The Sustainable Development Goals are an important tool for Flemish local authorities and their partner towns in the global South to achieve sustainable development in their territories. The Association of Flemish Cities and Towns (VVSG) announced that the Flemish local authorities are already very active in the area of each SDG, but this international agenda can be an incentive to take more steps towards a coherent, local sustainable development policy.

As part of the VVSG’s efforts to further anchor the SDGs in their plans and strategies, a special issue of Lokaal: a monthly magazine of the Flemish local authorities was dedicated localizing the global agenda. The Glocal: localizing the SDGs issue provided an overview of the SDGs, practical examples of implementation strategies, as well as an interview with the Minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo.  “To implement the 17 goals on a local level, it is therefore essential to start from what is already there and documented,” explains the VVSG in the publication. “Although the SDGs are still new, many local authorities feel that their actions are already sustainable,” the Belgian association stated. The Glocal issue is available in Dutch , English ,French or Spanish .

Furthermore, VVSG developed a Game Methodology, together with 11.11.11. This interactive guide facilitates dialogue and vision development for local authorities, advisory councils and other groups who want to learn about SDGs and analyze how their own municipality contributes in achieving the SDGs.  The guide is available in Dutch and you can download the manual and the board on the VVSG website.

VVSG has also just launched a video to explain to citizens how to support the SDGs in their towns. The video compliments the previously published guide A local translation of the Sustainable Development Goals.  The publication translates the Agenda’s targets and indicator to the local level from a policy perspective; How to get these global goals form within the council? What initiatives can take various municipal services in order to contribute to the goal on gender, water or climate? Read the publication in  Dutch or in  English .