Chapter 6: Sharing the results
Chapter 6: Sharing the results
Lecture 15 min Slides 36-38
Once the report has been drafted and agreed upon by all the LRGs forming part of an association, the LRGA must ensure that this document is received and read by the national authorities and subsequently added to the VNR. LRGAs should also seek to extend the report to their respective regional and international local government networks, such as the UCLG regional sections and World Secretariat. UCLG and other organizations will then ensure that the message is heard worldwide, and particularly at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), which is the official UN platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda. The message aims to underline the role of strong local leadership and the commitment of LRGs to achieving the SDGs. The previously mentioned 2017 report, which was entitled “National and sub-national governments on the way towards localization”, introduced some of the initial outcomes drawn from first-hand information collected by networks of local and regional governments operating in over 30 countries. This input was complemented by an analysis of the 63 official VNRs and ‘Main Messages’ that have been presented so far by national governments, at the 2016 and 2017 HLPFs. The report shows that LRGs are already taking action, or beginning to act, to foster the localization of the SDGs in all regions. However, it also shows that ‘localization’ is still an issue that remains largely unaddressed by the HLPF agenda. With nowhere to report issues from a local perspective, or to showcase what is being done, the international community risks missing out on an opportunity to enhance the role of local and regional government organizations in achieving the SDGs. An appropriate reporting framework would reward governments taking action to localize the SDGs and foster more local-level involvement where localization is still lacking. The report shares UCLG’s high hopes for the ‘Localizing the SDGs’ partnership with UNDP and UN-Habitat, the Local 2030 Hub (promoted by the office of the UN Secretary General), and the Local4Action Hub, which will support the localization strategy of UCLG and contribute to the broader agenda of the Global Taskforce (GTF). Furthermore, these voluntary local reviews are an opportunity to share and highlight achievements. By showing what kind of transformations have taken place, they can provide better reporting and evidence of pilot projects and this may also allow a certain amount of benchmarking between cities. The GTF and the partners are therefore interested in integrating the different observatories and knowledge platforms.
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