The Centre provides comparative statistics, analysis, policy advice and capacity building. It includes the Secretariats serving the Regional Policy Development Committee (RDPC) and its three Working Parties on Urban Policy, Rural Policy and Territorial Indicators, the Committee on SMEs and Entrepreneurship (CSMEE), the Tourism Committee and the Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Directing Committee.
The Centre also manages several initiatives and networks that bring together national governments, mayors and other local leaders, economic development practitioners, business leaders and entrepreneurs, experts and social innovators. They include: the Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative, Coalition, the Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers, The OECD Water Governance Initiative, the World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment - SNG-WOFI, the OECD Local Development Forum, the OECD Laboratory for Geospatial Analysis the Spatial Productivity Lab, and the OECD Trento Centre (which provides capacity building to local and national stakeholders).