The project aims to advance the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals in select Eastern European and Central Asian countries in transition by harnessing the potential of Voluntary Local Reviews as powerful long-term accelerators.
- Strengthen capacities of Local and Regional Governments to develop Voluntary Local Reviews by connecting them to learning and capacity building activities, resources and global and regional advocacy.
- Ameliorate multilevel coordination arrangements among cities, national governments, and strengthen linkages between regional and international processes on SDG implementation.
How will this be achieved? The project outcomes will be achieved by focusing on 4 main components of work: technical cooperation, learning and capacity building, multilevel governance and regional and global advocacy.
The National Urban Forum of Serbia!
11-12th April, 2024- Held in Niš, the forum saw the presentation of the initial findings of the VLR of Niš and shared the theme of World Urban Forum, SDG localization.
Bishkek VLR Working Group and Task Force Meetings
November 13, 2023- the meetings aimed at presenting the project to the Bishkek working group as well as the VLR methodology in order to advance the development of the VLR, including the selection of the SDGs and their indicators. SDGs 6,7,11,13 have been selected!
Dushanbe VLR Task Force Meeting
November 8-9, 2023- It was Dushanbe's turn for a task force meeting! It aimed to to gather inputs on available data and map the responsibilities of the city administration to be able to visualize the specific SDGs they are responsible for.
Tbilisi VLR Task Force Meeting
October 30-31, 2023- The meeting served to share the VLR methodology, advance coordination of the project’s activities in Tbilisi, discuss the project’s roadmap of activities with the Task Force Members and discuss and agree upon the selection of SDGs and their indicators.
Meeting between the monitoring unit of Niš and UN-Habitat
The project team travelled to Serbia and met with the monitoring unit in Niš to discuss and lay the plans for the VLR development, including the engagement of stakeholders and key upcoming events like the National Urban Forum of Serbia.
SDG Monitoring Units at the Local Level Workshop
September 26, 2023- The city of Niš recently achieved a significant milestone by establishing a dedicated monitoring unit within the City administration. Inspired by this experience, this technical workshop aimed to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with local-level SDG monitoring units/departments, featuring valuable insights from international partners who have successfully established local-level monitoring units (Greater Amman Municipality, Jordan and La Paz, Bolivia).
Partners meeting
March 31, 2023 — a partner’s meeting was held in Geneva after the ECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development. The partners discussed the next steps for coordination with the pilot cities and countries including further coordination with the partners and stakeholders and detailed consultations on the ground to implement each of the project’s workstreams. The next step identified was the nomination of focal points in the local and national governing bodies.
A VNR-VLR studio is held at the ECE RFSD
March 30, 2023 - The implementing partners, pilot cities and countries of the project gathered at the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development in the ECE region to engage in a VLR-VNR studio.
Evidence for greener, resilient and sustainable urban recovery Workshop
December 6, 2022- The technical workshop kickstarted the implementation of the project.