A meeting of the metropolitan working group on Social Affairs and Health, held on October 20 at AML headquarters, highlighted the metropolitan digital social platform, the metropolitan digital social charter, and the single social benefit. The meeting was attended by around 50 participants, including mayors, technicians, and municipal leaders, and was coordinated by metropolitan secretary Filipa Guimarães.
AML presented the general outlines of the Metropolitan Social Charter, which will be integrated into the urban management platform. This instrument aims to strengthen the diagnosis, planning, and coordination of social policies at the metropolitan level, supporting municipal decisions. It will include a social diagnosis of the region, a social development plan, georeferenced information on social responses, and a social vulnerability index. The goal is to identify social needs, guide investments, reduce territorial inequalities, and articulate the social responses of the 18 municipalities.
In conjunction with the Communities in Action program, the Metropolitan Social Charter will dynamically identify social needs and gaps, promote an integrated vision of the work carried out by municipalities and social solidarity institutions, and support the definition of future priorities and investments.
On October 22, the Lisbon Metropolitan Council approved the signing of a protocol to establish the Metropolitan Social Platform, aligned with AML's strategic objectives for the 2025-2029 mandate. This new instrument aims to ensure metropolitan coordination of social intervention, integrating supramunicipal platforms from the District Centers of Social Security of Lisbon and Setúbal.
The main objectives of this platform include strengthening inter-municipal cooperation, articulating local social networks with supramunicipal Social Security structures, combating poverty and social exclusion, promoting coordinated responses for vulnerable individuals, and improving social planning and monitoring. The structure represents an important step towards an integrated metropolitan approach to social policies.
The Metropolitan Social Charter will support knowledge of existing social responses, population needs, and territorial disparities, while the Metropolitan Social Platform will serve as an instrument for institutional articulation and planning.
The creation of the Single Social Benefit (PSU) was also discussed, aiming to simplify access to support, adjust amounts, and promote beneficiary autonomy. Municipalities highlighted the challenges of its implementation, such as the overload of municipal services, the allocation of financial and human resources, institutional articulation, information system and data protection management, and the availability of integration responses.
