The projects and activities of the district municipalities of Izmir were evaluated within the context of the SDGs. Organized under the coordination of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and the Sustainable Urban Development Network, the alignment workshop took place between 16-18 April.
During the workshop where representatives from district municipalities of Buca, Çiğli, Karabağlar, Karşıyaka, Menderes, Narlıdere, Seferihisar, and Selçuk were present, municipal projects and activities were aligned with the SDGs.
Prior to the meeting, a coordination meeting was held between the members of Sustainable Urban Development Network and UCLG-MEWA delegation. In the meeting, participants discussed the methodology of the alignment workshop with the district municipalities and the possible contribution of the workshop’s outcomes to the visibility of Izmir on global platforms. The workshop organized with representatives from district municipalities on 17 February 2020 started with the briefing given by UCLG-MEWA team on global agendas. Within this context, SDG determination process, Habitat Process and the New Urban Agenda, High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) and Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) were shared with the participants. Following this, presentations on the SDGs and their targets were delivered with the aim of increasing the awareness of participants on the SDGs.
Later in afternoon, at each table, municipal projects and activities were evaluated by the municipal representatives themselves, with the support of facilitators from UCLG-MEWA and Sustainable Urban Development Network. The results of the alignment study were shared with the participants the next day. Also, Turkey’s 2019 VNR, VLRs and the main findings of the UCLG-MEWA Pilot Project on Mapping the SDGs in Turkey, carried out and finalized by UCLG-MEWA, were introduced to the participants.
This work is foreseen to be a crucial part of the VLR studies of Izmir. Besides Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Sultanbeyli Municipality is also among the municipalities conducting VLR preparations in the MEWA Region. Both processes will be followed up under the coordination of UCLG-MEWA and in collaboration with UCLG World Organization.
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