The report presents a diagnosis of Portugal multi-level governance in international perspectives and highlights the strengths and challenges of the system. It then presents three potential policy paths of regional reform for Portugal. As the options are not mutually exclusive, they could work as complements to each other. The report analyses the conditions under which the reforms may deliver more economic efficiency and regional equity.

Bulgaria has made solid progress in its territorial governance and socio-economic development. Yet, it has not been able to counteract large and increasing territorial disparities. Doing so will require addressing remaining structural challenges that may be limiting further transformation, government performance and regional resilience.

In recent decades, federal and unitary countries have increasingly adopted or deepened regional governance reforms, especially in the OECD and Europe, but also in Asia, America and to a lesser extent Africa. Approximately two-thirds of countries around the world have increased the power of regions over the last 50 years.

The Welsh Government has set an ambitious and innovative path for regional development and public investment – one focused on generating growth and increasing productivity, while also reducing territorial disparities and ensuring the well-being of citizens, now and in the future. Yet, it faces significant challenges, accentuated by limited fiscal decentralisation and changes to public investment financing post-Brexit.

The OECD Territorial Review of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium, provides an in-depth assessment of the trends, challenges and opportunities for sustainable and inclusive urban development in the region.

Trust in public institutions is a cornerstone of the Norwegian administrative and political model. It has also been a crucial element in Norway’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Preserving and strengthening this “trust capital” will be essential for Norway in addressing future trade-offs and challenges, such as ensuring the sustainability of the welfare model, coping with climate change and maintaining social cohesion.

This report assesses the enabling conditions for maximising the benefits of foreign direct investment (FDI) on SME productivity and innovation in Portugal. It looks at the quality of investment that Portugal attracts and the capacity of Portuguese SMEs to benefit from any knowledge and technology spillovers resulting from these investments.

Whether decentralization, and particularly devolution and federalism, is advantageous or disadvantageous for women is a long-debated issue. The effectiveness of decentralization in promoting gender equality depends on how the system is designed, the quality of implementation planning and the adequacy of resources. Decentralization processes, nevertheless, are particularly fertile ground for enhanced and systematic women’s engagement, with numerous avenues for mobilization and advocacy throughout the long period of interpretation, implementation and enforcement, which can be harnessed by women to shape what decentralization will look like in practical terms. The Fourth Women Constitution-Makers’ Dialogue focused on decentralization from a technical and empirical perspective to support women constitution-makers engaged in constitution-building processes and constitutional implementation through knowledge transfer and comparative experience sharing.

The Civic Space Review of Portugal provides an in-depth analysis of the national legal frameworks, policies, institutions, and practices relevant to civic space protection, with an emphasis on harnessing user input to facilitate people-centred public service reforms.

The government of Haiti is undertaking public governance reforms to support sustainable growth and inclusive socio-economic development. This Review analyses areas such as whole-of-government co-ordination, the links between budgeting and planning, and the decentralisation process to improve development outcomes to which all levels of government in the country contribute.