Territorial governance has become a major issue for public authorities. Studying the information generated by implementing sustainable agricultural contracts (SAC) on Reunion Island (Ile de la Réunion) has contributed to the development of new types of territorial governance projects. The surveys conducted with rural development actors have revealed that learning was significant both at the individual and collective levels. This mainly involves organisational learning processes. The SAC tool has been used for developing a new type of governance, by coordinating actors with different interests and logics. This process has developed the practical and organisational practices of actors. But it has not modified their values (common project) or the development model. Thus, we believe that in order to promote 'dual loop' learning, implementing a local project is essential as it gives a meaning to the actions being carried out. As a result, the governance process would be reinforced.