How regions are organising themselves to deliver the SDGs on the ground
Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, local and regional governments have been recognised as key actors in taking the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to local realities. The region of Catalonia and UNDP-Art have joined forces to advance an analytical framework on the specific role of regional governments to implement the SDGs. They have thus commissioned a research study on “Subnational governments and the 2030 Agenda: Strengthening policy effectiveness and legitimacy with the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals”, which is being carried out by the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI).
Subnational governments are full contributors to the 2030 Agenda: they participate in the definition of international development goals, implement them in their territory and participate in monitoring their progress. The analytical framework presented in this study combines a set of element to guide the exploration of a domestic implementation of the 2030 Agenda that counts with the involvement of subnational governments, territorial stakeholders and communities in the creation of policies aimed at a localised implementation of the SDGs. The report also considers how the localisation of the SDGs can contribute to improve the effectiveness and legitimacy of the institutional coordination, stakeholder participation and monitoring in the scope of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The study analyses the way regions are organising themselves to deliver the SDGs and their competitive advantages on some aspects of policy planning, stakeholder coordination and involvement and multi-level dialogue.
Preliminary results of the research were showcased at the UCLG Congress in Durban (November 2019). A second workshop named “Regions and the Sustainable Development Goals Workshop” will take place on 27th March 2020 in Brussels. The first part of the workshop will present the study’s methodology and analytical framework. Based on the conceptual framework of the study, we have organized two roundtables that should allow having an in-depth discussion between all invited participants to further differentiate the role of regional governments in the localization of the SDGs. The specific focus on regions should help to identify key areas of actions and contribution for regional governments in the 2030 Agenda context, and possibly provide the opportunity to propose commitments and actions that regional governments could take for the next decade of action.
Check the draft study
