User:John Cummings/Articles/Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals

Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) means taking into account subnational contexts in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, from the setting of goals and targets, to determining the means of implementation and using indicators to measure and monitor progress. It is also putting the territories and their peoples’ priorities, needs and resources at the center of sustainable development. There should be sustained exchanges between the global, national and local facets . Localizing the SDGs not only means the involvement of local governments, but It requires a multi-level and multi-sectoral approach, predicated on local needs, capacities and context. Local, Regional and National Governments, together with civil society organizations, Academia, the private sectors and individual citizens are meant to be coleaders of the localization of the SDGs.

“It is often said that, like all politics, all development is ultimately local. As the world strives for a more sustainable path in the years ahead, particularly beyond 2015, local voices and local action will be crucial elements in our quest… it is crucial to preserve and nurture political spaces where local authorities can have an impact on decision-making at the global level… Local authorities have significantly increased their engagement in global processes. The inputs of local leaders and municipal planners have never been more critical to guiding Member States toward embracing policies that achieve green, sustainable and inclusive cities.” Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary-General, Message to the Meeting of the Global Task Force of Local and Regional Governments for the Post-2015 Development Agenda. 28 May 2013”

Background

The concept of localization applied to development appeared for the first time within the framework of the Millenium Development goals, when a guideline for localizing the MDGs was jointly developed in 2005 by UNDP and the Local Government International Bureau (LGIB) drawing on the ample evidence of creative local strategies for achieving the MDGs across the globe.The toolkit was conceived as a part of a broader initiative aiming at mobilizing local capacity and unleashing opportunities for leaders to realize the MDGs at the local level. The guideline argued that the MDGs must reflect local realities, engage people and be locally owned because having the focus on the local level combined with appropriate linkages to national poverty reduction strategies supports bridging regional disparities, socio-economic, gender and ethnic inequalities and thus fosters more rapid, equitable and sustainable development. 

Later on, The mid-term evaluation of the MDGs in 2008 introduced certain key aspects on localization shared by the United Nations Secretary-General and in 2011, the importance of local and regional governments in development was emphasized at the MDGs-5 and Rio+20 summits and in the 2011 Busan Declaration and High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Agenda report.

The dialogue on Localizing the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Since 2012 the United Nations facilitated the largest ever ‘Global Conversation’ on the future world that people want - MY WORLD - in order to create the agenda that would succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) after 2015. In February 2014, UNDP ART and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), on behalf of UNDG, together with the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments for the Post- 2015 Development Agenda were appointed to lead the dialogue on the means of implementation of the Post-2015 agenda at the local level known as The process was implemented jointly with national governments, local government and their associations, citizens and communities. Within this framework, localization was already presented like "the process of defining, implementing and monitoring strategies at the local level for achieving global, national and subnational sustainable development goals and targets" and the outputs of the dialogues included contributions from the local level, voicing local issues at national and international levels".

Furthermore, an Advisory Committee for the Localization of the Post-2015 Agenda was established. Composed by national and local governments, Academia, the European Commission, the private sector, represented by the Global Compact, as well as Youth and Women Networks and Foundations. This consultative body provided an overall guidance to the process and aimed at facilitating the cross-fertilization between the local and national governments, CSOs and the UN System.

As a result of the localizing dialogues, key messages were approved by the participants and co-leaders of the consultation, as follow:

• Local and regional governments are essential for promoting inclusive sustainable development within their territories and, therefore, are necessary partners in the implementation of the SDGs.

• Effective local governance can ensure the inclusion of a diversity of local stakeholders, thereby creating broadbased ownership, commitment and accountability.

• An integrated multi-level and multistakeholder approach is needed to promote transformative agendas at the local level.

• Strong national commitment to provide adequate legal frameworks and institutional and financial capacity are required.

Finally, th New Global Agenda was adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit September 25–27, 2015 in New York, USA with the title of "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development", which contains 17 goals with 169 targets covering a broad range of sustainable development issues. Concretelly, the SDG number 11, on sustainable cities and human settlements, is the lynchpin of the localizing process. Its inclusion in the 2030 Agenda is the fruition of the advocacy work of the broad urban community (particularly local and regional government associations) and is also the result of the growing international recognition of the importance of the subnational dimension of development. Linking SDG 11 up with the urban dimensions of the other 16 goals will be an essential part of the localization of the SDGs. 

High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

From 10-19 july, 2017, a delegation of local and regional governments, enabled by United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) on behalf of the  Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments for the Post- 2015 Developmen attended the 5th High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) to report on progress on the SDGs at subnational level. The output document "national and subnational goverments on the way towards the localization of the SDGs covers 65 countries, representing in total over 5.2 billion people, 70% of the world’s population and more than 400,000 local and regional government.  

The Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development (nrg4SD) together with the Organization of United Regions also presented a report "SDGs at the Subnational Level: Regional Governments in the Voluntary National Reviews" [1] wich collects the outputs of a consultation made to the 44 countries presenting Voluntaring National Reviews (VNR).

Implementing locally

The localization of the SDGs depends on the political and institutional framework of each country. Local and Regional actors advocate for "the integration of the subnational governments into the national mechanism that are responsible for the coordination and follow-up of the SDGs". The report – the first of an annual series coinciding with national reports to the HLPF – pays particular attention to the growing involvement of LRG in the dissemination and adaptation of the SDGs at local level.

Roadmap for localizing the SDGs

As a result of the collaboration process that brought together the The Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments for (GTF), UNDP ART and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) during the UNDG-mandated Dialogues on Localizing the Post-2015 Agenda, a Roadmap for localizing the SDGs was built within the framework of a specific website toolbox developed by these actors but as a result of the on going contributions of a large range of partners who bring in their practical experience and innovations at the local level with the purpose of raise awareness of the SDGs among multilevel actors, enabling environment for the localization process as an advocacy platform and being a practical support for local stakeholders in theirs localizing process.

The roadmap offers general guidelines and strategies on four main thematic areas conceived as fundamental for the implementation of the SDGs at local level: Awareness raising, Advocacy, Implementation and Monitoring and shows case studies of each of the areas as examples of localizing the SDGs.

“To achieve the SDGs it is urgent to gather public authorities, local and regional governments, the private sector and civil society around a shared implementation strategy. The “localization” process of the SDGs and the role of local and regional governments is key if we want to achieve these goals by 2030". Edgardo Bilsky, Director of Research at UCLG

Case Studies: Localizing SDGs around the world

Has been showed how the approach used for implementing the SDGs at local level is different depending on the analyzed territory. For example, some of them focus in raising awareness while other in monitoring. Some national governments facilitates the localizing process through the national institutional framework, while in some others the national government are the subnational governments which proactively behave.

A list of current countries´ actions in localizing SDGs by country can

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium	At national level: The Belgium Sustainable Development Insitituional body has been redesigned for committing the new Agenda and Ministries from the different regions and communities are represented in the Inter-Departmental Commission for Sustainable Development (ICSD) . An specific SDGs website platform has been launched by the national government. It includes an interactive mapping which shows the  actives SDGs initiative along the country. About monitoring: The newly established (in February 2016) Interfederal Statistical Agency brings together federal and subnational statistical departments, it also has set up a specific working group to that end. Its review of the official list of SDG indicators found that roughly half of them are currently available for Belgium.  Flanders: The Flemish Goverment has created an specific Sustainable Development team: Minister- President coordinates, other ministers implement in their respective area and a Cross-cutting sustainable development working group has been created. The Flanders vision 2050 said that "attaining global goals is a prerequisite to reach the 2050 goals". To achieve that, The Region is working with an umbrella of organizations composed by Companies, civilians and communities: multi-actor governance and raising awareness Raising awareness: During 2016 Flemish region organized workshops and roundtable among flemish municipalities CIFAL Flanders, which is part of UNITAR’s network of International Training Centers is promoting many workshops and seminars about SDGs. City of Antwerp and Flemish government are principle donors. For SDG Keynote Design, Construct & Use, Brussels and SDG Workshop Beweging.net both celebrated in October, 12. 2017  The Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities in collaboration with the Regional Government is supporting 20 municipalities for pilot tests on the integration of the SDGs into their local financial and strategic plans. Several Belgian municipalities such as Bornem, Gent, Ternat and Heist-op-den-berg are leading the way. Wallonia: The Wallonia Government is raising awareness on the SDGs through its regional website and on April 2017, The first SDGs implementation Report of Wallonia was launched . The Minister in charge of sustainable development is working in collaboration with other ministers on the implementation of 2030 Agenda and is responsible for monitoring this process. Brussels Capital Region The Minister for Environment and Energy who, historically and in the absence of a regional coordinating body for sustainable development, follows the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and represents the region in the IMCSD (Interministerial Conference for Sustainable Development Multistakeholder perspective Belgium SDG Charter  have been signed by Belgian companies, NGOs and public sector (72 municipalities already signed it) to promote and to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals together.  The VBO (Federation of Belgian Enterprises) published in REFLECT Magazine a insight into the UN goals, thus enabling companies to also integrate and implement them themselves. Belgium Sustainability Networks initiative created thanks nonprofit organizations and private sector presented on january 2017 a New Year’s resolution for 2017: Enable, Encourage, Exemplify & Engage. based on the 5p of the SDGs. (people, planet, partnership, prosperity and peace)..
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Central African
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia (Federated States of)
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Moldova
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Republic of Korea (South Korea)
Republic of Moldova
Romania
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Spain
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland ( tmb 2018)
Tajikistan
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo (tmb en 2016)
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
UK
Tanzania
USA
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Localization sites

Global	Toolbox to localize the SDGs is one of the result of the collaboration process that brought together the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, UN HABITAT and UNDP during the UNDG-mandated Dialogues on Localizing the Post-2015 Agenda and which "aims at providing universal support by setting advocacy arguments and concrete mechanisms to address common global development challenges related to SDGs implementation at the local level" Local Hub for sustainabilty Solutions: By United Nations and which has been created as a new global platform for city-to-city learning on three issues in which robust city action is seen as especially crucial: data, finance and energy. Citiscope It´s a website which diseminate city´s initiatives through storytelling by independent journalists pursuing the sustainable development in cities. United Cities and Local Governments. The Sustainable Development Goals: What local governments need to know. UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. How Do Cities Localize the SDGs? The Movement for Community-led Development 4thWorld forum on Local Economic Development
Africa	SDGs Act in Africaa.Sustainable Development Goals Awareness Campaign Tour (SDGs ACT) is an initiative of Hot Eye Global Company in conjunction of World Merit Nigeria to create an awareness about SDGs to the people from Urban to the Rural areas using the youths.
America
Asia	8th EAS High-Level Seminar On Sustainable Cities The Role of Cities: Localising the SDGs to Bridge Policy and Implementation
Australia
Europe	Platforma Local and Regional International Action Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) European section of United Cities and Local Governments
North America
South America