130 participants from 30 countries around the world discussed the implementation of participatory governance in cities and regions
On September 5th, Tallinn the European Green Capital 2023 organized a pre-event to the Open Government Partnership Summit, featuring a panel discussion followed by a reception hosted by the Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart. The goal was to gather local leaders to discuss the importance of local action to “turbocharge” the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Mayors, Governors and leading experts highlighted how local and regional governments are making the SDGs a reality on the ground, including through open government and citizen engagement. Cities were highlighted as places for democratic innovation and inclusivity, with transparency as a core principle uniting governments around the world.
“Local participation is an open government value” said the Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart. He added, that in Tallinn, we embrace this through initiatives like participatory budgeting, Open the City participation centre, and developing new governance models”.
Six honourable panellists shared their experiences with bringing people on board in the work to achieve the SDGs, from engaging with children, their parents and grandparents, to helping young people get the right skills to deal with the transformation needed. They discussed the importance of building trust across government levels and with the people, and that this is work to be done every single day.
“It is essential to close the feedback loop in people’s engagement”, said Sarah Lister, head of governance from UNDP, “they need to know that their opinions and efforts lead to concrete results”.
Strengthening local governance for sustainable development is at the heart of Tallinn’s launched its flagship project on Sustainability Governance, part of the European Green Capital year 2023. The initiative includes plans to develop a competence centre to share learnings and models with cities around Europe and the world.
The event was organised in the lead up to the United Nations’ SDG Summit to be held in New York on 18-18 September 2023 to highlight key messages from local leaders in the leadup to the SDG Summit in September 2023 regarding the role of cities and regions in turbocharging implementation of SDGs.
Photos: Ksenija Kurs
