COMPETENCES OF PARISH COUNCIL IN PORTUGALAND A SUPPORT AND FINANTIAL MODEL

Abstract

Parish Councils are important in the process of governance and public management. The attribution or delegation of powers to these local authorities, namely through decentralization processes, is of interest to improve local-based democratic governance. In this process, contextual characteristics, such as territorial area and number of inhabitants, provide different forms of action and financing. The present work pretends to make a history review about the competences of Parish Council and provide a discussion about a practical case of competence delegation and execution agreements between the Municipality of Vila Nova de Poiares and the Parishes. The decentralization process through attributions and competencies, as competencies delegation and execution agreements only are efficient if it is followed with resources (e.g., financial, material and human). However, its considered the capability to have and manage the resource from both parts, this is, the Municipality and the Parishes.