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Statement of the Local and Regional Government Constituency Local and regional governments around the world consider the 2030 Agenda a once in a generation opportunity to trigger a true universal transformation. We are committed to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs through our day-to-day work as the level of government that is closest to citizens. The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals will not be possible without their full ownership at local level and by civil society. With this conviction, city, local and regional government networks are developing global, regional and national systems of ‘localization’ to contribute to awareness raising, alignment of work plans, learning exchange and local monitoring and reporting. The networks gathered in the Global Taskforce are convinced that only the full involvement of subnational governments at country level, and the recognition of the efforts of the constituency globally, can guarantee the achievement of the ambitious global goals. The political representatives of the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments have further expressed the need to ensure implementation of the New Urban Agenda in order to achieve the SDGs. Following the model of the Voluntary National Reviews presented by Member States our local, regional and global networks have undertaken a global initiative assessing the level of involvement of our constituency in the monitoring process. There are around 400,000 local and subnational governments in the countries that have presented Voluntary National Reviews in the 2016 and 2017 HLPF, representing over 5.2 billion people. If adequate resources, competencies and ownership are ensured, their ability to reach local communities, play a catalytic role in local development and provide many of the basic services and rights related to the 17 Goals will be enormous. At the moment, only 38 of the 63 national reviews analysed in this document mention subnational government participation in monitoring mechanisms. Stronger partnerships will be necessary at all levels to trigger the kind of buy-in needed to make the 2030 Agenda a success. Clearer recognition of sub-national governments’ role in policy making and change will be decisive. Sub-national governments need to be better integrated in the institutional mechanisms – high level councils, consultative committees, etc. – that are responsible for the coordination and follow-up of the SDGs. A clear example of the effect of this deficit of local government participation can be seen in the case of SDG 5. Just 12 VNRs included data on the proportion of women elected to local government, despite this being a proposed indicator with which to measure women’s ‘full and effective participation and equal opportunities’ as per SDG target 5.5.
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