Duration: 2023 – 2026
Local Principal Researcher
Maria Eduarda Ferreira
Funding
Interreg España-Portugal
Cofinanciado pela União Europeia
The C&D: CCG+ project was designed with the aim of expanding multilevel knowledge-sharing networks (at local, sub-regional and regional levels) and leveraging the accumulated experience of its stakeholders in order to strengthen the capacity-building offer for public servants in the cross-border area covered — Beiras and Serra da Estrela, Salamanca and the Coimbra Region — within the CENCYL territory. The CENCYL area faces a set of challenges that jeopardise its sustainability and social and economic cohesion, including depopulation, ageing, insufficient digital connectivity, low digital literacy, progressive disinvestment, a reduction in services of general interest, and distance from major development hubs, among others. These challenges are even more pronounced in the Central Iberian Border (Raia Central Ibérica), a territory marked by low population, institutional, economic and social density, which has intensified the cycle of decline affecting many of the municipalities within the NUTS 3 regions of Beiras and Serra da Estrela and Salamanca. This is reflected in the rural exodus of most young people, the resulting high ageing index, and low population density. The project aims to contribute to sustainable development and to enhance the competitiveness of the CENCYL area, making it more attractive for living and entrepreneurship. This objective is underpinned by an action programme focused on strengthening institutional cooperation and the skills of public servants — particularly those in local government — based on an innovative approach in which capacity-building is achieved through the transfer of relevant knowledge and competences. In the current context, this approach goes beyond disciplinary and border limits, embracing a variable and intelligent geography as the foundation for transforming institutions into innovation agents and co-creators of a new generation of public policies and public services aligned with multiscale strategies, from local to global, with reference to the 2030 Agenda. Building on and reinventing previously initiated approaches, the project will deepen scientific and cultural exchange, reinforcing the path already undertaken, now with a focus on empowering stakeholders to improve Territorial Governance, particularly in cross-border areas.