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The Colombian city of Manizales focuses on strategic and grassroots localisation of the 2030 Agenda
Overview
What is the best way to bring the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) closer to the population as a real-life necessity and to integrate them into people's everyday lives? The Colombian city of Manizales faced this question and found its way through a Connective Cities learning process - with the help of many suggestions from the international community of practice. The results included an SDG Week in Manizales in mid-2021 and the preparation of a report on the local implementation of the SDGs. Other cities like Bonn also benefited from the exchange.
Initial Situation
More and more cities like Bonn or La Paz are using database-driven SDG reporting to improve their communication with the population, to make them more aware of the SDGs and their swift implementation, and to make the municipality's progress in implementing the SDGs visible.
The Colombian city of Manizales wanted to learn from these experiences in early 2021 on how to engage its citizens in SDG implementation. The city was in the process of developing its new municipal development strategy "Manizales 2030 SDGs" and involved different local stakeholder groups and citizens in over 40 workshops. As a university town, students are an important target group in Manizales. Among other things, the strategy was to present civil society initiatives for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the city planned to publish a first local SDG implementation report, a so-called Voluntary Local Review (VLR).
Learning Experience
The learning process started in April 2021 with the virtual dialogue event "Strengthening Local SDG Implementation through Reporting and Monitoring" , hosted by Connective Cities in cooperation with the City of Bonn, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and PLATFORMA. Nearly 60 municipal practitioners from 19 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas participated.
During the dialogue event, some participants - among others from Manizales, Bonn (Germany), São Luís (Brazil) and Lviv (Ukraine) - presented their experiences on successful citizen dialogues, SDG reporting and engaging key actors in localising the 2030 Agenda.
Participants from Manizales, Bonn and Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences deepened concrete project ideas during three virtual sessions in the course of 2021. Among other things, the city of Bonn presented some proven event elements, such as its SDG wheel of fortune, the SDG lunch and streets decorated in SDG colours. Manizales also reported on a successful poker-like SDG card game and on its Innovation Laboratory, which was founded in March 2020.
Project Ideas
On this basis, the project idea was born for Manizales to organise an SDG week and thus raise awareness of the 2030 Agenda among the most conservative population and students in particular. Manizales also wanted to use this action week to raise awareness of their public innovation lab and to attract more stakeholders to collaborate with the lab.
The city of Bonn was very interested in the idea of a card game from Manizales that could become part of the city's SDG campaign material. The motivation of students from Manizales to write their theses on SDG topics was also met with great interest.
Activities
First, Manizales discussed how an SDG week could be designed in the city. The team then developed simple formats to bring the SDGs closer to the population in a vivid and visual way and to show the benefits of localising them. With many suggestions from the city of Bonn, which has been holding SDG Days for many years, the first SDG Week was held in Manizales in August and September 2021 in a very busy street. The mayor of the city opened the event.
Secondly, Manizales developed strategies on how the city can set up its public innovation lab to serve as a hub for civic engagement in the city for the 2030 Agenda. Important input for this was given to the city administration and two public universities during two virtual sessions with experts from the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. They reported on their experiences from two Citizenlabs: an SDG workshop and an environmental lab. They gave suggestions on how Manizales can better engage different stakeholders, such as civil society and the private sector, with whom Manizales has already worked well, in implementing and reporting on the SDGs. The innovation lab approach in turn aroused great interest at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, which could incorporate parts of it into its labs.
Perspective
Inspired by other participating cities in the Connective Cities dialogue event, Manizales signed the New York Voluntary Local Review (VLR) Declaration in June 2021, joining the international VLR community. After citizens were able to comment on the draft of the first VLR until the end of March 2022, the report was finalised. Manizales received support from UN-Habitat for this strategy formation. In addition, Manizales participated virtually in the Forum Citizen Science 2022 together with the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences to present the activities of the Innovation Lab in a panel. The motto of the Citizen Science 2022 Forum was: "Global - Regional - Local: with Citizen Science for the UN Sustainable Development Goals".
Further Information
Public Innovation Laboratory Manizales
Presentation: Manizales Public Innovation Lab [pdf, 22 pp., 4,6mb]
Published: 25/05/2022
Contact
Oscar Jimenez
Advisor to the Planning Secretariat
Laboratory of Public Innovation Manizales
Photos
Categories:
Connective Cities
SDGs / Agenda 2030
Regions:
Latin America
Colombia
Manizales
