By Dr. John Coonrod, MCLD Founder
TLDR: MCLD should seriously consider how our National Associations can use “Voluntary Local Reviews” (VLRs) to gain influence with their own governments.
Focus in 2026: MCLD was launched under the banner of “Localize the SDGs” in 2015, and finally now there is growing action to do just that. Each July, the world gathers to assess progress and focuses on a specific selection of SDGs. This year there was a deep dive on: SDG 6. Clean water and sanitation; SDG 7. Sustainable energy; SDG 9. industrialization and innovation; SDG 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG 17 Partnerships.
Intersection of Water, Energy and Gender: Every SDG has a gender component. Last year I was disappointed to see that there were very few “male feminists” in the gender sessions and too few women in the technical sessions. But not this year – male feminists were well represented in the gender session, and in the technical session on water and energy all six of the speakers and facilitators were female.
Confronting the Anti-Rights Movement: The first principle of the UN and the entire post-WWII era is that every person is born equal in rights and dignity. That was the assumption upon which the SDGs are based. That principle, today, is under attack by a well-funded, global “anti-rights” movement fueled by an unprecedented concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and supporting rising authoritarianism and growing limits on civil society. Civil society needs new strategies to counter this trend.
Localization: Our most powerful allies in localizing the SDGs are UCLG: United Cities and Local Governments and the recent Local2030 Coalition, which coordinates localization efforts across 15 UN Agencies, and the Partnership Platform organized by Italy. These groups held their meetings on the final Tuesday and Wednesday of HLPF, and so MCLD organized its gathering of Localistas on Monday afternoon with 14 organizations participating, including Local2030 and Unicef as well as many MCLD members.
Integrated Strategies: Local governments and MCLD agree that none of the SDGs stand in isolation. People’s health wellbeing depend on sustaining progress in all the SDGs. While national ministries and UN agencies stick to specific sectors, local actors are increasingly making their voices heard on the need for greater integration of public services.
VLRs: The main accountability mechanism of the SDGs are Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs). However, since it is now agreed that most SDGs can only be achieved at the community level, there has been a growing movement for local communities/districts/provinces to do their own VLRs. A VLR is submitted by a local government agency to the UN, and recently that number has increased to 500. Some countries (Italy, Tanzania) actually compile VLRs to create their VNR.
We attended “VLR Days” online workshops organized by Local2030 over two days before the Localization meetings. Practitioners expressed that the VLR became the greatest opportunity for voice with their own governments they ever experienced. While they are submitted by the local government, they are often driven by local civil society and academics. So this is something MCLD could make happen.
MCLD Accreditation: We currently are able to participate in UN meetings through the accreditation of The Hunger Project, which we greatly appreciate but is not ideal. MCLD should have its own. We applied at the first moment we became eligible in February 2025 but the UN’s own financial crisis slashed their budget for processing applications. We met with various UN staff to try to get this moving, and will keep putting whatever pressure we can to have it happen. Meanwhile, many majority world countries include civil society and particularly youth representatives in their own delegations to UN meetings, which is something our National Associations can explore.
Beyond 2030: The SDG deadline of 2030 is right around the corner, and people are beginning to seriously discuss how the “post 2030” goals can address the changing climate. Our stand that the “future is community-led” no longer is heard as radical. The 2027 UN General Assembly will be another SDG Review Summit, when government leaders will officially launch the post-2030 process. Stay tuned!
Featured Photo: The Italian Government sponsors an annual localization Partnership Forum during HLPF and it’s always a great opportunity for MCLD to emphasize the importance of civil society engagement. July 2026, Credit MCLD.