The High Level Political Forum 2018 (HLPF), convened under the auspices of  ECOSOC, will be taking place from 9 to 18 July in New York. With theoverall theme of "Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies", it will place a specific emphasis on several SDGs including Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

 

Several regional preparatory meetings will take place prior to the HLPF during the beginning of the year and will continue to do so during April, May and June.

 

The Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, facilitated by UCLG will co-organize, in collaboration with UNDESA, the Local and Regional Authorities Forum on 16 July, which will explore the role of Local and Regional Governmnets in the implementation and follow-up of the 2030 agenda. The event will provide an unprecedented opportunity to call for the inclusion of the perspective of our constituency in the global assessment process discussed at the 2018 HLPF, and our goal is to make it a permanent feature in the Forum. 

 

 

As part of its follow-up and review mechanisms, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development encourages member states to “conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and sub-national levels".  These voluntary national reviews (VNRs) aim to facilitate the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The VNRs also seek to strengthen policies and institutions of governments and to mobilize multi-stakeholder support and partnerships for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

The Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments will present at the 2018 HLPF the report on the localization of the SDGs from the Local and Regional Governments' perspective, analyzing the impact of localization on institutional relationships between different levels of governance and the role of LRGs in the definition of each country's VNR.