Inter-municipal co-operation is becoming essential for local governments of all sizes as they face demographic change, rising service demands, and growing pressure to do more and better with limited resources. This publication shows how working together enables municipalities to maintain quality public services and infrastructure and strengthen long-term territorial development, without giving up local identity or autonomy.
Drawing on international practices from OECD and accession countries, it explains what makes co-operation succeed: a legal framework that provides clarity, consistency and flexibility; an institutional framework that aligns functions, territorial scales and co-operation forms with the nature of services; a solid fiscal framework that enables co-operation to emerge, function effectively and endure over time. These three pillars should be supported by enabling conditions, such as trust, governance transparency, data and monitoring.
The report includes brief snapshots of inter-municipal co-operation frameworks across 44 OECD and accession countries that offer useful points of comparison and help readers understand the diversity of co-operation arrangements.
This report is designed for national and local policymakers and practitioners. It offers practical insights to collaborate more effectively, whether in rural areas seeking to maintain essential services or growing cities co-ordinating across functional areas.
