Background

Local governments are key actors for the achievement of the SDGs, and not only because they deliver basic services, but also for their capacity to mobilise local energies and actors. Including and enabling local actors to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs is therefore key for their achievement. Local actors need to learn from frontrunners that are implement innovative methods and tools to foster their actions for a more sustainable urban and peri-urban development, linking actions in different fields.

Despite the increasing targeted action taken at the local level, how cities and regions should contribute to the SDGs and how their contribution can be measured and assessed, is still uncertain. The European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Reviews fills this gap, building upon the knowledge developed in the framework of the Knowledge Centre for Territorial Policies and its Community of Practice – CITIES.

Objectives of the course

The training aims at building partnerships and improving capacities of representatives of different level of governments to implement transformative actions towards the achievement of the SDGs.  In particular, the training presents tools that support the follow up and review of SDG implementation at local level.

The training session focuses on one of the main tools developed by the JRC with a number of partners for the SDG localisation: the recently published "European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Reviews", which describes the main steps for setting up  a local SDG monitoring systems (indicators and review.

The European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Reviews was launched in February 2020 at the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi. It has been downloaded more that 3.000 times since then. The Handbook is the main output of the URBAN2030 project, developed by the Joint Research Centre, with the support of DG REGIO, between 2018 and 2020.

The Handbook offers to policy makers, researchers and practitioners an inspirational framework to set up Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs). VLRs are a fundamental instrument to monitor progresses and sustain the transformative and inclusive action of local actors towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). VLRs are reviews of the implementation and achievement of the 2030 Agenda at local scale, based on the blueprint of the Voluntary National Reviews that Member States submit periodically to the High Level Political For a (HLPF).

The Handbook provides key examples of official and experimental indicators useful to set up an effective SDG local monitoring system specifically targeted for European cities. Per each Goal, the Handbook highlights examples of harmonised and locally collected indicators so that cities can both benchmark themselves with other cities and monitor their own specific needs and challenges.

The Handbook offers a method that encourages the comparability of cities’ performance, but, compared to methodological exercises conducted in the last year by other international institutions on the local monitoring of the SDGs, it also takes into account the limitations in the exclusive use of harmonized official indicators. For the VLRs to be a powerful tool for the localisation of the SDGS, they should be tailored to the local situations, capacities and resources.

Training Methodology

The proposed training session includes both presentations and the presentation of case studies. JRC’s speakers will illustrates the building blocks of the proposed method and tools for the SDG Voluntary Local Reviews. Invited speakers from a number of different institutions and different countries will contribute through the presentation of case studies that complement the propose methods and tools with insight on the challenges and opportunities in the implementation, and lessons learned.