#localizationofsdg

The sought-after successor to the Millennium Development Goals — the SDGs or Sustainable Development Goals are an amalgamation of 17 inter-connected global goals and 169 targets designed to act as a blueprint for a sustainable and equitable future. Intercepted in 2015 by the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the 17 SDGs are a part of the broader 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The erstwhile eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2000 were criticized for being tone-deaf, undemocratic and narrow. Extracting valuable insights from the criticism, the SDGs were set up to be holistic, transparent and democratic. Ban-Ki-Moon, the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, termed the SDGs the “most transparent and inclusive process in UN history”. Ground-breaking efforts were made to incorporate the inputs of 5 million people from 88 countries while creating the visionary list of SDGs.

The unifying thread among all the 17 goals and 169 targets of SDGs is to eradicate poverty. Another unique aspect of the SDGs is that they are integrated, that is, acknowledging that actions in one area will have consequences for other areas. Hence, the recognition that development must balance social, economic, and environmental sustainability is the key. With the pledge ‘Leave No one Behind’, the SDGs aim to bring several revolutionary ‘zeroes’ globally, from zero poverty to zero hunger and zero discrimination against women.

A fundamental strategy for the fruitful implementation of the Global Goals has been SDG localization. While the enactment of the 2030 Agenda rests mainly on the national shoulders, the successes of SDGs depend on the progress made at the local level. The phenomenal potential of local actors to actualize the SDGs was recognized at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in 2018.