The Localisation of the SDGs in Europe: the JRC launches three methodological reports
On June 16th, 2021, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) organized the virtual meeting: “The localisation of the SDGs in Europe: local and regional indicators and multilevel governance” which gathered over 100 participants across Europe, as well as from Asia and Latin America.
The event presented three specific analysis conducted in the frame of the URBAN 2030 project, on the experiences of European local and regional governments that use monitoring as a tool to localise the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda, thus providing evidence and insights on different elements and scales of these first-generation voluntary reviews.
Alessandro Rainoldi, Head of Unit at JRC opened the session; the three reports were presented by their authors: Andrea Ciambra, Ainhoa Gea Aranoa, and Andoni Hidalgo Simón.
- The first report: “European SDG Voluntary Local Reviews: A comparative analysis of local indicators and data” explores the use of local indicators in European Voluntary Local Reviews between 2016 and early 2021.
- The second report: “Regional indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals. An analysis based on the cases of the Basque Country, Navarre and Flanders” proposes a set of regional indicators for the monitoring of the SDGs in Europe, based on the analysis of three subnational case studies.
- The third report: “SDG localisation and multi-level governance: lessons from the Basque Country” focusses on the SDG localisation and multi-level governance, starting from lessons from the Basque Country to elaborate recommendations and insights, which could contribute to the creation of SDGs ecosystems in other countries.
The open discussion, moderated by Alice Siragusa (JRC), benefited from the contributions of three international experts (Geir Graff, Inmaculada Herrador and Agnieszka Widuto) who provided constructive feedbacks on the local value of the VLRs, the robustness of the methodology of the European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Reviews, and reflections on the choice and relevance of indicators, as well as suggestions for further research paths.
Markku Markkula, Vice-President EU Committee of the Regions, concluded the event. He emphasized the importance of SDGs implementations and the need to reach out to even more regions in a strategic and efficient way. He also advised to take advantage of the JRC tools and resources available, including the recent SDGs reports and guidebook materials, in order to strengthen current and future initiatives.
The presentations and the recording of the event are available here.