How can we work at a local level towards global goals for a better future? Local Futures, one of the ventures in the Grebel Peace Incubator, aims to drive a new wave of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) localization throughout Canada.
Local Futures is bringing together universities, municipalities, and community organizations to collaborate on localizing the SDGs in Canadian cities to build a more sustainable and prosperous future. Their work focuses on the creation of municipal reporting to understand current opportunities and challenges in advancing the SDGs in cities and inspiring a deeper integration of the ambition and principles of SDGs across the country. Local Futures puts emphasis on integrating the SDGs into municipal planning. This helps make local sustainability efforts more comprehensive and coordinated.
The three main focus areas of Local Futures currently are collective impact, data localization, and assessing progress and future planning. This work can be seen through their partnership with university-municipal groups across Canada, creating inclusive dialogue with community stakeholders about their vision for the future, and establishing a data localization framework to find existing municipal SDG-aligned targets and indicators.
Funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Sustainable Development Goals Funding Program, Local Futures is currently working with five Canadian universities to engage their local municipalities to develop voluntary local reviews. This reporting approach assesses local progress, challenges, and opportunities for the SDGs. Aside from the University of Waterloo Local Futures is working with Vancouver Island University, University of Saskatchewan, Dalhousie University, and Queen’s University. This broad array of different regions and areas displays Local Futures commitment to implementing the SDGs in a broad Canadian context.
Jon Beale, the Program Director of Local Futures, was inspired to start this endeavor due to his longstanding work and passion in helping establish Sustainable Development Solutions Network Canada. He quickly realized that for the SDGs to succeed they needed to be localized in cities and communities. Local Futures is an initiative that takes the best of what has worked in other areas of the world that have localized the SDGs and brings these lessons to Canada.
Recently, Local Futures hosted a webinar, featuring a panel of city staff and changemakers from around the world. A prominent theme seen throughout the webinar was that although every community has different starting points and possibilities for sustainable development, the SDGs serve as a catalyst for action towards a more sustainable future. A standout moment for Jon in the webinar was the dedication of the speakers to all come together and share something special. Two of the speakers, based in Sweden and South Africa, took time out of their busy schedules to join in. Two other speakers joined while travelling home from COP30 in Brazil. The conversation between the speakers was insightful and interesting, ensuring that everybody had made a contribution to the discussion.
Some key takeaways from the webinar include aligning the SDGs with existing initiatives, collaboration and partnerships to integrate SDGs, and engaging and consulting youth about their vision for the future.
An issue that some people may have with this framework is struggling to move past seeing the framework merely as a vision, but instead as an actionable plan. Jon mentions how this is a big challenge that they’ve set out for themselves, to offer meaningful insights on how to make a practical plan for communities.
Ultimately, the Local Futures project is an essential intermediary between local Canadian regions and the integration of the SDGs. Cities are the front-line for many of the world’s pressing challenges, and adopting the lens of the SDGs in planning will help foster more resilient, inclusive, and future-oriented communities.
You can keep up with this project by subscribing to the Local Futures Newsletter.