CESOP-Local / Universidade Católica Portuguesa sign protocols with the Ministry for Territorial Cohesion and UNICEF Portugal
The Universidade Católica Portuguesa and the Ministry for Territorial Cohesion signed today, at 6pm, a cooperation protocol for the dissemination of a study on public policies at the local level, which is the responsibility of the Applied Research Unit CESOP-Local.
Having been announced by the Minister for Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, last June, during her intervention at the CESOP-Local 2020 Annual Seminar for Sustainable Development, the protocol aims at the coordination of efforts between both entities for the dissemination of the CESOP-Local/UCP research work, for the measurement of the state of development and degree of sustainability of each municipality, in order to promote a better scientific understanding of the territory and a greater territorial cohesion.
Having been announced by the Minister for Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, last June, during her intervention at the CESOP-Local Annual Seminar for the Sustainable Development 2020, the protocol aims at the coordination of efforts between both entities for the dissemination of the CESOP-Local/UCP research work, for the measurement of the state of development and degree of sustainability of each municipality, in order to promote a better scientific understanding of the territory, and a greater territorial cohesion.
The Rector of the UCP, Isabel Capeloa Gil, and the Minister for Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, signed this protocol.
On the same occasion, the UCP signed a protocol with UNICEF Portugal, to conduct this research work in the area of child poverty, one of the priorities of this entity for our country. The signing of this protocol, which was attended by the Executive Director of UNICEF Portugal, Beatriz Imperatori, is a crucial step towards the implementation of an assertive diagnosis that allows the definition of concrete actions to combat child poverty. It has been estimated that in Portugal 22.3% (Eurostat, 2019) of children live in poverty, this being the highest poverty risk rate among all age groups (total risk rate is 21.6%) (Pordata, 2019).
The creation of partnerships that promote the understanding of current challenges is fundamental for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. UNICEF Portugal works with 39 municipalities through the Child-Friendly Cities programme - contributing to the implementation of children's rights through the adoption of local policies - and now joins UCP to identify concrete actions to combat child poverty in Portugal, through the diagnosis that the ISM methodology facilitates, and also to collaborate with the CESOP-LOCAL Network of Municipalities for sustainable development at local level, created in 2017.
These protocols, which make UCP very proud, prove, once again, that the Universidade Católica Portuguesa is at the forefront of research in areas relevant to society and that they place Portugal at the international level of the entities that lead this measurement process, internationally recognised by the United Nations Development Programme.
