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 . Acoording to the United Nations Development Program "localizing development should not be seen as a translation of global policies within a local context, but rather as a process based on the empowerment of local stakeholders, aimed at making sustainable development more responsive and more relevant to local needs, aspirations and lives through sustained exchanges between the global, national and local levels.  All partners- the government at all levels, civil society, private sector, development agencies will need to work together to ensure steady progress on this transformative development agenda".

“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

The Jurney of the post-2015 agenda creation startet in 2012, with the "Rio+20" Conference on Sustainable Development, which principal outcome The Rio+20 outcome document, The Future We Want, called for development of a set of sustainable development goals which would be building on the Millennium Development Goals but also including issues such as natural resources management, sustainable consumption and production, effective institutions, good governance, the rule of law and peaceful societies. To that end, 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 these MDGs after 2015. The first phase of dialogue was developed from 2012 to 2013 and was focused on potential issues and areas to be included in the agenda. The second phase, "created in response to the strong demand that people expressed during the UN Global Conversation in 2012/2013 about being involved not just in the design of the post-2015 agenda but also in its implementation" took place during the years 2014 - 201 and was concentrated on the means of the implementaiton, with dialogues organized in 13 countries (Armenia, Burundi, Cameroon, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Jamaica, Malawi, Philippines, Portugal, Tajikistán, Tanzania and Vanuatu) and around six main areas of discussion:

1. Localizing the Post-2015 Development Agenda;
2. Helping to strengthen capacities and institutions;
3. Participatory Monitoring, existing and new forms of accountability;
4. Partnerships with civil society and other actors.
5. Partnerships with the private sector;
6. Culture and development.

Specifically, the localizing the SDGs pointed to the need for stronger engagement of local stakeholders in the definition, implementation and monitoring of the post-2015 development agenda, as the achievement of many of the MDGs depended on the work of local governments and stakeholders. In February 2014, UNDP troguht 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 it "on the means of implementation of the Post-2015 agenda at the local level". The process was implemented jointly with national governments, local government and their associations, citizens and communities.

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.

Within this framework localization was already agreed 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".

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.

During 2014, UNESCO, UNFPA and UNDP, coleaded the Post-2015 Dialogues on Culture and Development, wich were builded upon the results of the National multistakeholders consultations undertaken in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, Mali, Morocco and Serbia. The dialogues were oriented from a localizing approach as "help to ensure that the diversity is embrace"

After all the inputs of the dialogues were discussed, almost all the national leaders adopted the new global agenda 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.

High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

The First High- Level Political Forum that was celebrated after the adoption of the New Agenda "the core UN platform for monitoring and reviewing the Agenda 2030", took place in 2016. During that event, the UN-HABITAT, UNDP and the Global Task Force of Local and Regional Governments, which would be coleaders of the localizing- dialogues during 2014/2015, organized a side event at the HLPF 2016 in order to raise awareness about the localization of the SDGs.

During the HLP of 2017, 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 Development 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 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

As stressed in the Synthesis Report of the UN Secretary General, “many of the investments to achieve the sustainable development Goals will take place at the subnational level and be led by local authorities” Therefore, the success of the SDGs achievement in a country would depend on the country's capacity of recognizing that fact by the national legal and political frameworks, at the same time that on the local and regional capacity of supporting the achievement of the SDGs at national level by means of action carried out from the bottom up. At this end, from the localization perspective, the SDGs are a working framework to movilize all the actors at all level in pursuing the development of the country through both directions of actions, because "all partners expected to play a role must given a seat at the table and feel engaged in the process".

"As we all know, the 2030 agenda is automatically a local agenda. It is in cities, states, provinces, and rural communities where all 17 SDGs would come to live"

Amina J. Mohammed, UN- Deputy Secretary-General.

Institutional arrangements at national level.

The localization of the SDGs depends on the institutional arrangements for promoting, coordinating and reviewing the implementation of the SDGs of each country. Following the commented report presented by UNDESA; " Regional and local governments will clearly have to play a central role if the SDGs are to be achieved. Their ability to contribute will depend on developing effective intergovernmental systems and stronger capacities for all actors involved". It is why 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".

Due to genuine caracteristic of each country, it is difficult to collect in one specific model the perfect way to enable the better institutional framework, but according UNDESA "few general principles could guide this process". On one

• First, each country will have to determine its own SDGs priorities, which should be respected and supported.
• Second, many countries need more robust national frameworks to improve working relationships across government levels and among nongovernmental actors.
• Third, many countries need stronger subnational governments with greater capacity to contribute to subnationable development.
• Fourth, subnational reforms could be linked to the SDGs, which encompass virtually all of the features and goals of an effective intergovernmental system.

Aiming at to help understand the situation, an " overview of institutional arrangements for implementing the 2030 Agenda at national level" was presented by UNDESA and which " aim at taking stock of the various approaches countries are currently taking, while identifiying common characteristics and common challenges". here, the clasification of the main steps undertaken by countries as a kick off the implementation of the SDGs has been as follow:

1. Institutional arrangements for implementing the SDGs
   1. Integrating the SDGs into national government
      1. Integrating and coordinating actions ( creating of new coordination entities/using or adjusting existing structures)
      2. Mainstrimg the SDGs in sectoral and other ministeries
   2. Engaging local autorities.
2. Engagement of parliaments
3. Public service and public administration ( transparence and accountability and supporting participatory decision-making)
4. Mobilising civil society and the private sector
   1. Using existing institutions
   2. Promoting stakeholder participation through dedicated discussion, advocacy and consultation activities.
   3. Emerging trend on SDGs reporting by business companies.
5. Monitoring and review

Roadmap for localizing the SDGs at subnational level.

As commented before, the localization process involves all the level and all the multistakeholders. Aiming at supporting local and regional governments and their associations to implement and monitor the SDGs and to influence national policy-making with a view to creating an enabling environment for action atlocal and regional level, the roadmap for localizing the SDGs was launched.

As a result of the collaboration process that brought together the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments for (GTF), UNDP through 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: implementation and monitoring at subnational level was built within the framework of a specific website toolbox "localizingthesdgs" , here, a huge range of partners 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 five main thematic areas conceived as fundamental for the implementation of the SDGs at local level:

• Awareness raising: getting to know the SDGs at subnational level. furtherly
• Advocacy: including a subnational perspective in national SDG strategies promoting local ownership of national strategies. Many countries have already align their National Development Plan and some of them involving subnational perspective.
• Implementation: Setting, by each level of government, their own priorities in line with legal areas of responsibility, and to pursue them through local and regional plans and sectoral policies.  
• Monitoring: localizing SDG targets and indicators

“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.

• Brazil: Enabling national Institutional arrangement for localizing the SDGs.

There is Subnational representations at the National Commission for the SDGs. Following the organizational document  "subnational level is represented by the CNM ( Brazil municipalitites network ), and ABEMA (Associação Brasileira de Entidades Estaduais do Meio Ambiente (ABEMA). Furthemore, Brazil has a Ministry of Cities that recognises how much Brazil´s performance of the SDGs depends on local government. National government has created as well a roadmap to mobilise local and regional government and to influence national policy making across the country. It has been running awareness campaigns and educational programmes aimed at bringing the SDGs to the local population".

• The region of Valencia (Spain): Localizing the SDGs from a regional perspective.

The region of Valencia has published a document where it present the commitment of valencia pursuing the localization of the SDGs- The region of Valencia and the local implementation of the SDGs- "The SDGs would guide all of the Generalitat's policies and not exclusively the development cooperation ones. To that end, it has encouraged a series of innovative measures, including 1) the creation of official bodies to promote consistency of policy between different Government Departments (Consellerías); 2) actions to inform and raise awareness among citizens, and prepare policy makers for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and 3) drawing up of these principles in the cooperation strategy, through a participatory means of devising a new Act, and reformulating its Master Plan. Throughout the process, emphasis has been placed on not simply including entities directly involved in development cooperation, such as the region's NGDOs, but rather a wide variety of Valencian social and economic partners".

• The city of San José as an example of how the SDGs localization goes beyond the establishment of strategies and plans.

The city is an example of how the SDGs localization goes beyond the establishment of strategies and plans and it requires the direct engagement of everyone across neighborhood communities. Further than creation of the city planing aligned with the SDGs (Implementing the SDGs at the local level) Based on the understanding that individuals need to understand and have the power to have a personal impact on the SDGs implementation process, the city wants to empower its citizens.The report provides some historical context regarding sustainability initiatives in San José and discusses the partnership established in 2015 to evaluate current City policies and initiatives for alignment with the SDGs. Then a comprehensive mapping to the SDGs of the City’s General Plan and three additional current initiatives (My Brother’s Keeper: San José, Smart City Vision and Environmental Sustainability Plan) is provided. Along with each of these is a set of recommendations for how the City could approach each initiative to more closely align with the SDGs. Furthermore, through the SDGs dashboard created by the Stanford University via interim solution, a series of geospatial and census-based datasets are used to better understand the current status of SDG implementation across its territory. This tool is part of the initiative “Data tools for the California Bay area: actionable intelligence for cities to support SDGs achievement”  that uses available data at various levels of disaggregation, from the block level up to the metropolitan region  in order to develop an actionable intelligence system at the city level to achieve the SDGs.

• Nomena Farm: example of a small rural farm in Madagascar, Nomena Farm, member of the Ecovillage Madagascar network in relation to the SDGs.

An activity of Nomena Farm that contributes significantly and directly to SDGs 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15 and 17 (and yes! 10 SDOs directly in a process) trough its production of esential oil.

Localizing SDGs around the world

The localization fo a country would depend on the country's capacity of engage the subnational persepctives by the national legal and political frameworks, and on the local and regional capacity of supporting the achievement of the SDGs at national level by means of action carried out from the bottom up. The approach used for implementing the SDGs at local level is different depending on the territory. For example, some of them focus on raising awareness while other in monitoring. Some national governments facilitate the localizing process through the national institutional framework, while in some others the national government is the subnationalgovernments which proactively behave.

Country	Information to include Institutional arrangements at national level Setting up national institutional engagement and engaging local authorities within it, engagement of parliaments at all levels;Alignment development plans with the SDGs; raising awareness, public-private partnership, monitoring system with subnational, Mobilizing human, technical and financial resources; involving all stakeholders SDGs localization related actions at subnational level Awareness raising and communication campaigns; Advocacy innitiatives;Mobilizing human, technical and financial resources; involving all stakeholders; ;SDGs dialogues; Alignment development plans with the SDGs; Promoting ownership and coresponsibiliy for the implementation of SDGs strategic projects; Monitoring and accountability of the SDGs; Stablishing networks for the SDGs localization achievement; Public-private partnership; Citizens initiatives; Academia related actions, capacity buildings, etc..
Afghanistan	Institutional arrangements At national level, The VNR presented by the Government of Afghanistan specifically highlighted the "localization of Targets and Indicator and the National & Sub-national Consultation with Stakeholders" as a commitment for2017. Moreover it also collect that Around 50 workshops, seminars, symposiums and conferences on SDGs were conducted with multiple stakeholders; civil society organizations, private sector actors, academia, media, youth, students and women’s groups. It was highlighted on the report of the VNR the confluence between these stekeholders. UNDP developed "Workshops held to coordinate and introduce SDGs to line ministries at central and provincial levels and determine the responsibility of each ministry/agency."
Albania	As a way of institutional arrangement for localizing the SDGs; "On 17 May 2017, under the leadership of the vice Prime Minister, the Government established a SDG Committee to provide guidance for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Albania, ensuring harmonization of SDGs with the national strategic framework. This inter-ministerial committee will see the participation of Government ministers, independent institutions, local government, development partners, private sector, academia and civil society" The United Nations in Albania partnered with Millennium Cinemas and CINEPLEXX Networks to raise awareness and promote the SDGs in the country. SDGs technical workshop / Pre-MAPS mission (4 July 2017) took place in the form of a Development and Integration Partners’ Forum “Albania in its way to EU accession and SDGs”. It focused on development priority planning in Albania and synergies with the SDGs
Algeria	Related localizing actions "A new cooperation project in Algeria between the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) entitled "Strengthening Program actors local / common development models (CapDEL) was officially launched Monday, January 16, 2017 " ; The territories where is being implemented is Timinoune (Adrar), Djemila (Setif), Ouled Ben Abdelkader (Chlef), blessed Maouche (Bejaia), Ghazaouet (Tlemcen) Tighziret (Tizi Ouzou), Messaad (Djelfa) El Khroub (Constantine), Djanet (Illizi) and Babar (Khenchela). The CapDEL is the program that will initiate the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs) at the local level, integrating them into phases: design, implementation and monitoring of local development plans in municipalities drivers.
Andorra
Angola	Institutional arrangements The ministry of territorial development, Job Graça falou, showed the interested to reinforce the role of the municipalities in theirs new development plans ( National Development plan NDP 2018-2022 and Vision Angola 2025. Related localizing actions UNDP together with the Swedish Government have lunched the initiative.  #firstgeneration. to raise awareness among Youths. UNDP ANGOLA uoload a SDGs territorialized INITIATIVES MAPPING
Antigua and Barbuda	Related localizing actios As an example of lnternational Cooperation in localizing the SDGs; The Commonwealth Local Government Forum CLGF is working together with The Ministry of Social Transformation & Human Resource Developmentin Antigua, The Barbuda Council, and the Ministry of Barbuda Affairs  in the EC funded project “Strengthening local government’s role as a partner in development” focused on strengthening the role for local government and other local and national actors in localising and implementing the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Argentina	Institutional arrangements As an example of multilevel governance; The National Council for Coordination of Social Policies (CNCPS) which depend directly from the president of the nation, is in charge of the SDGs implementation in the Nation. The CNPS encourages the signing by the local authorities of an accession convention for the SDGs and the institutional cooperation. Through this agreement, the national government is committed to provide cooperation and technical assistance throughout the implementation process of the Agenda. Right now, 10 provinces already signed, as well as the City of Bueno Aires, and by 2018 it is hope at least 14 out of 23 Argentinean provinces will be committed with the localization of the SDGs. They are: Jujuy, La Rioja,San Juan,Mendoza, Tucumán, Salta,Buenos Aires, Tierra del Fuego,Neucuén, Santa Fé, Corrientes
Armenia	Insitutional arrangements As a way of involve subnational actors in the national planification process; "The Roadmap: Armenia - Nationalizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development it aims to guide the UN Team Armenia and the Government of Armenia through the nationalization and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for the coming years. This report identified localization of the SDGs as the 3rd stage of the plan. ( Prioritization, integration, Localization, Monitoring and Reporting)"
Aruba	Related localizing actions As an example of raising awareness campaign; "In the months of January and February 2017, the governmental SDG Committee held several stakeholder workshops with the public sector, private sector and NGOs. The workshops were held to kick-start awareness on the Goals and Targets and do a preliminary assessment of their priorities in the local context. The main mission of the SDG workshops were to familiarize all the parties involved with the SDG goals, and stress the importance of acting as a collaborative partnership in order to achieve the goals and targets." The government of Aruba has established 2 Working groups related with the SDGs: On e of them focused on the indicators of the SDGs and the other one about communication, Specifically the sec in order assess the relevance of the SDG indicators and localise them.
Australia	Related localizing actions For instance, Sydney is working in localizing the SDGs in the city, “Sustainable Sydney 2030 is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. It is a local action plan that makes a positive contribution to the sustainable development of our city and community in line with Australia’s global commitment” ( Sydney role in achieving SDGs)
Austria
Azerbaijan	As an example of Institutional arrangement for the localization of the SDGs, the VNR presented by Azerbaijan during the HLPF "National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Azerbaijan (NCCSD) was recently created (October 2016). The Ministry of Economy is responsible for the NCCSD Secretariat and has established Four working groups (economic development and decent employment, social and environmental issues, as well as monitoring and evaluation). The VNR presented this year highlights, as well, that "the Secretariat and inter-sector Working Groups responsible for the coordination of SDGs’ implementation are also working to establish necessary mechanisms to ensure vertical and horizontal coordination between national, regional and local executive bodies on a highest level. " and "it is planned that the Agenda 2030 will be integrated into local plans and Budget allocations.
Bahamas	Related localizing actions As an example of Municipality network, The Bahamas Association of Local Government Authorities (BALGA) takes forward the EC funded project “Strengthening local government’s role as a partner in development” focused on strengthening the role for local government and other local and national actors in localising and implementing the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Commonwealth Local Government Forum is promoting the localization around the country dealing with the Ministry of Local Government.
Bahrain
Bangladesh	Related localizing actions "The Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) and Union Parishad Governance Project (UPGP), within the Local Government Division (LGD), have organized awareness-raising workshops on SDG localization in seven districts, about 130 more have already been planned. Supported by UNDP" The experience in localizing the SDGs in the Betaga Union Parishad supported by The Hunger Project (THP), that has developed a systematic methodology ( An innovative community led- approach) for supporting rural communities to achieve the SDGs  As an example of Citizens actions in localizing the SDGs "A group of individuals has taken an initiative to set up the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh with the objective to contribute to the delivery of the SDGs and enhance accountability in its implementation process. Currently includes more than 40 NGOs from across the country " . "One of the leading non-government organisation of Bangladesh, which is working for the development in the education sector, the Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) and the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh has published a book titled Framework for Action – Education 2030 in Bangladesh: A Civil Society Perspective."
Barbados
Belarus	Institutional arrangements Regional governments have presence at the National institutional framework for the SDGs, "A National Coordinator has been appointed by the president and a National Council for sustainable development with the National Coordinator at its helmThe activities of the council comprise the directors of 30 relevant national and regional government bodies, will help to increase the accountability of specific government agencies in the implementation of the Goals; establish a platform for intersectoral exchange and discussion of progress with regard to the implementation of the Goals; and ensure that the challenges of vertical and horizontal coordination are addressed more effectively" "UNDP led three massive awareness raising and advocacy campaigns to reach out to the public at large and to the vulnerable groups. For instance, these campaigns are now considered as an example of SDGs raising awareness around the globe:  UN70Express for SDGs, Bike4SDGs and Inclusive Belarus"
Belgium	Institutional arrangements Regional governments take part into the SDGs national framework. 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. The newly establishedInterfederal 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.  Related localizing actions Conretelly, in 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. In Wallonia, the regional 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. In Brussel, thee 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. As an example of multistakeholders partnership in localizing the SDGs, 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. 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). Refering to a public-private engagement; 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.
Belize
Benin	Insternational arrangements The Government of Benin has created a monitoring group where subnational government have represenation. It is composed by, - An  Orientation Committee:Two members of the National Association of municipalities (ANCB) integrate it, together with other stakeholder’s voices like youth parliament, youth federation, disabled person association. -  A  Pilot Technical Committee. The Ministry of Development has developed a roadmap of localizing the SDGs in Benin. ‘Mise en oeuvre des ODD au nivel local au Benin’  where it´s said that, "LRGs are revising the current third generation of local plans in order to make the SDGs a condition to access national funding for municipalities (the Fonds d’appui au développement des Communes".
Bhutan	Institutional arrangements The National government has highlighted the role of subnational actors, identifying the main goal of the country as “to maximize Gross National Happiness (GNH), and the objective is to achieve a “Just, Harmonious and Sustainable Society through enhanced Decentralization”.UNDP is helping the country to integrate the 2030 Agenda into Planning and bufgeting Processes.
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Institutional arrangements "Subnational Governments are taking part into the institutional SDGs framework. Concretelly, a Joint Steering Committee (UN-Government BiH) was established with representatives of the Council of Ministers, the governments of the Federation of BiH, Republika Srpska and Brcko District, and representatives of UN system agencies working in BiH. The Committee was formed in 2016 with the goal of providing strategic guidance and monitoring of the implementation of the 2015-19 One UN Programme for BiH."
Botswana	Institutional arrangements The 12The National Steering Committee (NSC) created by the government for the implementation of the 2030 agenda has a one of the member Ntlo ya Dikgosi (formerly House of Chiefs).Bostwana is one of the few countries which have integrated local government representation in a new institutional framework mechanisnm." The national association of local authorities (BALA) remarks that the recently-developed National Framework for Local Economic Development defines actions in support of the SDGs, and that since April 2017 it has been deployed in four pilot districts and will be soon rolled out to the rest of the country.
Brazil	Institutional arrangements In Brazil there is Subnational representation at the National Commission for the SDGs. Following the organizational document  there will be: Subnational level is representated by the CNM ( Brazil municipalitites network ), and ABEMA (Associação Brasileira de Entidades Estaduais do Meio Ambiente (ABEMA). Brazil has created a roadmap to mobilize local and regional government and to influence national policy making across the country. It has been running awareness campaigns and educational programs aimed at bringing the SDGs to the local population. Related localizing actions At subnational level, RIO DE JANEIRO and BARCARENA are in process of aligning their development strategies with the SDGs. Also, federal states like the Federal District of Ceará, Paraíba, Paraná, Piauí, São Paulo and Bahia have either integrated the SDGs in their plans, or have committed to do it.   "Rede Nossa São Paulo (Our São Paulo Network), a non-partisan network that brings together 700 civil society organizations in the city of São Paulo, launched in 2012 a pioneering initiative in Brazil, the Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP).  283 Brazilian municipalities have joined the Programme, including 22 capital cities."[2]
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso	Related localizing actions Ouahigouya is in the process of integration the SDGs into it´s communa development plan 2017- 2021. (supported by  Organization International de la francophonie OIF)" Sissili Province gattered all the local actors for explaining the new National Development plan which has taken into account the SDGs.[3]
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon	Related localizing actions The city of Bangangté, which is experiencing a process of localizing the sdgs helped by the Konrad Adaneur Foundation (see more information below).
Canada	Related localizing actions "British Columbia 2030 is a non-partisan political campaign that looks to the UN Sustainable Development Goals as an opportunity for British Columbia to demonstrate provincial leadership on global issues" Recently has developed a "movement map" which shows the NGOs localizing inititatives around the States and a "election toolkit".
Central African	Related localizing actions In the Central African Republic, the program: francophone d’appui au développement local (PROFADEL/OIF) is being developed by l´organization internationale de la francophonie focused in the development (and the SDGs) on local level. Currently is being implemented in:  Sous-préfecture de Bossembele dans la Préfecture d’Ombella Mpoko (Commune de la Mbi) Sous-préfecture de Mbaïki dans la Préfecture de la Lobaye (Communes de la Lesse et de Nola) Sous-préfecture de Sibut dans la Préfecture de la Kemo (Commune de Ngoumbele)
Chad
Chile	Related localizing actions The Voluntary National Review presented by Chile in 2017 at the HLPF reflects that 28 sectoral entities, 25 regional governments and 44 local governments (10 provinces and 34 districts) have completed the registration of their Institutional Operational Plan 2017. As an example of local actor, the municipality of San Isidro is promoting SDGs internationally.
China
Colombia	Related localizing actions In Colombia, 32 departments and 31 departmental capital cities have already local development plans which include 33 and 34 SDG targets respectively out of 110 ‘localizable’ targets in total. Specifically, 67% of the objectives identified by the local development plan of the Bogotá city and 73% of the objectives of Medellin’s plan were aligned with the SDGs.
Comoros
Congo
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic	Related localizing actions Czech Republic presented its National Voluntary Review VNR in 2017 Here it´s said that as a way of achieving the 2030 agenda, Czech Republic aim at reforming public administration to be completed by 2030 in order to “polycentric territory and achieve the cohesive development of big cities and regions at all levels”. introducing ‘Regions and Municipalities’ in its strategic framework as a priority area.
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador	Related localizing actions Azuay has launched the Territory Vision 2019 trying to put into practice its Participatory Planning System  in the process of implementation of the SDGs in its territory. In Quito, Territorial Development plan related with SDGs (Quito´s long term vision 2040).  The initiative Territorios ODS Ecuador aims at localizing the SDGs and monitoring the results in the territory of Ecuador. IT will be implementing in 5 provinces:  Azuay, Galápagos, Manabí, Napo y Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas.
Egypt	Related localizing actions The Governorate of Qena agreed to pilot the localization of the SDGs as one of the outputs of undertaking a strategic plan for the Governorate. The pilot project will show to what extent strategic plans can be used as a mean to implement the SDGs. At the same time, it will propose a methodology on how the SDGs can be streamlined in plans for the local level. It will also provide insights for the central level on how to implement the SDGs on different levels of government
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland	Institutional arrangements Finland’s National Commission includes two representatives from Finnish regions and two members of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (the Commission includes  members overall, representing a wide spectrum of societal actors, entities and stakeholders).
France	Related localizing actions A participatory Internet platform agendafrance2030 will propose an open digital commons to all players and citizens to disseminate good practices and recommendations, monitor progress and rally coalitions. - For example; SAINT-FONS, With the support of an NGO and the technical assistance of the Lyon Urban Planning Agency, the municipality of Saint-Fons (17,000 inhabitants within Lyon’s metropolitan area) has tested a “new approach” using the SDGs as the framework to assess its own development plans. 72% of planned local goals and actions were aligned with SDGs - The department of Gironde and several municipalities stand out for their efforts in the integration of the SDGs in local initiatives. And many more French municipalities (with Paris among them) are currently promoting sustainability and climate change mitigation agendas. Other examples are: -  La ville d’Aubervilliers lance pour la neuvième édition l’appel à projets « Aubervilliers solidaire avec le monde – pour la réalisation des objectifs du développement durable ».
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany	Related localizing actions As an example of Regional localizing initiative, in the North Rhine Westphalia, "Global Sustainable Communities in North Rhine-Westphalia” (“Global Nachhaltige Kommune in Nordrhein-Westfalen”) is one project that the “Regional Consortium Agenda 21 of North Rhine-Westphalia” (Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Agenda 21 NordrheinWestfalen), or LAG 21 NRW, undertakes in its support of sustainable development and the SDGs"
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	Related localizing actions The Norwegian municipality New Asker has adopted the SDGs as a framework fordeveloping its municipal master plan . It is the first municipality in Norway to be included in UN Habitat’s program for local implementation of the SDGs.
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	Related localizing actions In Senegal  is being developed the program: francophone d’appui au développement local (PROFADEL/OIF)[4] by l´organization internationale de la francophonie focused in the development (and the SDGs) on local level. Currently being implemented in ·        Taïba Ndiaye dans la région de Thiès ·        Ndiognick dans la région de Kaffrine ·        Nguer Malal dans la région de Louga
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa	Related localizing actions The metropolitan municipalities of South Africa have already been aligning their local plans with the general national development plan, which was conceived consistently with the requirements of the SDGs, For example: Durban is looking for align its development plan with the SDGs (“Imagine Durban”)[5]
Spain	The Spanish municipal and provinces Network ( FEMP) and the Sustainable Development Network have signed an agreement to collaborate in the SDGs Implementation along the country Related actions Some Regional and provincial government have already started the integration of the SDGs within their territorial development plans. "Region of Valencia is committed to Cooperation and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" Navarra has created an interdepartamental Commision in order to include the SDGs into their working plans. Extremadura is in the phase of Diagnosis The Spanish municipal and provinces Network ( FEMP) offered localizing training to their members
Sri lanka	Related localizing actions THE WESTERN PROVINCE has already started aligning the government priorities with the SDGs, as well as specific projects for mainstreaming the 2030 Agenda
South Sudan
Sudan
Suriname	Institutional arrangements "The Ministry of Regional Development, with technical assistance of and funding from the UNDP, has started a specific initiative to localize the SDGs. The project aims to contribute towards awareness and information sharing on the SDGs and gathering view and vision of the regional and local authorities, communities, groups/organizations of the Surinamese society, and individual on their role and contribution in achieving the SDG  http://localizingthesdgs.org/story/view/38"
Swaziland
Sweden	Related localizing actions Malmo will present the transversal strategy to implement all the SDGs. "The different waysin which Malmö triesto achieve the goalsset out in its Comprehensive Plan are manifold: the City of Malmö has published a top-10 list of its accomplishments towards sustainable development, “Sustainable Malmö Top Ten”.
Switzerland	Institutional arrangements "In each of the canton there is a responsible for the sustainable development agenda and many cantons and communes are already using the Federal Council’s Sustainable Development Strategy as a reference framework for their own activities."
Tajikistan
Thailand	Institutional arrangements Thailand is allocating “localizing SDGs” as a Mainstream, : “Each Ministry has likewise appointed Mr. or Miss SDGs to oversee overall efforts. And to localize SDGs, each provincial Governor is also asked to coordinate the efforts with all parties concerned in the implementation of SDGs in his or her province. Localizing SDGs is a prerequisite to ensure that SDGs are translated into inclusive actions on the ground”( Draft Outline for Thailand's VNR Presentation) – But there is no great evidences as a prove of that. A kind of example can be: As regards local-national cooperation, The Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) in Thailand is a national government agency that supports community-driven upgrading at scale and support for this from local governments and utilities
Timor-Leste
Togo	Related localizing actions "In Togo is being developed the program: francophone d’appui au développement local (PROFADEL/OIF) by l´organization internationale de la francophonie focused in the development (and the SDGs) on local level. Currently being implemented in:  • Agbétiko in the canton d’Agou-Nyogbo (Préfecture d’Agou) • Kovié dans le canton de Kovié (Préfecture de Zio) • Katanga dans le canton de Baguida (Préfecture du Golfe)"
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda	Related localizing actions "The UN Country Team has supported the government to integrate the SDGs also into sub-national development plans, in line with the national plan."
Ukraine	Institutional arrangements "The draft Strategy-2030 and Parliamentary role in implementing the SDGs will be discussed at targeted events in September November 2017, after presentation of the National Baseline Report and the Revision of medium term and long term national and local development programs"
United Arab Emirates
UK	Related localizing actions Bristol-based Happy City Initiative, along with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) : Bristol’s alliance for SDGs, which is  a growing group of city stakeholders that have come together to advocate for the use of the SDGs to create a sustainable city-region that will be a become within the UK. The Alliance’s objectives are to use the SDGs
Tanzania
USA	Related localizing actions 323 mayors in the United States that have already pledged to uphold the Paris Agreement and the country’s greenhouse gas commitments, under the mantle of the Mayors’ National Climate Action Agenda. Cities which are somehow actually developing sub-national plans for SDG implementation are - Baltimore, which presented a city development plan in 2016 about localizing the SDGs, - New York, NEW YORK, A city with Global goals - New Orleans - Minneapolis -  Santa Monica  - San Jose, the state of California) and Baltimore are involved in the project supported by USA-SCI "The USA Sustainable Cities Initiative (USA-SCI) is supporting SDG achievement strategies in three pilot US cities: New York (New York), Baltimore (Maryland), and San Jose (California). Local academic partners and civil society stakeholders are working with SDSN and city representatives to think through integration of the SDGs with existing plans and policies"
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Advancing SDGs localization Through Technological Innovation

1. Global Oportunity explorer is a platform which showcase the most innovative solutions, market opportunities and cities related with SDGs.
2. WeChangers is a global start-up with the mission to empower individuals, communities and organizations, working on solutions to create a better world, by providing them with tools, stories and connections to increase their impact.3,128 projects and organizations align with SDGs.
3. Geospatial initiative espresso making local actions count. Smart cities
4. 2030Hive Mind Is a real-time policy simulation that explores how we can collaborate to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
5. Influx connect2effect 48-hour global hackathon (an intense 48hr start up idea prototyping session) organised with the support of the UN SDG Action Campaign around three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 9, Goal 10 and Goal 12.
6. PWC has developed online mapping tools such as its new SDG Navigator App 

Related Forums around the world

1. CILAC:Foro abierto de ciencias. Latinoamérica y Caribe. Topic; Sustainables cities. Panamá 2030. Science for Agenda 2030
2. 1st Global local Governments Forum. Sevilla 2017. Workshop "localisation of the SDGs" developed by FAMSI
3. 4th World Local Economic Development Forum. Cap Verde 2017. Led as an approach to localizing the SDGs.
4. 2nd Regional Local Economic Development Forum. Bolivia 2017. Agendas globales, voces locales.
5. 9th World Urban Forum. Kuala Lumpur 2018
6. Smart City Expo Barcelona. Nov 2017

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. United Regions Organization Metropolis UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. How Do Cities Localize the SDGs? , SDG Local Data Action/ and Sustainable cities: Inclusive, Resilient and Connected/ The Movement for Community-led Development 4thWorld forum on Local Economic Development Red de parlamentos locales ODS SDGSforALL by International Press Syndicate (INPS) and the lay Buddhist network Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Toguether2030 Development Alternatives/ ThinkSDGs: The Global Health Centre, in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, has launched a project to highlight and explore the role of think tanks and academic institutions in accelerating the achievement of the health-related SDGs. Knowledge for development Partnership Habitat III. The new Urban Agenda Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development Huffpost. SDGs news Deliver 2030 Commonwealth Local Goverment Forum nsert paragraph https://www.unglobalcompact.org/sdgs/about http://sdgcompass.org/ http://sdgs.businessfightspoverty.org/ http://www.sdgbusinessforum.com/ http://sdghub.com/ http://www.objectif2030.org/mooc/
	https://www.unglobalcompact.org/sdgs/about http://sdgcompass.org/ http://sdgs.businessfightspoverty.org/ http://www.sdgbusinessforum.com/ http://sdghub.com/
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. African Policy Circle/ The role of Social Society in localizing the SDGs SDGs African NAYD(Network of African Youths for Development) mapping actions
Asia	8th EAS High-Level Seminar On Sustainable Cities The Role of Cities: Localising the SDGs to Bridge Policy and Implementation
Europe	Platforma Local and Regional International Action Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) European section of United Cities and Local Governments SDGs watch Europe/ SDGs and development related statistics in the EU conducted by Eurostat SDGs Toolkit/ created to engage European environmental NGOs at National and European level on the Sustainable Development Goals Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias ( FEMP) Fondo Andaluz de Municipios por la Solidaridad Internacional ( Famsi) Generalitat Valenciana- ODS Belgium Empowering act4change/ ICLEI Local Government for sustainability
North America	USA Sustainable Cities Initiative by Sustainable Development Solution Network (SDSN) British Columbia and SDGs: Movement Map/ Search/Connect/Discover The Global Hive Toolkit designed by the national government to assist the efforts of public engagement practitioners working in Canada: NGO staff, volunteers, international development workers, teachers, youth, campaigners, activists, artists, policy makers – in short, everyone who works to engage others on global issues. Comox Valley Global Awareness Network (CVGAN) West Kootenay Global Awareness Network (WKGAN Global Empowerment Coalition of the Central Okanagan (GECCO)
Latin America and CaribBean	Congreso Iberoamericano de Municipalistas: Una agenda territorial para los ODS Federación Latinoamericana de Ciudades, Municipios y Asociaciones de América Latina Confederação Nacional de Municípios. Brasil Sinergia Colombia. ODS en los planes de Desarrollo Territorial ODS Territorio Ecuador. Grupo Faro National Movement. Nos podemos Brasil Plataforma de las OSC para el cumplimiento de los ODS-Costa Rica RACI Argentina. multilevel private-public engagement initiative Rede Nossa Sao Paulo Brasil Programa Cidades Sustentaveis/ Brasil. Colombian cities network " Cómo vamos"
Oceania	Pacific Islands of Non-Government Organisation/ SDGs advocay from a multistakeholder perspective in Samoa, Niue, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Guam and Nauru