Page 53 - SDG Report

FACTORS SUPPORTING 6 LOCALIZATION -
LESSONS LEARNT
The New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals both acknowledge the importance of cities in achieving sustainable development. However, because these agendas were agreed upon and ratified by national governments, putting them in place at the local level necessitates a process of adaptation or localization. The following chapter provides insight into some of the lessons learned during the eThekwini Municipality’s journey into SDG localization. The city also acknowledges whilst there have been attempts to embed the SDGs as indicated in the case studies, we continue to grow our knowledge base on sustainability and as such the city continues to engage with various local government institutions on innovative measures for localization. The factors below are indicative of some of the lessons the city would endeavour to share.
1. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SDG
Clear and accountable leadership that supports the integration and adaptation of global goals to the local context will be required for successful localization of the SDGs. The procedures and institutions, both formal and informal, that will guide and shape the collective activities of stakeholders towards accomplishing the objectives and targets are required to ensure the goals and objects of the SDGs are met. A clear institutional framework has been established at the outset of SDG localization to ensure that all relevant departments are actively involved from the start.
Localization begins with promoting awareness and knowledge of the SDGs among all stakeholders. The SDGs will not be achieved without widespread support and engagement, as well as a long- term shift in the local objectives toward sustainable development. To assist in embedding and localizing the SDGs at an institutional level the city looked at identifying and formalizing SDG Champions to create awareness, implement and report on the global goals. Initially, the Chief Strategy Officer together with the Chief Learning Officer were the champions for SDGs in the municipality, however in 2019 a more formalized approach to SDGs was adopted by the Council of eThekwini Municipality. Three SDG champions were identified namely,
• Chief Learning Officer who would be responsible for awareness building, advocacy and knowledge management.
• The Deputy City Manager for Human Settlements and
Engineering who would be responsible largely for the
implementation of SDG 11.
• The IDP Manager being the alignment and reporting
champion.
More recently the city has established an SDG institutionalization committee and the aims and objectives of which have been covered earlier on. The wider objective of the committee is to ensure that whilst the city has SDG Champions that there is a much wider multi-stakeholder and inclusive SDG implementation approach within the city which would:
• Encourage departmental participation in program implementation and lend support for the sustainable development agenda.
• Promote the convergence of efforts by multiple departmental representatives, and complement financial and technical capability through partnerships, resulting in duplication and barriers during implementation.
• Ensure that sector departments are included in SDG processes and given a voice.
Central to the SDG institutionalization and localization process is having high-level support from the political and administrative leadership.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS GOOD PRACTICE 51