Regions move forward in drafting Voluntary Local Reviews

With the support of UN-Habitat, ORU Fogar has encouraged several regional governments to make progress in drafting their Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs), a key tool for evaluating and bringing to light the progress made in implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the subnational level. 

In Europe, a good number of regions have presented their reviews, which at the discretion of ORU Fogar should be called “regional” and not “local” as the United Nations dynamic ultimately dictates. Among them, one notable example is the exercise carried out by the Basque Country, where each year an exhaustive report is presented on progress towards each of the SDGs.

On the other side of the Atlantic, some regions have managed to consolidate their Voluntary Local Reviews. Manabí and Pichincha, in Ecuador, have already submitted their respective VLRs, while in Argentina, the province of Córdoba has also completed its review, becoming a model in the region.

Following the example of the Ecuadorian provinces, the Provincial Government of Azuay, is one of the territories that has now initiated this process. The initiative was recently shared with Prefect Juan Cristóbal Lloret, who expressed his support and arranged for the formation of a multidisciplinary team from the province to lead the first phase of the project. As part of this effort, an initial meeting has already been held with the directors of each area, during which the technical team that will work on drafting the report was designated. Initial meetings have also been held with technical specialists from UN-Habitat, who are providing documents and tools for drafting the report.

The Province of Tucumán in Argentina, for its part, seems ready to follow in the footsteps of Córdoba. Tucumán had already shown a strong commitment to the 2030 Agenda, being one of the pioneering regions in adapting its public policies to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since 2017, it has worked on aligning its programmes and strategic plans with the SDGs, developing tools such as the Strategic Matrix of Public Initiatives and Research Projects, and actively participating in national coordination spaces, such as the Federal SDG Network. In this context, with the preparation of its first Voluntary Local Review (VLR), and with the technical support of ORU Fogar and UN-Habitat, the Argentine province is consolidating its efforts to institutionalize mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation, and accountability that strengthen sustainable development at the territorial level.

For ORU Fogar, the next step is for some African regions to also undertake the preparation of these reviews. Inhambane, in Mozambique, has already held the first meetings with this objective in mind. It could be the first to set the pace on the continent.