This Civic Space Review of Portugal: Towards People-Centred, Rights-Based Public Services was prepared by the Public Governance Directorate of the OECD led by Director Elsa Pilichowski. The review was produced under the strategic direction of Carlos Santiso, Head of Open and Innovative Government Division (OIG); Alessandro Bellantoni, Head of the Open Government, Civic Space and Public Communications Unit; and Barbara Ubaldi, Deputy Head of Division and Head of the Digital Government and Data Unit. The review process was led by Claire Mc Evoy and chapter authors were Paulina Lopez Ramos, Carla Musi and Ben Welby, with support from Lucia Chauvet. Sofia Andersson, Seong Ju Park, Antonios Stoufis, Marie Whelan and Joshua Yeremiyew provided additional support. Jennifer Allain and Sara Vincini provided editorial assistance, and Meral Gedik prepared for publication.
The OECD Secretariat wishes to express its gratitude to all those who made the Review possible, especially the Government of Portugal. The Portuguese Administrative Modernization Agency (AMA) within the Ministry of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation headed by Secretary of State Mário Campolargo (formerly the Ministry of State for Innovation and Administrative Modernization headed by Secretary of State Maria de Fátima Fonseca), deserves a special mention. The Review team would like to extend special thanks to Elsa Belo and Jorge Lagarto from LabX within AMA, who co-ordinated with public officials and provided indispensable insights, support and information throughout the process.
The OECD also wishes to extend its gratitude to the Portuguese officials and non-governmental stakeholders who contributed to the Review in a variety of ways. The report benefitted from 27 contributions from non-governmental stakeholders who participated in a public consultation. In addition, public officials from 24 ministries and public institutions and representatives from 15 civil society organisations participated in in-depth interviews, providing insights and data that were instrumental in improving the OECD’s understanding of the Portuguese context.
The Review would not have been possible without the important contribution of peer reviewers, who shared their extensive country-based knowledge and experience, namely Ivar Hendla, Strategic Advisor, Government Office in Estonia; Natalia Domagala, former Head of Data and AI Ethics Policy, Central Digital & Data Office, Cabinet Office; and Sam Roberts, former Head of Open Data & Open Government, Central Digital & Data Office, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom. In addition to commenting on an early draft, their contributions regarding good practices and lessons learned from their own countries are integrated throughout the report. The OECD Secretariat wishes to express its gratitude to the delegates of the OECD Working Party on Open Government for their review.
Sections of the Review analysing Portugal’s legal frameworks summarise material provided by the Library of Congress. The Review also benefitted from the invaluable comments and support of OECD colleagues, namely Bruno Monteiro, Policy Analyst in the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation and Amelia Martins Oliveira. The team would particularly like to recognise the contribution from Michael Jelenic, former Policy Analyst in OIG, who helped to define the scope and methodology underpinning the Review.