Overview

Local and regional governments are essential partners for monitoring and reporting on progress in localising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since 2018, more and more cities and regions have started to develop Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) based on local data and localised indicators. They aim to shed light on their local efforts to implement the SDGs in order to contribute to and complement the information and data provided by their national governments to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

The Connective Cities virtual dialogue event on 26, 27 and 29 April 2021 facilitated the exchange of experience on this topic, with almost 60 participants from 19 countries from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The event’s three main topics dealt with

1. data availability and data collection systems for SDG monitoring,
2. data-driven policy development and contribution to different levels of governance and
3. quality citizen dialogue and stakeholder engagement.

The dialogue event was held in partnership with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and PLATFORMA and co-hosted by the City of Bonn.

Keynotes

Welcome

Alice Balbo, Connective Cities
Katja Dörner, Mayor of Bonn (video message)
Stefan Wagner, Head, Department of International Affairs and Global Sustainability, City of Bonn

Keynotes / Inputs

Ainara Fernández Tortosa, Research Officer, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
Edgar Pacheco, Director of Research and Municipal Data, City of La Paz
Sabine Drees, Senior Advisor for International Affairs, Association of German Cities
Sarah Bentz, SDG Officer, PLATFORMA
Dr. Simona Costanzo-Sow, Learning Portfolio Manager at UNSSC Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development
Salomé Bravo Ortega, Connective Cities
Sara Hoeflich de Duque, Director, UCLG Learning, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
Shipra Narang Suri, Chief of the Urban Practices Branch and Senior focal point for local governments, SDG Localization and VLRs, UN-Habitat

Results

Participants agreed that the following items were key in defining suitable indicators for monitoring and reporting SDG implementation, in developing data-driven policies and in engaging a broad range of stakeholders:

• Municipalities have to strengthen their skills to better identify and utilise existing data.
• Monitoring should link the local, national and global levels, but does not necessarily have to align local with national indicators.
• If traditional data sources are not available, municipalities should search for innovative sources and create customised indicators that are suitable for local conditions.
• Networking and multi-stakeholder cooperation are key; academia and civil society should be particularly involved in indicator development and data collection.
• Municipalities should start small by only addressing those SDGs that are most relevant to their local context and later extend their focus and develop policies on a stepwise basis.
• Each municipality has its unique starting point, challenges and objectives. It is therefore not possible to use a blueprint for localising the SDGs. However, examples of good practice can often be easily adapted.
• Innovative marketing tools, including infotainment formats, are very suitable for local promotion of the SDGs. An approach which has proved its worth is to bring the SDGs to the people (at large events) and not wait for people to come to the SDGs.

Based on an analysis of key challenges, participants developed pragmatic solutions and approaches for four sample cases:

• Establishing a data collection system for the National Association of Municipalities of Mozambique (ANAMM) to assist local and regional governments in collecting data for monitoring and reporting on the SDGs.
• Drafting a strategy for the City of Bonn on improving the involvement of academia and civil society in SDG monitoring, reporting and data collection.
• Producing a booklet for the City of Lviv (Ukraine) with key information about the SDGs to increase stakeholders’ awareness of sustainable development and to build a better understanding of the 2030 Agenda.
• Developing a strategy for the Columbian city of Manizales to convince its more conservative citizens of the 2030 Agenda’s added value and to gain their support for SDG implementation and monitoring.