Top-down and bottom-up approaches to the SDG monitoring challenge

Espey, Jessica (2021) Top-down and bottom-up approaches to the SDG monitoring challenge. In, Abraham, D.B. and Iyer, S.D. (eds.) Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals in North American Cities. (Sustainable Development Goals Series) Springer Cham. (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-59173-1_7).

Abstract

This paper reflects upon two different methodologies, employed by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and its local US partners, to approach the challenge of subnational monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The first method involved local community mapping of existing indicators and metrics to the SDGs and the identification of relevant local proxies (as in San Jose, New York, Baltimore, and Los Angeles). The second approach has involved a more centralized, top-down review of comparable cross-national indicators and the subsequent compilation of a US SDG Cities Index.

While the former exercise has helped to foster local buy-in and has eased integration of the SDGs into existing city plans, it will only drive more ambitious monitoring and policy change if subsequent analysis is done to see what SDG dimensions are excluded and how they can be integrated and prioritized over time. The latter approach has the advantage of being, first and foremost, an advocacy tool which has already shown value by garnering high-level political interest and encouraging constructive competition among cities. However the indicators identified are themselves too high level to be useful for much of the day-to-day monitoring and administration by local governments. Lessons from both of these exercises show the utility of the SDG framework and its associated indicators for encouraging more ambitious and comprehensive sustainable development monitoring and for encouraging Mayoral engagement. They also point to the necessity to employ a two-pronged approach to subnational monitoring of the SDGs, involving the use of headline political indicators as well as more nuanced city-specific proxies to support implementation of local policies and programs.

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Contributors

Author: Jessica Espey

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