Localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda

Localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda open_in_new

The World Bank’s Senior Vice Presidency for the 2030 Development Agenda, the Academy of International Business (AIB), and the Journal of International Business Policy (JIBP) invite to the special conference:

Localization of the SDGs: Accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda

Date: December 7th, 2018 

Universidad EAFIT, Medellin, Colombia

There are 17 SDGs and 169 targets included in the 2030 sustainable development agenda. These were defined to have a universal coverage, with an emphasis in “ensuring no one is left behind”. This means not only that inclusion, empowerment, and non-discrimination are at the core of the agenda, but also underlining the national and sub-national contexts are different, and therefore localizing the SDGs is critical in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and a sustainable and inclusive territorial development. 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Implementation of the 2030 agenda at the sub-national and local levels
    • Determining means of implementation at the local level
    • Prioritization of goals and targets 
    • Defining implementation timelines
  • SDGs as a framework for local and national development policy
    • Political and legal framework for the SDGs
    • Multi-level governance
    • Aligning national, regional and local plans with the SDGs
  • Advocacy, awareness-raising, dissemination and mainstreaming the 2030 sustainable development agenda
    • From consultation and dialogue to action
    • Democratic accountability 
    • Successful campaigns to communicate the SDGs
    • Identifying local and regional champions
    • Bottom-up approaches
    • Top-down approaches
    • Evaluating and monitoring the implementation of SDGs at the sub-national level
    • Right indicators and proxies
    • Data collection 
    • Big data analytics and the SDGs
  • Developing financial and institutional capacity for localizing the SDGs
    • Budget and financial strategies
    • Fiscal reforms and financial transfers
  • Partnership for the goals        
    • Measuring effectiveness of partnership between the private and public sector to localize SDGs
    • Working together with local communities to translate the SDGs at the local level
    • Contribution of MNEs and local business to end poverty in all its forms everywhere 
    • The role of academia in the SDGs
    • SDGs working groups
  • Learning experiences
    • What works? 
    • Leadership by local authorities: Mayors and city councils as champions of the location of the SDGs
    • Multinational corporations that have adopted the SDGs as part of their corporate strategy
    • Transformative agendas led by the private sector
    • Peer-to-peer learning
  • What is next?

Potential publication:Papers submitted to the conference can be considered for inclusion in a Special Issue of the Journal of International Business Policy on the SDGs with a provisional deadline in September 2019.

Important Dates:

  • Expressions of Interest: June 18th, 2018
  • Full Paper Submission Deadline: August 18th, 2018
  • Communication of Decisions: August 30, 2018

Host: Universidad EAFIT, Medellin, Colombia

Organizers: 

Contact Details:

Prof. Dr. Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez

Vice-President of Administration of the Academy of International Business (AIB) (2015-2018). 

Full Professor of Management, Universidad EAFIT, Colombia

Email: mgonza40@eafit.edu.co