Welcome to the United Nations
Ms. Emilia Saiz,
Secretary-General
United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
The adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent an unprecedented milestone and are a feat to be proud of, as well as a defining moment of what we can do if and when we collaborate, and they represent a bold step forward from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), being more universal in their approach.
Proof of this universality is the adoption of SDG 11, a stand-alone urban goal, a triumph which exemplifies how the recommendations of our constituency have been acknowledged by the international community.
There is still work to do in terms of recognition and full involvement of local and regional governments, however: not just in the development of strategies to achieve the SDGs but also in reporting what has been achieved. We need to involve more spheres of government in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda if we truly aspire to make it a reality.
Localization: A silent constructive tsunami
There has been a silent constructive tsunami taking place ever since the Agenda was adopted. Local governments are not only taking ownership of the agenda but are also implementing it at the local level and, more often than not, doing so without the means they need to face such a crucial task.
Cities, provinces and regions around the world are revising their strategic plans and aligning them with the SDGs. They are organizing awareness raising workshops to share the new agenda with the population. They are training trainers in order to understand the link between what they do and what the 2030 Agenda provides.
This is why we believe that localization (taking into account local realities and communities throughout the process of implementing the SDGs) is such a key issue for local and global development alike.
In order to provide a hands-on experience on localizing the SDGs, the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, facilitated by the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN-Habitat, have made a toolkit for localizing the SDGs, which has been essential in making progress towards the implementation of the global agenda.
There are three critical aspects for local governments when embracing the SDGs:
- They enable the work around service provision to be put in the map of the broader development agenda discussion and to renew relations with communities.
- They establish links between different sectors in ways that had not been previously done and that will impact future planning.
- They allow having a clear picture of the kind of competences and resources that will be needed to achieve the agenda.
It is through democratic processes that communities can decide, together, where to target investment and action in order to achieve the best results. Political leadership is needed to bring everyone around the table, resolve potential conflicts, and coordinate action with regional and national initiatives.
HLPF 2018: a defining moment?
The hundreds of thousands of local governments around the world are organized in a century-old movement composed of associations with representation at the national, regional and global levels. These associations hold now the key to ensure knowledges and practices are shared but also to guarantee that the voices of local leaders are heard internationally, especially in venues such as the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) where last year local and regional governments presented the report “National and sub-national governments on the way towards the localization of the SDGs”, available here.
Local and regional governments’ networks are also essential in developing partnerships with other organizations which can effectively ensure the achievement of SDGs. This is why have continuously supported the Local2030 Hub and find it instrumental to have a place where all UN Agencies discuss action at local level with other stakeholders.
We hope 2018 will be a defining moment for both the visualization and resourcing of localization. For the first time, the High Level Political Forum will count with a Local and Regional Governments Forum. A delegation of around 100 mayors and local governments’ representatives are expected to attend and share their vision of the progress made and the kind of actions needed to achieve the joint expectations.
Addressing the global housing crisis, defining new governance mechanisms, enhancing support to those most vulnerable -especially in view of climate change-, bridging inequalities and redefining development finance will be some of the key aspects brought to the table. We are eager to prove that local governments hold the key that unlocks the global challenges, and that we have arrived at the HLPF to stay.
