Dialogue 3: Stronger together

Cities need partnerships, and the world needs cities if global challenges are to be solved. In this dialogue, attendees will hear pathbreaking policymakers and practitioners from around the world discuss how to forge collaboration across scales and sectors to face global challenges and create inclusive innovation.

This session will explore the critical intersection of local action and global agendas in urban governance, focusing on partnerships, multilevel governance and the principle of leaving no one and no place behind as the foundations for localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Cities are central to achieving the SDGs, but without effective coordination between local and regional governments, over 100 SDGs will not be reached.

Against the backdrop of widening inequalities, increasing climate change impacts and conflicts disproportionately affecting marginalised communities, this dialogue will examine innovative models of collaboration that can enhance synergy across sectors and levels of governance. The dialogue will explore how to build partnerships that use local ideas to tackle global problems and how to implement global agendas at the local level across the world.

Through a keynote speech, two panel discussions and interactive moments, participants will engage in a dialogue that draws from their experience of successes and frustrations. It will be memorable to hear experienced decisionmakers from diverse policy areas, hailing from cities across the world, speak on these issues with firsthand knowledge. The dialogue will unpack the process of building collaboration between public institutions and local communities, among governance spheres, building bridges between private initiative and government and activating alliances across sectors.

Focusing on successful cases that have had a large impact, the dialogue will not shy away from speaking of the difficulties and challenges of fostering collective action while exploring the ways in which we are stronger together. 

Guiding questions

• How can we develop innovative models of collaboration to enhance synergy between local governments, businesses and civil society for the realisation of sustainable and inclusive urban futures?
• How can we create opportunities for local, traditional and indigenous forms of knowledge to be considered in global policy frameworks?
• What is needed to ensure the active, meaningful and inclusive engagement of youth in driving local action and influencing policy?
• What are some examples of grassroots innovations that were then scaled-up and integrated into broader policy frameworks and what factors helped scale-up these solutions?
• What are the costs of lack of collaboration between local and national and international actors, what are some examples of lack of collaboration or of breakdown of multilevel governance and what lessons can be drawn from these failures?
• How can we ensure that the diverse priorities of different community groups are effectively communicated and understood across various levels of government and how can the actions implemented in communities be sustained and supported by these same groups?

Key objectives

The session will provide tangible impact through dialogue that will enhance understanding, coherence and collaboration that fosters multi-level governance for SDG localization and a shared collaborative commitment to advancing sustainable development, propelling progress towards the UN 2030 Agenda.

Key messages

• We are leaving more than half the world behind. Halfway to the deadline for the 2030 Agenda, progress on more than 50 per cent of targets of the SDGs is weak and insufficient; on 30 per cent, it has stalled or gone into reverse. ^[1] (#ItAllStartsNow) 
• Achieving sustainable development goals requires efforts across all levels. Local community-driven initiatives must be supported by national and international frameworks to create resilient and adaptable urban environments. (#ItAllStartsLocally) 
• Global challenges require local ideas, implementation through multilevel governance and sustainable partnerships to leave no one and no place behind. (#ItAllStartsTogether) 
• Localization often requires dismantling institutional barriers and challenging top-down approaches to create genuine partnerships across sectors and levels of government and to support community-led initiatives. (#ItAllStartsNow) 

[1] https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2023/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2023.pdf