Story by Tichaona Kurewa
A regional Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Localisation and Voluntary Reviews Capacity Building Workshop is underway in Victoria Falls with parties being implored to localise and integrate the development goals into local communities.
The three-day review workshop being attended by delegates from Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique comes at a time when the world is halfway through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
While progress has been made in some areas, many challenges remain, and localising the SDGs is seen as essential to accelerating progress and ensuring that no one is left behind.
“This process of SDG localisation, adapting, customising and translating them into local development plans and strategies that fit the needs, context and priorities of a particular region or locality, in coherence with national frameworks is essential. With an estimated 65% of SDG targets linked to the work of local and regional governments, effective localisation is not just important, it is a prerequisite for achieving SDGs,” UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon said.
The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Honourable Edgar Moyo said, “The SDGs are global objectives, but their true impact can only be realised when localised and integrated within our communities. Local governments play a vital role in translating global frameworks into actionable, context-specific policies and projects that improve the lives of citizens. The Voluntary Local Review (VLR) process serves as an essential tool in this endeavour, enabling local authorities to assess their progress, align efforts with national priorities, and contribute meaningfully to the global agenda.”
Zimbabwe has worked to capacitate all 92 local authorities on the VLR process in line with the government directive of 2020 and local authorities are aware of their role in this matrix.
Mutasa RDC’s chief executive officer (CEO) Mr George Bandura said, “Local authorities are the areas where these people stay and we know them by their villages and from the words that they come from, so it is easy because through the local leadership that’s the traditional leadership and the councillors were able to have that reach to the grassroots. So, it becomes very important that we become a vehicle through which we are able to cascade whatever is coming from the top to the grassroots that is very important and also getting to hear what the grassroots is saying and speaking to those in the authority.”
“We should ensure that the Rural District Development Committees (RDDCs) are functional. That should be the starting point of the RDDCs, those which are chaired by the District Development Coordinator. In this RDDC there are thematic working groups like social protection, infrastructure etc, where the SDGs are discussed and ways to implement them at local level are agreed upon in those thematic working groups so local authorities need to have a deliberate policy towards budgeting to fund such committees,” Murewa RDC’s CEO, Dr Alois Gurajena added.
One of the key goals of this workshop is to enhance the capacity of local and national governments, as well as key stakeholders in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe in preparing a comprehensive and action-oriented Voluntary Local Review (VLR).
SDGs seek to resolve poverty, gender inequality, climate resilience, quality education and much more.
