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TOWARDS THE LOCALIZATION OF THE SDGs
Notes 1
2
3
Introduction 1
The assessment is drawn from UCLG Africa and Cities Alliance, Assessing the Institutional Environment of Local Governments in Africa, 3rd ed. (Brussels: Cities Alliance & UCLG Africa, 2018). The report establishes 12 criteria for assessing local government enabling environments across this region. These correspond to: the constitutional (1) and legal (2) framework: local democracy (3) and governance; financial transfers (4) and own revenues (5); local competences (6); transparency (7) and civic participation (8); local government performance (9); urban strategy (10); gender equality (11); and climate change (12).
2
Association Nationale des Communes du Bénin, “Rapport de La Localisation Des ODD Au Benin” (Cotonou: ANCB, forthcoming, 2020).
Methodology and report preparation process 1
United Nations General Assembly, “Political Declaration of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development Convened under the Auspices of the General Assembly” (New York: United Nations General Assembly, 2019).
2
UCLG’s Community of Practice on VLRs launched, in partnership with UN-Habitat, the Guidelines for Voluntary Local Reviews in July 2020. The Guidelines seek to provide LRGs with a practical analysis of existing VLRs. The aim is to reflect on the diversity of processes involved in the elaboration of the VLRs; the resources that have been available to each LRG for the elaboration of its VLR; the institutional arrangements made for SDG implementation and coordination in situ; and any other variables that have been identified as forming part of key practical knowledge and that LRGs would benefit from knowing about in order to advance with their own, local reporting efforts. See: https://www.uclg.org/sites/default/files/uclg_vlrlab_guidelines_2020_volume_i.pdf.
3
These countries are Benin, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kenya, Mozambique and Nepal. UCLG is promoting the elaboration of their respective subnational reports in collaboration with the national LGAs of these five countries. These subnational reports provide an analysis of the importance of enabling national environments for LRG actions and also first-hand experiences of implementing the SDGs on the ground.
4
GTF members have devoted great efforts to step up their contributions to addressing the COVID-19 crisis. Many initiatives may be found on their web pages and resources. ICLEI: https://iclei.org/en/COVID19_Resources.html. C40: https://www.c40.org/other/covid-task-force. CLGF: https://www.clgf.org.uk/whats-new/local-government-action-on-covid-19/. CEMR-CCRE: https://ccre.org/activites/view/42. Regions4: https://www.regions4.org/covid-19-resources/. Mercociudades: https://mercociudades.org/covid-19/. See also Metropolis’ Cities for Global Health initiative, and the series of Live Learning Experiences developed by UCLG in partnership with UN-Habitat. Furthemore, GTF members are also engaging in monitoring efforts to inform evidence-based reforms needed to address this crisis and the ones to come. See the Emergency Governance Initiative for Cities and Regions, which was launched on June 5, 2020, by UCLG, Metropolis and LSE Cities: “Launch of the ‘Emergency Governance Initiative for Cities and Regions’ – Monitoring the Impact of COVID 19 and Its Aftermath,” News, 2020, https://www.metropolis.org/news/launch-emergency-governance-initiative-cities-and-regions-monitoring-impact-covid-19-and-its.
Policy and enabling environment for SDG localization 1
These LRGs are from Argentina (4), Ecuador (1), Finland (1), Kenya (2), Kyrgyzstan (3), Morocco (1), Peru (2), Russia (3), Ukraine (1). They include some capital cities (Bishkek, Buenos Aires, Lima, Rabat); a few regional governments (Aland, in Finland; Azuay, in Ecuador; Makueni and Machakos in Kenya), intermediary cities (Arkhangelsk, in Russia; Lugansk, in Ukraine; Mendoza and Villa Maria, in Argentina); and towns (Bamabo Ya Mboini Iconi, in the Comoros; Kyzyl Kiya, in Kyrgyzstan).
2
The information contained in this Subsection has been extracted from an analysis of the VNRs presented to the 2020 HLPF.
3
In 2020, the reporting countries that have developed long-term NDPs aligned with the SDGs are: Bulgaria (National Development Programme for Development: Bulgaria 2030, to be adopted); Burundi (National Development Plan for Burundi 2018-2027); India (National development Agenda 2030); the Kyrgyz Republic (National Development Strategy 2018-2040); Moldova (National Development Strategy 2020-2030); Slovenia (National Development Strategy 2017-2030); and Solomon Islands (National Development Strategy 2016-2035).
4
In 2020, the reporting countries that have developed mid-term NDPs aligned with the SDGs are: Benin (National Development Plan 20182025); Costa Rica (National Development and Investment Plan 2019-2022); Ecuador (National Development Plan 2017-2021); the Gambia (National Development Plan 2018-2021); Malawi (Malawi Growth and Development Strategy 2017-2022); Peru (Strategic Plans for National Development 2016-2021 and 2022-2030); Seychelles (National Development Strategy 2019-2023); Uganda (National Development Plan 2019-2021); and Zambia (Seventh National Development Plan 2017-2021).
5
As of June 2020, 20 provinces had signed the provincial agreements that kickstart localization processes at the provincial level.
6
See the Estrategia Territorial para la Implementación y Seguimiento de la Agenda Nacional 2030, mentioned in República de Honduras, “II Informe Nacional Voluntario de La Agenda 2030: De La Recuperación Al Desarrollo Sostenible” (Tegucigalpa: Comisión Nacional de la Agenda 2030 para los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, 2020).
7
From the 47 countries reporting this year, information on LRG participation in national coordination mechanisms is not available for four countries: Libya, Solomon Islands, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. There are no elected LRGs in eight of the reporting countries: Barbados, Brunei, Liberia, Micronesia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles and the Syrian Arab Republic. It is worth noting, however, that in Liberia there has been a consultation with deconcentrated subnational authorities. Likewise, in Samoa, a consultation has been held with traditional authorities.
8
The other countries in the region reporting this year were: Solomon Islands and Micronesia (for which information had not been published by 28 June 2020) and Brunei and Samoa (where there are no elected LRGs). It should be noted that there was consultation with the traditional authorities in Samoa.
