Voluntary Local Reviews Go Ghana
In adopting the 2030 Agenda, the member states of the United Nations committed to working closely with local and regional governments to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since 2015, metropolitan areas, cities, small towns, regions and their associations have been actively localizing the 2030 Agenda to bring the SDGs closer to the people and use the framework as a tool for planning and implementation. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development also encourages Member States to conduct regular and comprehensive reviews of progress at national and subnational levels, which are country-led and country-driven. Paragraph 89 of the 2030 Agenda calls on key groups and other stakeholders, including local authorities, to report on their contribution to the implementation of the Agenda.
In this context, local and regional governments are increasingly participating in such reviews of SDG implementation, also known as Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs). While VLRs have no official status, the process of conducting these subnational reviews of SDG implementation brings numerous benefits to local governments as a whole. They help municipalities to prioritize fields of action and financing for sustainable development, they translate the global sustainability goals into concrete measures on the ground and form the starting point for sustainability communication - towards citizens, the administration, higher political levels and, last but not least, other cities in order to promote international dialogue. These and other reasons have led to a growing awareness of VLRs among municipalities worldwide, with more and more cities, districts and municipalities submitting their reports to the United Nations and presenting them during the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York.
Ghana's national government and municipalities have long been driving sustainable development in the country in line with the 2030 Agenda and the African Agenda 2063. The commitment to achieving the sustainability goals is already visible on the local level in many areas, e.g. in extensive social and health programs, economic development or large-scale infrastructure projects. In addition, the efficient administrative organization, which is embedded in a very advanced strategy and reporting system, must also be mentioned. Based on the Medium-Term Development Policy Framework, strategy processes are regularly initiated and annual and even quarterly progress reports are submitted on defined goals - both at national level and in the 261 MMDAs (Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies). The requirements of sustainable development in accordance with the SDGs and the goals of the African Agenda 2063 are currently being successively integrated into these structures.
Against this background, "Municipalities for Global Sustainability" - a programme of Engagement Global's Service Agency Communities in One World on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development - is going to Ghana to make its many years of consulting experience in the localization and strategic anchoring of the SDGs in German municipalities available to Ghanaian municipalities and to strengthen them in creating long-term improved living conditions for present and future generations in Ghana. The Difu has been commissioned to carry out a process consultancy based on the GNK and to develop support formats and instruments that will enable a total of nine selected Ghanaian municipalities to draw up a voluntary local accountability report on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. German municipalities are involved in this learning process and brought into an exchange with colleagues from the municipalities in Ghana.
The project pursues the following objectives:
- Taking stock of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda with its 17 SDGs in 9 municipalities in Ghana and recording the results in the form of VLRs
- Empowering the municipalities to self-reflect and translate the SDGs into concrete solutions and everyday action to deepen local performance
- Establishment of local SDG review mechanisms in line with the existing reporting system in Ghanaian municipalities
- Strengthening the structures and competencies of municipalities to develop VLRs
- Synthesizing the results of the VLRs for inclusion in the Voluntary National Review (VNR) to be presented at the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York 2025
The project is being implemented together with a number of partner organizations, in particular the Office of the Head of Local Government Service (OHLGS), the central government institution for promoting decentralization processes and ensuring effective local government in Ghana.
