Towards the Localization of the SDGs....

LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS’ REPORT TO THE 2019 HIGH LEVEL POLITICAL FORUM 3rd REPORT. The third report, ‘Towards the localization of the SDGs’, represents the unique view of Local and Regional Governments (LRGs) worldwide and highlights their role in, and contribution to, achieving the main global development agendas. It underlines the involvement of LRGs in national and regional processes and summarizes the key local and regional trends observed in the implementation of the SDGs, and particularly those that have been assessed during the last year of the 1st four-year cycle framework, which has focused on ‘Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality’. One characteristic of the countries reporting this year is the heterogeneity of the LRGs in their different regions. LRGs and/or councils in European and Latin American countries are normally elected and enjoy a certain degree of autonomy. Elsewhere, however, LRGs may evolve in less enabling institutional environments and therefore be less able to promote the localization of the SDGs. The LRGs in these countries must cope with incomplete decentralization processes and overcome limited capacities and resources, which may undermine their roles in the localization process.