Week of the Sustainable Municipality: Local heroes for global goals
Description
From 18th until 25th of September 2018, the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities organised its first ‘Week of the Sustainable Municipality’. 80 participating municipalities hung the SDG-flag at their city Halls and put their ‘sustainable heroes’ in the spotlights. The heroes were local citizens, schools, companies and organisations who contribute to the SDGs in their own daily way. The timing of the campaign was not random: September 25th was the third anniversary of the 2030 Agenda, and at the same time the perfect moment to promote the SDGs just before the Flemish local elections were held on October 14th.
The main objective of the campaign is to strengthen the contribution of Flemish municipalities to the local translation of the SDGs. On a first level (sensibilisation) the campaign aims to make the SDGs more visible and concrete in the participating municipalities, through the sustainable heroes and their network, and by hanging visual SDG materials throughout the municipal community. On a second level (policy implementation) the format means to raise the knowledge, awareness and – most of all – willingness to act of local politicians and civil servants. A structural implementation of the SDGs in the local policy is simply not possible without the administration and the policymakers knowing the SDGs and being convinced of their importance, nor without the citizens and stakeholders willing to contribute to sustainable development in the spirit of the 2030 Agenda. <br />
<br />
After the local elections of October 2018, all Flemish municipalities will be writing their new multiannual policy plans (for the policy cycle 2020-2025). This is a key moment for Flemish local governments to structurally integrate the SDGs into the municipal policy and to truly concretize the transformation aspired in the 2030 Agenda. VVSG considers the campaign week an instrument to realize the implementation of the SDGs in the municipal policy plans. Through the campaign, we augment the awareness about the SDGs amongst local policymakers and the dynamics to integrate the SDGs in the next multiannual plans, which triggers a process of systemic transition. The Week of the Sustainable Municipality is not merely about sensibilisation but also includes formation, training and schooling for local politicians and civil servants. <br />
Challenges and difficulties:<br />
- VVSG does not directly work towards citizens, but to VVSG-members: the Flemish local governments. With this campaign week however VVSG did succeed to present a format to the local governments which enabled them to reach their citizens. This is an aspect many governments are struggling with. <br />
- The concept of the campaign demanded an intensive engagement. Participating local governments were expected to find and convince local heroes, and to communicate extensively about the activities of their heroes through all possible local communication channels: municipal newsletter, website, events, social media, etcetera. Because of this intensive format participants needed an extended campaign manual and in-depth support from VVSG, both before and during the campaign week.<br />
- Nominating local heroes during election time contains a risk of political interference. The campaign manual stated that a sustainable hero could not be running on any election list. Moreover, participating municipalities were encouraged to involve different departments in the nomination process. This way, the format of the campaign triggered an intern dynamic within the local policy to reflect on the SDGs and to work transversally on the theme.
Implementers: VVSG team international
Donors: Flemish and Federal Government
Partners:
- Provincial authorities promote the campaign
- Members of team internationals advisory board (VVSG colleagues, CSOs, knowledge centres,…) spread the stories of the sustainable heroes in their network
- Municipal advisory councils are involved in the nomination of the heroes and general communication about the campaign
- Various departments of the Flemish government, the Federal Institute of Sustainable Development and European umbrella organisations (Platforma) report about the campaign week
April 2018: elaboration of concept and strategy. Design of slogan and logo
Together with 20 pilot municipalities, VVSG runs a 3-year SDG pilot trajectory to explore methods to integrate the SDGs into municipal policy. The decision to organise a large scale public campaign was made in consultation with the pilot municipalities. The engagement and motivation of the pilot municipalities was seen as a leverage to stimulate other local governments and their citizens to also engage in concrete action for the SDGs.
May 2018: spreading of the call and campaign manual
The call was sent out through VVSGs digital newsletter, VVSGs monthly magazine ‘Lokaal’ and by email to all mayors, managing directors, aldermen and civil servants responsible for international cooperation, local global policy or sustainable development of all 300 Flemish local governments. Registration was done on the campaign website http://www.duurzamegemeente.be.
July – august 2018: Participating municipalities start searching for sustainable heroes. VVSG starts the production of didactic and audiovisual campaign materials.
August 20 2018: Deadline for participants to order (sustainable) campaign materials.
All participants were offered the maximum amount of:
- 1 mast flag with the 17 SDG logos
- 2 reusable window stickers with the 17 SDG logos
- 5 posters with an overview of all participants
- 1 box of fair trade chocolates with SDG logo
- 700 brochures – printed on growing paper –about the campaign and the important role local authorities have to play in the 2030 Agenda
- 1 reusable window sticker per hero (‘I am a sustainable hero”)
- 1 SDG-pin per hero
Check out all designs on https://www.duurzamegemeente.be/over-de-campagne.
September 8 2018: Deadline for participants to register their heroes on the campaign website.
All heroes are presented on the website with a picture and a description. Heroes were listed per municipality and per SDG.
18 to 25 September 2018: WEEK OF THE SUSTAINABLE MUNICIPALITY
Participating municipalities hung the SDG-flag at their city Halls and put their ‘sustainable heroes’ in the spotlights. With 80 participating local governments, the campaign reached more than 25% of Flemish municipalities. Participants were spread across Flanders and their size varied from 8000 inhabitants to more than 250.000. Together, the 80 sustainable municipalities nominated more than 650 sustainable heroes. The heroes were given free campaigning material to make themselves visible in their communities. The heroes and their inspiring daily activities were spotlighted on the campaign website, in the Flemish press and on VVSG’s social media channels. To promote their heroes, most of the participating municipalities organised creative activities: SDG-expositions, SDG-hikes, SDG-film screenings, SDG-flashmobs and even SDG-hitlists on the national radio. A complete overview can be consulted on the campaign website.
October 2018: Communication about the reach and impact of the campaign in VVSG’s digital newsletter, in ‘Lokaal’, in Platforma’s newsletter and through a general press release to the national media. Participants filled in an online evaluation. 96% stated they would participate in a next edition of the campaign week.
a. Reach
With 80 participating local governments, the campaign reached more than one out of every four Flemish municipalities. The participants were spread across Flanders and their size varied from 8000 inhabitants to more than 250.000. Together, the 80 sustainable municipalities nominated more than 650 sustainable heroes. The heroes spread more than 48.000 brochures about the important role local authorities have to play in the Agenda 2030. According to the online evaluation, the campaign mainly reached citizens (84%), followed by the municipal staff (63%), local politicians (51%), companies (43%) and schools (20%).
b. Campaign website (http://www.duurzamegemeente.be)
- overview of all participating municipalities (visually on a map + textually on a page)
- presentation of all sustainable heroes (picture + description) listed per municipality and per SDG
- pictures of activities taking place in the municipalities during the campaign week
- a list of creative activities the participating local authorities organized
- downloads of all the campaign materials
During the campaign week the website was visited 5848 times, by 3995 individual visitors. 106.941 pages were viewed.
c. Social media and press
Around 30 articles about the campaign appeared in the regional Flemish press. VVSG produced 8 promovideos about the campaign, to be spread on social media. See the following titles on https://www.facebook.com/pg/be.vvsg/videos/?ref=page_internal/:
- ‘Week van de Duurzame Gemeente’ (announcing video)
- ‘Duurzame Helden uit Mechelen’ (portrait of hero)
- ‘Duurzame Held uit Mortsel’ (portrait of hero)
- ‘Week van de Duurzame Gemeente – Dag#1’ (compilation of pictures)
- ‘Week van de Duurzame Gemeente – Dag#2’ (compilation of pictures)
- ‘Week van de Duurzame Gemeente – Dag#3’ (compilation of pictures)
- ‘Week van de Duurzame Gemeente – #4’ (compilation of pictures)
- ‘Week van de Duurzame Gemeente – #5’ (compilation of pictures)
Outcomes/effects/impact
- Participants indicate that partaking in the campaign led to more awareness around the SDGs amongst citizens, municipal staff and local politicians. Giving the global goals a local face made the 2030 Agenda more tangible and accessible.
- Participants indicate that partaking in the campaign led to more willingness to act amongst the local government (administration and politics). For example, several participating municipalities decided to sign VVSG’s SDG Declaration of Committment ‘Global Goals Local Focus’ (available in English, French and Spanish). Other participants mention transversal SDG taskforces being established.
- Working with local ambassadors (the sustainable heroes) leads to structural anchoring in the participating municipalities. Various participants indicate that they will continue promoting the activities of their local heroes and engage them in future events and policy actions.
For 47% of the participants, joining the campaign week was their first cooperation with VVSG around the theme of the SDGs. These new contacts allow VVSG to strengthen the collaboration and encourage more local governments to participate in future SDG trainings and projects.
- At the level of VVSG:
o strong and extensive network of VVSG
o local authorities value the work of VVSG
o The SDGs are a strong brand and lend themselves well for communication purposes
o strong engagement of VVSG’s communication department in the 2030 Agenda
o VVSG was elected by the Federal Institute of Sustainable Development as one of the six ‘SDG Voices’ for 2018. The election came with a budget and caused more awareness around the SDG program of Team International amongst VVSG direction and departments.
o One of the other SDG Voices 2018 was the national newspaper Metro Time. The SDG Voice campaign facilitated a partnership between VVSG and Metro Time, resulting in different articles about the localization of the SDGs, and about the Week of the Sustainable Municipality, in Metro Time.
- At the level of municipalities engaging in the campaign:
o strong engagement of the 20 SDG pilot municipalities
o strong engagement of municipal advisory councils
o existing SDG-taskforces on the local level
o involvement of communication departments
o The campaign format builds on what’s already there. The local heroes were not asked to engage in ‘new’ activities but to just put the spotlights on their day to day actions.
o creativity of the participants: The municipalities did much more than the foreseen exposing of campaigning material and nomination of the heroes. They worked creatively with the given concept and materials. To promote their sustainable heroes, most of the participants organised creative local activities: SDG-expositions, SDG-birthdaycakes, SDG-hikes, SDG-film screenings, SDG-flashmobs and even SDG-hitlists on the national radio. An overview can be consulted on http://www.duurzamegemeente.be/over-de-campagne.
o Local elections October 2018: good timing to put the theme of sustainable development in the spotlights.
Constraining factors:
- Limited capacity (personnel) of Team International
- Local elections October 2018: risk of political interference
- Timing: Traditionally, September is already filled with widespread public campaigns (Week of Sustainable Transport, Week of Efficient Enforcement, …) + the search for local heroes during vacation months (July and August) is not obvious
- Difficult to ensure engagement on both levels (see above ‘Objective of the practice’): Some participating municipalities won’t go further than sensibilisation, others will truly commit to policy implementation.
Replicability: The format of the campaign can be adopted by any umbrella organisation of local governments, or other organisations working with local governments. The heart of the concept is the combination of visual campaigning material and spotlighting the activities of local sustainable heroes. Various versions of this concept are possible (other campaigning materials, more or less engagement of the heroes, nomination process, SDG training for all local policy teams, regional or provincial heroes, adding competition elements, etcetera). The campaign website and manual are in Dutch, but VVSG’s Team International plans on publishing a process-oriented paper about the campaign.
In 2018, the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities (VVSG) organised its first ‘Week of the Sustainable Municipality’. From 18th until 25th of September, no less than 80 Flemish municipalities hung out the SDG-flag at their city Halls and put their local ‘Sustainable Heroes’ in the spotlights. The heroes were citizens, schools, companies or organisations who contribute to one or more Sustainable Development Goals in their daily activities. They became the local faces of the global goals. <br />
The Week of the Sustainable Municipality is complementary to the existing SDG program of VVSG, containing – among other – an SDG pilot trajectory and SDG training sessions for local authorities. <br />
This first edition of the campaign was a success. More than one out of every four Flemish municipalities engaged in the campaign and together they nominated more than 650 local heroes. The campaign website received 4000 visitors and around 30 articles appeared in the regional press. The campaign also allowed VVSG to reach new municipalities. 47% of the participating local governments had never before worked with VVSG around the theme of the SDGs. <br />
The campaign reached local citizens, companies and schools as well as the municipal staff and local politicians, it brought the 2030 Agenda closer to the elected officials and encouraged various municipalities to integrate the SDGs into their new multiannual policy plans. <br />
A post evaluation indicated that as good as all respondents would participate in a next edition of the campaign week. Furthermore, 1 out of 3 respondents claims to be sure that the campaign caused more awareness about the SDGs and that it triggered the local policymakers to keep working on the SDGs in the future.
- 8 promovideos https://www.facebook.com/pg/be.vvsg/videos/?ref=page_internal/
- VVSG participated in the Global Day to Act for SDGs: link to partner page: http://www.act4sdgs.org/partner/vvsg
Deliverables & Timeline
Resources mobilized
Partnership Progress
Feedback
Action Network
Share
Timeline
Entity
SDGs
Region
- Europe
Geographical coverage
Photos
Website/More information
Countries
Contact Information
Heleen Voeten, International Officer VVSG