Virtual Office of the Demographic Challenge Launches New Territorial Cooperation Model in the Canary Islands
The Virtual Office of the Demographic Challenge (OVRD), launched by the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water of the Canary Islands Government through the public company Gesplan, is consolidating itself as a key tool to strengthen the administrative capacity of municipalities facing the greatest population challenges and to move toward “equal islands,” where place of residence does not determine access to resources or the quality of public management.
The Canary Islands are experiencing a complex demographic moment. In a small, fragmented territory opposite realities coexist: rural municipalities that are losing inhabitants and aging, metropolitan and tourist areas that are expanding, zones under high territorial pressure from residential tourism, and at the same time a growing influx of migrant population.
All of this creates a scenario in which demographic challenges are multiple and simultaneous, and each island – and almost every municipality – faces its own balance. One of the most relevant, yet silent, challenges is that of municipalities with few inhabitants and scarce technical resources, which must guarantee their citizens the same access to public services as the rest of the archipelago. To address this, five months ago the Virtual Office of the Demographic Challenge (OVRD) was created, an initiative of the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water that is transforming technical cooperation among local administrations.
According to the latest monitoring report, the Virtual Office has received 245 technical assistance requests, more than 70 % of which have already been addressed. In addition, 121 technicians and municipal and island staff have registered on the platform, reflecting the growing involvement of town halls and island councils in this inter‑administrative cooperation model. Requests come from all islands, with the highest concentration in Tenerife, followed by Gran Canaria. In total, 32 of the 47 municipalities classified as “demographic challenge” (fewer than 10,000 inhabitants) have submitted petitions through the platform, confirming that the Virtual Office is effectively reaching territories with limited technical capacity or greater population dispersion.
Territorial Policy Minister Manuel Miranda highlights that these results “confirm the usefulness of a tool that was created to offer real solutions to the municipalities that need the most support.” He adds, “the demographic challenge is not limited to population size; it is about equity, about ensuring that every municipality, large or small, has the same means to plan its future and provide quality services. That is the meaning of equal islands, where cooperation and technology help balance the territory.”
General Director of Territorial Planning and Cohesion Onán Cruz emphasizes that the Virtual Office “has streamlined licensing, drafted fiscal ordinances, prepared tender documents and resolved property‑related doubts, but above all it has woven a technical network among local administrations that multiplies knowledge and efficiency.” He notes, “it is not only about solving files; it is about supporting municipal teams, sharing tools and criteria that allow them to gain autonomy and improve their management capacity.”
The report shows that the most requested services by town halls are licensing assistance (82 requests), drafting fiscal ordinances (33) and support with public procurement procedures (27), followed by help with grant applications and the preparation of tender documents and budgets. A growing share of inquiries is channeled through generic requests related to the development of models, guides and workflow diagrams, highlighting the need for common documentation and a repository of best practices that the Office itself is building.
For Miranda, “this platform is the best demonstration that technology can be put at the service of territorial cohesion.” Each addressed request is an opportunity for a municipality to gain time, efficiency and confidence in its own management – a concrete example of how the islands are moving toward equal opportunities for all territories.
Cruz adds that “the strong uptake of the tool would not have been possible without the constant collaboration of town halls and island councils, who have understood that the Virtual Office does not replace their autonomy but reinforces it, enabling local teams to work with more resources, clarity and technical support.”
The Ministry’s team considers this tool a central piece of the regional strategy to tackle the demographic challenge from a transversal perspective, combining technical assistance with planning, zoning and municipal financing policies.
In this vein, the Canary Islands Government also maintains a stable program of municipal planning grants aimed at supporting the update of urban and territorial planning instruments, especially in municipalities with fewer resources. Since 2023, the Ministry has allocated €5.3 million to these subsidies, which finance the drafting or revision of general and partial plans, as well as the preparation of technical reports and complementary studies. Over the past year, fifteen town halls have benefited from these grants, fourteen of them belonging to the demographic‑challenge group. The executive is currently processing a budget increase of €500,000 to extend coverage to more territories. This line of work has allowed municipalities that had not updated their planning for years to regain the capacity to project sustainable urban and economic development.
Minister Miranda reminds that “planning and technical advice are two sides of the same territorial policy.” It is not enough to diagnose depopulation; real instruments must be offered so that municipalities can grow with balance, autonomy and legal guarantees.
Both the Virtual Office and the planning‑grant program are framed within the territorial cohesion policy promoted by the Canary Islands Government, aimed at reducing structural inequalities and ensuring that no municipality is left behind. “Our goal,” Miranda stresses, “is that all municipalities, regardless of size or location, have the same response and planning capacity. That is the true aim of equal islands.”
The Demographic Challenge has become one of the main issues of our time, generating profound social, economic and territorial transformations that affect people’s quality of life. In the Canary Islands, this problem manifests through interrelated factors: depopulation of rural areas and concentration of population in urban and coastal zones.
The First Presidents’ Conference marked the start of a participatory process to design a Canary Strategy that addresses this challenge comprehensively. To that end, five Working Groups were created (Housing Access, Transparency in Protection and Territorial Development, Taxation and Employment in the Tourism Sector, Environmental Protection and Circular Economy, and Demographic Challenge), involving over the months all administrations (Canary Islands Government, island councils and the FECAM), as well as various institutions, social groups and the two universities.