Localizing the sustainable development goals

Good and appropriate sustainability governance is a basic prerequisite for securing a municipality's commitments to current and future generations. This model shows how Agenda 2030 can be integrated into the municipality's existing control and management system.

The purpose is to break down the global and regional governance and create local activities at the municipality level – to localize the SDGs. Thus, the model relates both to Agenda 2030 and the regional governance through the regional development strategy, the Värmland Strategy. The model has been developed as a test in the municipality of Grums, a small city in the county of Värmland, Sweden. The work has been a collaboration between Grums municipality and Region Värmland.

Results

The work has resulted in a map over the relevant SDGs for Grums municipality to work with, and their connection to the regional development strategy, the Värmland strategy. The work has also visualised the local keywords and indicators which are driving towards sustainable transformation. During the project, the vision for the municipality for 2030 has been developed and the ambition has been to develop quantitative measures for the visions. Using an assessment scale shows how far in the process the different goals have come and identifies the next steps to be taken. The assessment scale has made it easier for officials and politicians to identify the gaps between the current situation and the vision, and clarified what resources need to be allocated to reduce the gaps. Both politicians and officials at all levels have participated actively in the work.