government of Canada, in partnership with the Atlantic provinces, launched the permanent program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, on January 1, 2022.

Chile

The National Council of Territorial Development (Consejo Nacional de Desarrollo Territorial – CNDT) was created in 2023 by merging the former National Council for Urban Development (established in 2014), and the National Council for Rural Development (established in 2020).  CNDT has an advisory role supporting the implementation of the National Policy for Urban Development, National Policy for Rural Development, and National Policy for Territorial Planning. The new body aims to advance towards an integrated approach that facilitates cross-sectoral coordination overcoming the urban-rural dichotomy.  Its responsibilities include studying sectoral policies affecting urban and rural development, proposing relevant legislative reforms, identifying key needs and challenges across various regions, and ensuring that policy implementation considers regional diversity. The CNDT collaborates with representatives from public institutions, the private sector, academia, and other specialists to foster comprehensive discussions on territorial issues.

European Union

The LEADER approach developed by the European Union, addresses the limitations of traditional top-down policies in rural development by empowering local communities to drive their own economic and social progress. This initiative was first introduced in 1991 and encourages the formation of Local Action Groups (LAGs) as partnerships between public, private, and civil sectors within a defined geographical area. These LAGs are responsible for developing and implementing area-based local development strategies, facilitating decision-making, and allocating resources tailored to place-specific needs. Since its creation, LEADER has expanded into other areas and became a mandatory component of the EU's rural development policy. From 2014 the applicability of the LEADER approach was further extended as Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) in rural, fisheries and urban areas. The initiative enables the mobilisation and pooling of resource enhancing underlying complementarities. The LEADER approach is based on seven features including bottom-up approach, area-based approach, local partnership, integrated and multi-sectoral strategy, networking, innovation and co-operation.

Denmark

In March 2021, Denmark introduced a new organisational tier by creating seven Regional Growth Teams (Regionale Vækstteams) that cover part of or the entirety of the five Danish regions. The teams combine private sector partners, local authorities, trade unions and higher education institutions, and are tasked with developing strategies to address specific challenges, individually set by the government after consultation with the local business development centres .

Iceland

Iceland has adopted a place-based approach to regional development by implementing dedicated framework agreements in the form of five-year contracts between its regions and the national government since 2013. These contracts provide structured funding and support for regional-level plans, ensuring alignment with local priorities. In the Northwest Region, three consecutive agreements with the Ministry of Transport, local authorities, and the Ministry of Education and Culture have facilitated initiatives in regional development, innovation, culture, environmental sustainability, and education. The agreements include clear and measurable indicators and have enabled a scalable approach in terms of flexibility and autonomy in the use of grants and funds by local governments. The latest agreements allow other ministries to be part of the contract and have resulted in a more decentralised absorption of public funds.

Poland

Poland’s Joint Central Government and Local Government Committee supports co-ordination, consultation and negotiation among levels of government. This body is composed of the minister responsible for public administration and 11 representatives appointed by the Prime Minister, together with representatives of national organisations of local government units (e.g. regions, counties, cities, metropolitan areas). National and local-level representatives work together in eleven ‘problem teams’ and three thematic working groups and are supported by expert analysis. The Committee aims to systematically support the development of common policy positions related to the functioning of local government. Key tasks performed by the Committee include i) developing a common position between national and local governments on subnational-level economic and social priorities; ii) conducting reviews and assessments of the legal and financial conditions that underpin local government; iii) analysing information about prepared draft legal acts, documents and government programmes regarding local government issues, in particular, the expected financial consequences; and iv) giving opinions on draft legislation, strategic and other government programming documents that affect local governments

Sweden

The Forum for Sustainable Regional Development 2021-2030 (Forum för hållbar regional utveckling 2022–2030) is a governmental platform that gathers national and regional politicians and high-level civil servants to strengthen dialogue and coordination on strategically important issues for regional development. It promotes collaboration between national and sub-national levels and across sectoral policies. The Forum meets annually in two formats: four meetings for high-level politicians and three for senior civil servants. Guided by the National Strategy for Sustainable Regional Development and the Regional Development Strategies, the Forum supports ongoing political and strategic dialogue. The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth coordinates the Forum and disseminates knowledge among stakeholders.

7. Strengthen administrative, strategic, and technical capacities for regional development policy design and implementation at national and subnational levels of government, by:

a) continuously identifying the skills and competencies necessary to lead and carry out effective regional development policy, particularly at subnational level, notably in strategic planning, regulation, policy and programme management, project appraisal, procurement, finance and budgeting, infrastructure investment, public/private investment instruments, data management, stakeholder engagement, partnership building, and monitoring and evaluation, while considering current and future needs and challenges;

b) ensuring a learning culture that supports regional development policy, including by providing learning opportunities and encouraging continuous training, experience-sharing, learning-by-doing, and innovation, aligned with regional development policy and organisational objectives.   

Ensuring top-notch administrative capacity of national and subnational governments is fundamental for regional development policy planning and implementation. Only with sufficient and skilled public servants can governments effectively plan, manage resources, co-ordinate with diverse stakeholders, implement policies and services, and monitor and evaluate their policy and programming efforts.  Well-capacitated public servants are also better prepared to manage change, uncertainty and complexity. A more professional and agile public service can help optimise administration, operations and the use public funds, contributing to regional development outcomes that have greater impact and are more sustainable.

Building strategic capacity at both national and subnational levels helps governments to chart a clearer path towards their regional development objectives. Strategic capacity involves understanding, broad socio-economic trends as well as the inherent assets and development bottlenecks of different territories, anticipating future challenges, and identifying opportunities for innovation and growth. When government officials are equipped with strong strategic capacity, they can craft longer-term strategies and related policies that are proactive and adaptive, rather than reactive; that are place-based rather than “one-size-fits-all”. This forward-looking, and place-based approach is crucial for addressing complex regional issues such as economic inequality, environmental sustainability, demographic shifts and technological change, ensuring that development strategies and policies remain relevant and effective over time.

Enhancing technical capacities is essential to implement, monitor and evaluate regional development policies. Technical skills, such as data gathering and analysis, project management, stakeholder engagement, and evaluation techniques, enable government officials to better use solid evidence and tap into good practices as a basis for decision making and implementation. By investing in technical training and tools, and appropriately applying these, more accurate information will feed into policy design and assessment, helping improve the quality of policy interventions. Stronger technical capacity can also help build public trust in government actions. Policies that are well-planned are more likely to yield visible results for citizens, who in turn may increase their support of and engagement with regional development initiatives. Strengthening these capacities at all levels of government is foundational to a more competent, responsive, and effective governance system for regional development.

Creating or reinforcing a learning culture is key to strengthening administrative, strategic and technical capacities that can advance regional development policy. Facilitating continuous and relevant training opportunities, promoting knowledge exchange, experience-sharing and learning-by-doing, and rewarding innovation in public administration can foster a learning culture. Doing so can lead to a more responsive, effective and professional public administration at all levels of government. At the same time, such efforts should be targeted, measured, results oriented, and appropriately spaced in time, in order to ensure that resources (human, financial and time) are appropriately channelled and optimised. Nurturing a learning culture and strengthening the capacity of public servants requires an investment and often takes time to bear fruit. A strong learning culture justifies the investment as once achieved, it can generate a long-lasting impact with practices and perspectives that are transferred to successive generations of public servants.

Identify and define skills for effective regional development policies:

• Assess public sector workforce capacity at all levels of government by collecting and analysing data on existing and missing skills.
• Map skill gaps to inform talent attraction strategies and workforce development planning.
• Use surveys to understand public servant skill needs including strategic planning (e.g. foresight, budgeting), sectoral knowledge (e.g. green budgeting and green procurement, net-zero strategies) and cross-cutting skills (e.g., strategic thinking, co-ordination, communication, adaptability).
• Regularly update competency frameworks based on input from public servants, stakeholders and evolving trends.

Foster a culture of learning and innovation:

• Adopt a national HR strategy to build core competencies for regional development policies across levels of government.
• Create platforms for peer learning and-exchange, including networks, communities of practice, and knowledge repositories.
• Offer diverse training opportunities (online/in-person, workshops, guidance, mentoring, mobility and advisory support).
• Partner with external institutions (e.g., universities, think tanks, experts) to co-develop and deliver learning initiatives.
• Promote accessibility and participation by providing remote-friendly formats, outreach, and participation incentives (e.g. remuneration for travel, embedding learning as part of career development).
• Encourage experimentation and innovation, including pilot initiatives and recognition of successfully ideas.
• Monitor and evaluate training effectiveness through feedback and impact assessments.

• Providing national and subnational government officials with generic, outdated, ineffective or low-quality training on a limited set of regional development issues.
• Implementing disjointed capacity-building activities that lack coherence and clear objectives, and that are not monitored or evaluated for their learning impact.
• Narrowing down capacity building to focus simply on providing training and not adopting other types of capacity building measures or techniques.
• Framing capacity building activities as additional tasks for public servants rather than as an essential part of maintaining a skilled and professional public sector to support regional development.

Canada

The Government of Canada launched the Climate Toolkit for Housing and Infrastructure in fall 2024 as an effort to address climate change by integrating resilience into all new federal infrastructure funding and investments. This five-year initiative aims to build local capacity by equipping communities across Canada with curated resources, tools and technical expertise to develop low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure and housing projects. The Climate Toolkit includes three core services: Climate Help Desk that responds directly to inquiries from communities; Climate Insight online Platform that offers geospatial visualization and solutions finder tools with curated resources; and Roster of Experts that connects communities with climate and infrastructure experts to strengthen climate considerations of infrastructure projects. Several communities and organizations have already benefited from these services including guidance for federal funding applicants to meet program climate resilience requirements and expert support for small and rural communities in adopting climate-ready solutions for their infrastructure projects.

Costa Rica

The Municipal Development and Advisory Institute (Instituto de Fomento y Asesoría Municipal – IFAM) is an autonomous institution in Costa Rica dedicated to strengthening subnational governments by providing financial support and capacity building to the country’s 91 local governments, which include 84 municipalities and 7 intendencies. Established in 1971, IFAM plays a key role in enhancing municipal administration by offering loans and financial instruments for public works and services, as well as providing technical assistance and training programs for local government officials.

Germany

In Germany, the initiative Small Towns in Germany was a package of programmes and activities for small-town development, aiming to strengthen their functionality. It targets over 2 100 towns across Germany, mostly in peripheral areas. As part of this initiative, in 2019, the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building launched a pilot called Small Town Academy, which offers a purpose-built platform for networking, exchanging experiences and advanced training on urban development. The pilot phase between 2019 and 2022 was used to define suitable content and formats, which led to the final launch of the platform in 2023. During the pilot phase, several activities were conducted to explore different ways to support small town public administrations – for example expert visits to municipalities to coach policy makers in developing creative strategies, and encouraging long-term exchange among mayors on a common urban development topic. These activities generated model projects that tested different urban planning and project management methods and eventually led to a collection of learning and exchange modules. The first Small Town Academy, a platform for networking and exchanging experiences, was established in the city of Wittenberge (Brandenburg) in 2024, financed by the federal budget. The platform will focus on generating ideas and solutions to help small towns across Germany address a series of common challenges, such as demographic change, climate adaptation, mobility and the future of inner cities, and the labour shortage. The Small Town Academy plans to represent small towns in Germany and participate in the Federal Congress for National Urban Development Policy in September 2024, and host a Small City Congress in June 2025.

Greece

The Management Organisation Unit of Development Programmes (MOU), established in 1996 by the Greek government and the European Commission, is a non-profit institution reporting to the Ministry of Economy and Development. It supports the Greek public administration in effectively managing and implementing EU-funded projects by providing specialised human resources, management systems, and expertise. The MOU supports Managing Authorities, Executive Units, and Intermediate Bodies by hiring expert staff with experience in the managing and monitoring of EU programmes and public works. In addition, the MOU has developed a series of capacity-building programmes to secure continuous training of staff in the special services. The MOU also produces practical guides for project preparation and engages in managing European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), offering tools and guidance to enhance project maturity, operational efficiency, and effective fund allocation across the country.

Poland

To support the implementation of the National Strategy of Regional Development 2030 (NSRD 2030), Poland’s Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy launched a pilot project to create the Centre for Advisory Support (Centrum Wsparcia Doradczego, CWD). The project aims to enhance the institutional capacity of local authorities, enabling them to actively engage in strategic development activities. This includes the design, planning, and management of infrastructure projects within 76 local government partnerships, encompassing approximately 769 municipalities. These partnerships represent nearly 50% of local governments from areas identified for strategic interventions, specifically regions at risk of permanent marginalisation and medium-sized cities that are losing their socio-economic functions. By doing so, the CWD also helps build capacity and strengthen the territorial approach to investment, i.e. by helping build cross-jurisdiction partnerships with other ASI communes and with non-governmental, socio-economic partners such as civil society organisations, in order to tackle local development challenges and advance the competitive advantage of working in partnerships.

Sweden

Reglab is a forum dedicated to advancing knowledge in regional development, where regions, national authorities, researchers, and other stakeholders collaborate to enhance understanding. Through joint development projects, in-depth regional analyses, and mutual learning, Reglab serves as a platform for building expertise across various thematic areas within regional development. The network currently includes 23 members: 21 regions, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, and the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems. Learning projects are central to Reglab’s work, focusing on the exchange of experiences around current themes, alongside joint studies and analyses. Reglab operates two networks—an analyst network and a regional development strategy network—and disseminates knowledge through reports, studies, and regional examples published on its website. Additionally, Reglab organizes an annual conference that explores different regional development themes.

8. Mobilise diversified, balanced, and sustainable financial resources to adequately fund regional development policy at the national and subnational levels, by:

a) aligning funding for regional development with the objectives of national and subnational regional development policies;

b) linking regional development policy priorities with budgeting processes, in particular capital budgeting frameworks for infrastructure investment, to meet regional development needs in a cost-effective, coordinated and coherent manner;

c) articulating effectively fiscal tools for regional development, including tax schemes, transfers and equalisation mechanisms, and regional development funds, to support more pro-active approaches to regional development;

d) mobilising, pooling and enhancing complementarities between traditional and innovative sources of financing at the international, national and subnational levels to support public investments that are well-designed and support regional development objectives. 

A diversified funding base ensures that regional development initiatives are not overly reliant on a single source of income, which can be vulnerable to economic fluctuations or policy changes. By tapping into a mix of public funds, private investments and international aid, governments can create a more stable and resilient financial framework. Diversifying funding sources provides flexibility in both planning and implementation, enabling governments to pursue comprehensive development strategies that address the diverse needs and opportunities of each region.

Balanced financial resources are essential for equitable and inclusive regional development. Ensuring that funds are allocated in a manner that reflects the varying needs of different regions, especially those that are less economically developed or face specific challenges, helps promoting cohesion. By distributing resources more equitably, governments can support lagging regions in catching up with more developed areas, fostering national cohesion and reducing disparities. For subnational governments, sufficient and stable inter-governmental transfers should be complemented with own-source revenues, including local taxes, charges and fees, to ensure their responsibilities are sufficiently funded. A balanced set of revenue sources that matches the expenditure needs of subnational governments ensures that these can provide the services and make the investments they need to unlock untapped potential, promoting more evenly distributed economic growth that benefits the entire country.

Sustainable financial resources are key to the long-term success of regional development policies. Sustainable funding implies not only securing adequate resources for immediate projects, but also ensuring sufficient resources for operations, maintenance and operations. This can be achieved through robust fiscal management, partnerships with the private sector, and policies that stimulate continuous investment in regional development. Medium and long-term budget framework can help governments provide a steady flow of resources to support ongoing initiatives and adapt to emerging challenges, all while avoiding excessive public debt. 

Align funding with regional development goals:

• Ensure subnational responsibilities and regional development plans are adequately funded and strategically aligned with long-term investment priorities.
• Use regional development strategies to define and prioritise investments, including infrastructure, while coordinating responsibilities across levels of government.
• Strengthen co-ordination mechanisms (e.g. joint committees, task forces) to align infrastructure and investment planning across jurisdiction and prevent duplication.
• Link regional development budgeting processes with public investment management systems for improved monitoring and evaluation.
• Develop a robust inter-governmental fiscal framework that clearly assigns responsibilities, ensures adequate and stable revenues, provides access to external financing, and includes sound fiscal rules for budgetary discipline and financial responsibility (i.e. budget balance, borrowing).
• Design effective vertical and/or horizontal equalisation mechanisms to support balanced regional development, providing additional resources to regions with lower fiscal capacities.
• Harmonise budgetary, accounting and reporting systems across all levels of governments, with rigorous audit and oversight mechanisms.
• Evaluate long-term costs, benefits and risks of fiscal tools used to support regional development.
• Ensure fiscal rules allow sufficient flexibility for subnational governments to make strategic investments.

Diversify and coordinate funding sources for regional development:

• Mobilise and align regional, national, EU and international funds for regional development, ensuring synergies between funding sources.
• Establish co-financing mechanisms and pooled financing to support collaboration and shared responsibilities, especially for smaller subnational governments.
• Promote conditional grants tied to regional development outcomes.
• Enable subnational governments to access borrowing within fiscal rules – via development banks, credit markets, private financial institutions, or international financial institutions.
• Encourage the use of sustainable finance instruments by subnational governments (e.g. green bonds, climate funds).
• Facilitate international and cross-border financial collaboration where relevant. 

• Relying too heavily on a single funding source, such as intergovernmental transfers, which can lead to financial instability in the event of budget cuts or economic downturns.
• Failing to align funding with the specific objectives of regional development policies, resulting in misallocated resources that do not address regional priorities.
• Ignoring the long-term sustainability of financial resources, leading to short-term project success but undermining the ability to maintain or expand regional development efforts in the future.
• Distributing equalisation funds without clear, transparent criteria, potentially leading to perceptions of unfairness, inefficiency, or misuse of resources.
• Implementing financial transfer mechanisms (in particular, equalisation transfers) that create dependency rather than incentivise economic growth and self-reliance in regions with lower fiscal capacities.
• Developing excessively rigid or complex fiscal frameworks, as they can limit subnational governments' ability to adjust to changing local conditions and efficiently manage their finances. 

Chile

The Chilean National Investment System (SNI) brings together the methodologies, standards, and procedures that guide the formulation, execution, and evaluation of Investment Initiatives (IDI) that apply for public funds. The SNI is composed of four subsystems, jointly managed by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Social Development and Family. The ‘Ex Ante Evaluation Subsystem’ is a set of norms, instructions, and procedures that allow public institutions to have a portfolio of socially profitable investment initiatives that can be executed. The ‘Ex Post Evaluation Subsystem’ analyses the results achieved once the project is completed or begins operation, to measure the degree of compliance with the effectiveness and efficiency in the use of public investment resources. The ‘Budget Formulation Subsystem’ consist in the allocation of financial resources to sectoral, regional, and State Enterprises’ projects. Its function is to standardise, regulate, and coordinate information related to the fund allocation processes. Finally, the ‘Budget Execution Subsystem’ is the regulation and supervision of public expenditure execution and its respective financing.

Finland

MuniFin is a public financial institution in Finland that specializes in providing financial services to the Finnish public sector, including municipalities, joint municipal authorities, social housing, and wellbeing services at subnational levels. MuniFin provides financial services for local governments to support sustainable development, including the promotion of environmental sustainability and social responsibility, such as public transportation, sustainable buildings, hospitals, health facilities, schools and daycare, and affordable social housing. MuniFin has developed dedicated funding instruments to support local governments, including the launch of green finance in 2016 and social finance in 2020. It was the first Finnish financial institution to issue green and social bonds. The institutions include a governance structure steered by the Municipal Guarantee Board, a public law institution integrated by municipalities .

New Zealand

In 2020, New Zealand adopted the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act, with the goal of establishing a new funding and financing model that incentivise private capital flows for the provision for housing and urban development investments. This Act facilitates the collaboration between local governments and developers through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that can raise funds for infrastructure projects and then repay that finance through a levy charged to those who benefit from the new infrastructure, usually future homeowners. The SPVs consider a time horizon of up to 50 years and can fund four different types of infrastructure projects: water infrastructure, transport infrastructure, community facilities, and environmental infrastructure for risk management and restoration. The Act includes dedicated governance frameworks and specific provision for monitoring and enforcement.

9. Promote integrity, transparency, and accountability in regional development policy to ensure the effective use of public resources and strengthen trust in national and subnational governments, by:

a) implementing accountability mechanisms that promote public scrutiny, including through transparency and open government strategies and initiatives;

b) disseminating accurate, timely, reliable and user-friendly information on the impact of regional development policy and the use of regional development funds to the public;

c) ensuring that legal and regulatory frameworks support regional development policy objectives, in particular by reducing unnecessary regulatory or other administrative burdens.  

Integrity in regional development policymaking and implementation ensures that decisions are made based on merit, fairness, and the public interest. When governments uphold high standards of integrity, they create an environment where public resources are allocated efficiently and ethically, maximising the impact of development initiatives and ensuring that benefits reach all intended recipients. Clear anti-corruption strategies, conflict of interest policies, merit-based human resources management and integrity capacity-building can support this goal, leveraging with specific tools such as codes of conducts, asset and interest declaration regimes, corruption reporting lines, and whistle-blower protection. As a shared responsibility between national and subnational governments, regional development is especially vulnerable to policy capture, corruption, nepotism, fraud, political interference, and mismanagement, including practices such as pork barrelling (i.e. the appropriation of government spending for localised projects).

Transparency in regional development policy is important as it allows citizens to see how decisions are made and how public funds are being used. Open access to information about policy processes, budget allocations, and project outcomes enables the public to hold national and subnational government officials accountable and ensures that resources are being used as intended. Transparent practices help to prevent misuse of funds, reduce the risk of corruption, and foster a culture of openness and honesty. When citizens can clearly see the rationale behind government actions and the results achieved, it builds confidence in the effectiveness and fairness of regional development efforts. Moreover, in order for transparency to result in integrity, government information needs to be available in accessible and readable formats, civic space needs to allow for effective scrutiny, and the public debate on governance standards needs to be open and active.

Accountability mechanisms are crucial for reinforcing integrity and transparency in regional development policy. By establishing clear procedures for public finance management, procurement, human resource management, risk management, oversight, audit and control.  Accountability ensures that officials are answerable for their actions and decisions, promoting responsible governance. It also provides a means for citizens to voice concerns and seek redress if policies are not being appropriately implemented. Strengthening accountability helps to create a more responsive and responsible government, enhancing public trust and ensuring that regional development initiatives are genuinely beneficial to all communities. Overall, promoting integrity, transparency, and accountability is essential for building a trustworthy and effective government capable of driving sustainable and inclusive regional development.

• Adopt public integrity policies and measures to effectively manage conflicts of interest, promote responsible lobbying, facilitate oversight, ensure merit-based recruitment, prevent fraud, and ascertain effective risk management.
• Adopt open government practices on regional development policy issues that improve public participation and scrutiny, such as open data platforms, participatory mechanisms, and proactively publishing independent audits and other relevant information. 
• Set-up comprehensive and easy-to-access public portals to access information data and statistics on regional development policy, including on funding and financing for regional development.
• Publish detailed and regular reports on the impact of regional development policy and investment programmes and the use of funds by governments at different levels.
• Co-ordinate regulatory policy across national and subnational levels of government, e.g. via inter-governmental platforms, mutual recognition policies, regulatory harmonisation agreements and regulatory uniformity agreements.
• Review on a regular basis the process in place to assess the costs and benefits of existing and new regulations, including reporting and compliance costs for subnational governments.

• Adopting superficial integrity and accountability measures for the sake of window-dressing or responding to external demands, without pursuing a culture of integrity based on values, rules and oversight.
• Adopting unbalanced integrity and accountability measures, distorting the equilibrium between values-based and rules-based approaches.
• Overreacting to cases of abuse by overregulating and adopting disproportionate control and reporting requirements.

Colombia

Each department in Colombia has set up a Regional Moralisation Commission (Cómision Regionales de Moralización, or CRM), which is responsible for supporting implementation of the National Anti-corruption Policy as well as for sharing information and co-ordinating local initiatives among the bodies involved in the prevention, investigation and punishment of corruption. The CRMs are composed of the regional representatives of the Attorney General’s Office, the Colombian Treasury Inspector’s Office, the Sectional Council of the Judiciary and the Office of the Departmental, Municipal and District Treasury Inspectors. According to Law 1474 of 2011, attending these monthly meetings is mandatory and may not be delegated. Furthermore, other entities can be called on to be a part of the Regional Moralisation Commission, if considered necessary, namely: the Ombudsman’s Office, the municipal representatives, the specialised technical police forces, the governor, and the President of the Department Assembly. In order to promote citizen participation and social control over the CRMs, at least one quarterly meeting must be held with civil society organisations to address and deal with their requests, concerns, complaints and claims. Consistency among departments is favoured by a set of guidelines elaborated by the National Moralisation Commission (Comisión Nacional de Moralización, or CNM), which are complemented by model documents the CRMs may use to carry out their Action Plans. These include the Internal Regulation, the Biannual Management Report and the Attendance List. Such guidelines also contain an overview of main challenges and good practices from the CRMs .

France

In France, some major cities and regions have designed and implemented an integrity policy and specific functions. Since 2014, the City of Paris has an ethics commission responsible for conflict of interest and asset disclosure, gifts and gratuities, interpretation and application of the code of conduct, and counselling and advice. In 2014, the City of Strasbourg assigned a similar role to an independent ethics officer for promoting the integrity of political leaders and managers, as well as administration of the municipality. Regions that have adopted a comparable approach include Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The 2016 revision of civil service status introduced a right to access ethics counselling in public organisations for all civil servants regardless of their status. The organisations must assign this responsibility, internally or externally. However, there are close to 35 000 municipalities, among which more than 90% count below 5 000 inhabitants and have more limited financial and human resources. Consequently, some of the integrity functions listed in Table 2.1 are either the responsibility of a local management centre, general director or other designated person(s) of the administration, or they are not assigned locally and rely upon other actors in the integrity system .

Netherlands

Most cities and communities in the Netherlands develop and implement their own local integrity strategy. In the City of Amsterdam, the Integrity Office (Bureau Integriteit - BI) is responsible for promoting integrity with the local political leaders and managers, the whole city administration, and service providers and businesses. The mandate of the BI covers ethics and legal advice, training, risk assessments, disciplinary procedures and integrity investigation. This office is also the contact point for whistleblowers to report misconduct and breaches of integrity rules. The staff is specially trained to provide integrity advice and usually has had extensive experience working for the administration of the City of Amsterdam .

Sweden

The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) has, for over two decades, provided a framework for good practice in local government auditing through the "Code of Audit in Local Government." This framework provides a structured approach to enhance performance, transparency, and accountability in subnational governments. Every four years, SALAR updates this framework to reflect evolving standards and practices. In Swedish local governments, the Council elects at least five auditors who work in collaboration with professional auditors, to examine the executives and committees with independence, objectivity, and integrity. This collaborative approach ensures that audits are well-founded, providing the Council with grounded evidence for decision-making. SALAR actively promotes capacity building and peer learning opportunities by organising networks and training sessions and offering updated guidance.

10. Foster robust performance management mechanisms that promote evidence-based regional development policy, by: 

a) monitoring the implementation and evaluating the impact of regional development policy and the conditions under which it can be successful, using a robust evaluation design, including a realistic and clear set of indicators;

b) systematically using data and evidence from monitoring and evaluation to better understand and communicate policy performance and impacts over the short and long terms, assess the coherence of different policies in light of regional development goals, and inform new policy initiatives. 

A well-designed performance management system enables policymakers from all levels of government to monitor, evaluate and thus, improve regional development policy outcomes. By using data and evidence to assess regional needs and policy performance, policy makers can make informed decisions and identify which regional development policies areeffective, under what specific conditions, and which are not. Evidence-based policies can result in a more efficient allocation of resources and better outcomes for regional development by helping policy makers channel funding and financing, as well as other resources, towards projects and initiatives with greatest potential impact while avoiding waste. At the same time, regular monitoring and evaluation enables regions to learn from past experiences, adapt policies, and make necessary programming adjustments to improve future performance. This iterative process fosters innovative governance and adaptation to changing conditions.

A robust performance management system can also support accountability and transparency. When such a system is in place, there are clear, are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) objectives and corresponding targets for regional development policies. When these are broadly and clearly communicated, all stakeholders can understand what the policies aim to achieve, and how the region and its residents can benefit. It can also help stakeholders understand where responsibility lies for achieving results and hold the proper actor or level of government responsible for their performance. Making performance data and reports publicly available also enables citizens and other stakeholders having access to information on the progress and effects of regional development policies in different places. This transparency helps build trust with the public and can contribute to funds being used effectively to achieve desired outcomes.

• Define realistic, measurable indicators aligned with regional development goals and timelines.
• Plan monitoring and evaluations activities early in the strategy design process, covering ex-ante, midterm, and ex-post stages.
• Use monitoring and evaluations results to adjust policies, improve transparency and promote accountability.
• Establish performance dialogue platforms to review outcomes, identify bottlenecks and guide implementation improvements.
• Identify available data sources and assess adequacy for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
• Conduct independent audits and evaluations to assess effectiveness of regional development policy and share findings publicly.
• Involve stakeholders early to ensure data availability, realistic targets, and stronger buy-in.
• Align monitoring and evaluation mechanisms with decision-making timelines to support evidence-based programming budgeting.
• Communicate monitoring and evaluation results clearly through accessible tools such as dashboards and reports).

• Developing too many indicators and/or indicators that are not necessarily aligned with regional development policy objectives or for which there is limited (disaggregated) data available.
• Failing to consider the cost and feasibility of data collection and analysis when defining and selecting indicators.
• Setting targets that are either not sufficiently ambitious and thus can be easily achieved without driving meaningful progress, or targets that are too ambitious and unrealistic, leading to frequent failure and discouragement.
• Relying predominantly on output indicators which provide information on immediate deliverables (e.g. number of projects completed, or services delivered, or people trained) but do not show how these outputs lead to desired outcomes or results (e.g. improved living standards or economic growth).
• Focusing on specific communication channels or specific audiences when disclosing performance data (e.g. decision makers, academia, general public).
• Using monitoring and evaluation results primarily for upward accountability (i.e. to comply with monitoring and evaluation requirements/regulations) rather than to inform and improve policy implementation.
• Failing to establish clear performance dialogue mechanisms involving technical staff and decision makers who can use monitoring and evaluation findings to inform planning and budget decisions.
• Failing to link monitoring and evaluation activities to decision making processes.
• Failing to review and adjust indicators when warranted.
• Failing to establish a baseline or target for each indicator.
• Releasing only partial results of the monitoring and evaluation process to the public.
• Not consulting with stakeholders that would be responsible for providing performance information regarding the availability of necessary data, the resources required for reporting and the realism of performance targets.ements.

Australia

In order to support quality policy evaluation, the Government of New South Wales, Australia, developed The New South Wales Government’s Evaluation Toolkit and is a key collaborating partner with the Better Evaluation website. The toolkit is an online resource that provides government agencies with advice and tools for planning and conducting programme evaluations. It supports evaluation managers, and internal or external evaluators to manage an evaluation project, choose the appropriate methods, use them well, and meet the quality standards set out in associated guidelines. The toolkit provides concrete guidance through seven steps to ensure evaluation quality in terms of technical rigour, practical feasibility, utility and ethics. A key resource that complements the toolkit is the Better Evaluation Website, through which actors from across the globe continuously provide information and guidance on evaluation. This platform was launched in 2012, and, in 2022, became the knowledge platform of the Global Evaluation Initiative, a coalition of organisations and experts working on monitoring and evaluation from various perspectives. More than 300 evaluation methods, tools and resources are currently accessible, on topics ranging from what data should be evaluated and how they should be synthesised, to how to conduct effective evaluation reporting and use the results to support improvements in the strategic planning cycle .

Australia (II)

The Australian Centre for Evaluation (ACE) was established in 2023 to help put evaluation evidence at the heart of policy design and decision-making. The ACE works with departments and agencies across the Australian Public Service to integrate high-quality evaluation into all aspects of policy development and to produce rigorous, evidence-based assessments of policy issues. This is done by promoting the Commonwealth Evaluation Policy, embedding evaluation evidence in budget decision-making processes, conducting high-quality impact evaluations and overseeing efforts to improve evaluation capability across the Australian government.

Canada

Canada’s Quality of Life Hub uses a comprehensive framework to measure wellbeing through 84 indicators across five domains, including prosperity, health, society, environment and good governance. The framework also includes two cross-cutting lenses, that apply to the five domains: fairness and inclusion; and sustainability and resilience. The Framework was developed in 2020/2021 between Statistics Canada and the Department of Finance, and aims to strengthening national datasets, measuring wellbeing, and helping drive evidence-based budgeting and decision-making at the federal level. The Hub includes interactive tools to explore the territorial differences between municipalities and census subdivisions.

Colombia

Colombia’s National Planning Department created a Territorial Portal to help subnational governments monitor and evaluate their strategic plans. The Portal promotes knowledge management and interaction between the national government and local administrations through the sharing of information, methodologies, tools, good practices and other virtual content. One of these tools is the Monitoring Kit, which includes manuals, forms and instructions for the design and implementation of a monitoring system. The tool includes various sets of guidelines, including on how to carry out adequate information collection, analysis and reporting to monitor the development strategy, and how to list, review and prepare the conditions that allow such monitoring .

France

Making performance information visually friendly. France’s Barometer on Public Action (Baromètre des Résultats de l’Action Publique) is a good example of effectively communicating performance results. The Barometer was developed in 2021 by the Ministry of Transformation and the Civil Service, with the support of the Inter-ministerial Directorate for Public Transformation and the Government Information Service. The Barometer keeps track of the progress of priority projects at the national, regional and departmental levels through interactive maps and advanced filters .

United Kingdom

Scotland’s National Performance Framework was created in 2007 to communicate the country's high-level development goals. The Framework and its online portal were designed to help citizens and other stakeholders track Scotland's progress across 11 priority dimensions (e.g. economy, poverty, health, education). Each dimension is associated with a vision statement, linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as 80+ indicators that citizens can consult to see progress over time. Several elements contribute to the success of the National Performance Framework and its online platform as tools to communicate Scotland’s progress towards development targets. For example, the framework enjoys high-level support from all political parties. This has been facilitated by the fact that it does not present the policy objectives of a single party or administration, but rather a set of long-term goals. Furthermore, the front-end of the portal is very simple, which means that users do not require advanced technical skills or knowledge of programming languages to use the platform. However, the portal also includes features for users with an interest in conducting more complex data analysis .