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Virtual exchange between the City of Manizales, the City of Bonn and the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences on strategy development to present the SDGs as aspirational goals and thus support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda
As part of the learning process “Strengthening Local SDG Implementation through Reporting and Monitoring” that Connective Cities initiated in 2021, three virtual exchanges took place virtually between September and November 2021 to support the city of Manizales in Colombia in bringing the SDGs closer to its citizens.
The idea to “develop a strategy to position the SDGs as aspirational goals for the citizens of Manizales to support the achievement of the 2030 Agenda” resulted from one of the working groups during the international virtual dialogue event in April 2021. Participants exchanged experiences and jointly developed this idea with Manizales as part of the topic: quality citizen dialogue and stakeholder engagement.
Data-driven local SDG reporting can be used to improve communication with citizens and raise awareness of the SDGs among citizens, engage different urban actors, make the municipality’s progress in SDG implementation more visible, and spark interest in accelerating action towards sustainable development. E.g., by defining a common language or using SDG-data in participative and stakeholder engagement processes.
In order to develop an integrated strategy to better position the SDGs among the citizens of Manizales, two main actions were identified: the SDG-Days and Citizen Laboratories. On the one hand, bringing the SDG-Days to Manizales improves SDG communication, promotes the SDGs and disseminates the importance of their localisation. On the other hand, using citizen laboratories allows involving different actors in the monitoring and reporting process of the 2030 Agenda.
Based on some good practice examples presented by the city of Bonn and the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences during the dialogue event, Connective Cities supported Manizales by organising three virtual sessions in 2021.
A first step for the peer-to-peer exchange was to learn more about the current situation in Manizales and what efforts have been made. The experts from Manizales briefly presented the political situation and structure of the city of Manizales, explained to their peers the existing SDG-related strategic and their previous work on SDG communication, as well, as how Manizales has used the Public Innovation Laboratory as a HUB for SDG implementation.
Manizales, with almost 450,000 inhabitants, has long been recognised as a “university city”. Today, almost one third of the population is directly linked to universities or tertiary education. Similarly, the city of Manizales is in the process of implementing a Public Innovation Laboratory, which dedicates a line of action to the localisation of the 2030 Agenda in Manizales and its achievement. So far, Manizales has worked on a more general strategy that includes the vision “Manizales 2030 SDGs”. The creation of this city vision included the participation of some local stakeholders and citizens, the adoption of context-specific indicators, the mapping of civil society initiatives contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, and the preparation of the first Voluntary Local Review (VLR) in Manizales.
A first action to contribute to raising awareness and engaging citizens in Manizales’ path towards sustainability was to explore the possibility of launching the SDG-Week in Manizales. Bringing the SDGs closer to the citizens using a simple language and visual contents to show the benefits of the SDGs and their localisation. Bonn’s presentation during the dialogue event inspired Manizales to organise its first SDG Week. This took place in August and September 2021 with the support of the Mayor of Manizales.
In this regard, the experts from Manizales, together with the city of Bonn, had the opportunity to exchange and discuss some well-proven formats for SDG Weeks, such as the SDG Wheel, SDG Lunches, SDG Streets decorated with SDG colours, workshops, games, SDG posters using word games and events. Bonn shared its expertise and lessons learnt from the past years and Manizales contributed with its experience in adapting traditionally known card games to SDG questions. Both cities agreed that the more activities are adapted to the local context and involve different actors from civil society, academia and private sector, the more citizens will understand the benefits of the SDGs in their daily lives.
Some of the topics discussed during the virtual session included:
- Planning, design and coordinating a SDG-Week,
- How to raise awareness of the SDGs through SDG-Weeks: purposes and goals of preparing a SDG-Week,
- How this action supports the localisation of the 2030 Agenda,
- Good practices, approaches and lessons learnt.
A second action to enhance citizen engagement towards the localisation of the 2030 Agenda is to strengthen the role of the Public Innovation Laboratory as a HUB for SDG implementation. To this end, the experts from the city of Manizales and two public universities had the opportunity to exchange experiences with experts from the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences during two virtual sessions.
urban resilient, which hosts citizens laboratories as part of the education programme for sustainable development. Especially the SDG-CitizensLab has shown the importance of SDG assessments and citizen engagement for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Similarly, the Public Innovation Laboratory in Manizales, which has SDG localisation as one of its action lines, has made valuable experiences in stakeholder engagement in SDG monitoring and the alignment of its activities to the city’s strategy.
Some of the topics covered during the following two virtual session were:
- Structure of the Public Innovation Laboratory in Manizales, activities and plans related to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda,
- SDG-CitizensLab and EnvironmentalLab of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences,
- How to raise awareness of the SDGs through citizen laboratories and public innovation,
- Experience, lessons learnt and benefits of citizen participation in localising, reporting and monitoring the 2030 Agenda.
A first result of these virtual exchanges was the official kick-off of the SDG Week in Manizales with some workshops and the support of the Mayor of the city. In addition, the experts in Manizales identified good examples that will be adapted and presented in 2022 during the SDG Week. A main aspect will be to involve more and different stakeholders and sectors of the city. Manizales and Bonn will remain in contact and have already exchanged several documents and materials on SDG communication.
Another outcome of the virtual sessions were concrete steps to involve citizens in the activities of the laboratories, to improve SDG communication and awareness raising of the 2030 Agenda using data-driven information and to motivate citizens to participate in data collection and reporting. Manizales and the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences will remain in contact and will collaborate in 2022.
In addition to these results, the city of Manizales was inspired by other cities attending the dialogue event “Strengthening Local SDG Implementation through Reporting and Monitoring” and in June 2021 joined the New York Voluntary Local Review Declaration and its international VLR community. Its commitment to publish its first Voluntary Local Review in 2022 is an important step in the achieving the vision of Manizales “Manizales 2030 SDGs”.
Related relevant information:
Public Innovation Laboratory Manizales
Presentation: Manizales Public Innovation Lab [pdf, 22 pp., 4,6mb]