Coordination in Active Social Policies: The Case of Guaranteed Minimum Income in Portugal

Abstract

The creation of the Minimum Guaranteed Income is an innovation in the context of social action in Portugal. Minimum Guaranteed Income legislation mandates the creation of Local Monitoring Committees (CLAs), which helps to transform a certain way of partnering locally. In fact, with the creation of CLA, an "up-bottom" logic is transformed into a "bottom-up" logic. However, certain things do not change only by "decree", including coordination. This means that: coordination is a process; coordination requires time (time to set up and time to generate impacts); coordination shows the need to define the profile of he/she who assumes coordination between partners. In a way, coordination depends on an "I". While the existence of CLA and its competences are legally defined, different CLA scattered throughout the country constitute different realities and reflect the dynamics of local institutions as well as the characteristics of their respective contexts.