July 2021 | UCLG ASPAC has recently concluded the LOCALISE SDGs (Leadership, Ownership, and Capacities for Agenda 2030 Local Implementation and Stakeholders Empowerment for Sustainable Development Goals), a programme funded by the European Union (EU). With the SDGs attainment is scheduled in 2030, UCLG ASPAC is committed to continually support local and regional governments in achieving the global agenda remains.
Guangzhou – Jambi City Collaboration
One of its continuous commitment was realised through facilitation of collaboration between Jambi City and Guangzhou. Both cities signed the Letter of Intent (LoI) on 26 July 2021 to formally express their willingness to collaborate further in the fields of health (telemedicine), education, tourism and culture, promotion, and youth.
Welcoming this collaboration, UCLG ASPAC Secretary General, Dr. Bernadia I. Tjandradewi, said that “UCLG ASPAC is ready to facilitate both countries in a telemedicine programme that is also our joint programme with Guangzhou. There are myriad opportunities if we could implement this programme to create significant impacts in handling the COVID-19 Pandemic.” She mentioned that the LoI signing was an excellent start to continue to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Dr. Heriyandi Roni, M.Si., Head of Centre for Facilitation of Cooperation, Indonesian Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), said, “Today, we witness one of the evidences that this pandemic will not hinder us from continuing to improve our work and creativity. The limitations we face today, have encouraged us to keep transforming, innovating, exploring our potential and creating opportunities to promote the welfare of people.”
Mayor Wen Guohui of Guangzhou mentioned that “The project is not only beneficial to the health of women and children, but also an important indicator in the process of gender equality and women’s empowerment.” Further, he also expressed his expectation to “strengthen the connection between health departments of both sides, and promote implementation of related cooperation projects, which will benefit people of the two places.”
Mayor Syarif Fasha, ME, of Jambi City also acknowledged the excellent quality of Guangzhou’s health care and system saying that “We can attest that the Guangzhou health and city planning systems are very good, and we hope by that we can share information and collaborate in the health sector, including cooperation regarding COVID-19 pandemic management.”
Ms. Qui Wei Wei, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China for the Republic of Indonesia in Medan, also expressed their support on this collaboration saying that, “The Chinese Consulate General in Medan is willing to provide support and assistance for the development of friendly relations between the two cities. We look forward to cooperating with all sectors in the consular area to jointly promote sustainable development of China-Indonesia partnership.”
What’s Next
With the commitment to support local governments implementing the 2030 SDGs Agenda, UCLG ASPAC will continue to support the momentum of advocacy that has been fostered by LOCALISE SDGs. Following up policy recommendations through its various programmes in Indonesia is on the priority list, including the SDGs Monitoring and Evaluation tools with the Ministry of Home Affair (MoHA) in alignment with the support to update the Indonesia’s Standar Pelayanan Minimum/SPM (Minimum Standard for Public Services); supporting the upcoming Voluntary Sub-national Review (VSR) and Voluntary Local Review (VLR) for other cities; and initiate the updates of UCLG ASPAC’s Cities Enabling Environment (CEE) Rating or SDGs Snapshot. UCLG ASPAC will also continue to encourage local and regional government members to showcase their best practices in SDGs issue in the Asia-Pacific region and globally.
On the capacity building side, LOCALISE SDGs’ local and national training, webinars, and other virtual events had reached at least 245 local governments (way beyond the 30 local government’s targets of the programme). Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the opportunity to scale up the learning from LOCALISE SDGs, UCLG ASPAC has committed in providing an e-learning platform that will be widely accessible for all its members, covering various thematic topics related to SDGs. The LOCALISE SDGs website (https://localisesdgs-indonesia.org/) that has been established in Indonesia will also continue to be activated as a means of sharing information and knowledge management platform, beyond LOCALISE SDGs’ target local governments.
Finally, as implementation of Goal 17 (Partnership for the Goals), several forms of cooperation through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) have been signed between UCLG ASPAC and SDGs Centres from the leading universities in Indonesia: Universitas Indonesia, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Universitas Diponegoro, and Universitas Lampung. These mutual agreements will continue to be monitored, implemented and scaled up to cover the scope for the Asia Pacific region. Partnerships with line ministries in Indonesia, such as Bappenas and MoHA which have been mutually agreed upon through written documents, will also be monitored and implemented with activities that provide added value on a national scale as well as for local and regional governments. In addition, initial collaboration with other ministries such as with the Ministry of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration/Kemendesa PDTT, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Finance as well as with various national stakeholders, such as with Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Agency/Badan Kerja Sama Antar Parlemen, SDGs Academy and others will also be strengthened and further explored towards the success of the SDGs attainment.
Implemented since 2018, LOCALISE SDGs programme supported the acceleration of SDGs achievement in Indonesia through policy advocacy, capacity building, and knowledge management for 30 Local Authorities (LAs) and five Associations of Local Authorities (ALAs). This programme was implemented by the UCLG ASPAC in collaboration with the Association of Indonesia Municipalities (APEKSI) and involved other associations, such as APPSI, APKASI, ADEKSI, and ADKASI. The completion of LOCALISE SDGs was marked with the Online Conference on Dissemination of Learning and Programme Outcomes of LOCALISE SDGs “Encouraging Acceleration Recovery from Pandemic through Commitment and Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals Attainment,” on June 24, 2021. The programme, which had been successfully implemented for 3.5 years, has benefited over 6,500 beneficiaries which mainly are local government officials.
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