With just seven years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, it has become imperative for member countries of the United Nations to rev up their on-ground actions. To this end, ICLEI South Asia organised a series of capacity-building workshops in the cities of Satkhira and Sirajganj in Bangladesh in January and February 2023, to enhance the capacity of their local government institutions and promote sustainable urban development.

The workshops on “Localising Sustainable Development Goals in Cities: Social Inclusion” were held as part of the Climate Resilient Inclusive Smart Cities (CRISC) project, being executed in Bangladesh by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

They were conducted in three batches for each city, with about 20 representatives from the Town Level Coordination Committee, Standing Committee as well as technical staff of the two municipalities participating each day. The sessions focused on various aspects of SDGs, the principle of “Leave No One Behind”, the reporting process for SDGs at both national and local levels, the significance of localising SDGs and on developing a Voluntary Local Review report.

Lectures, presentations, and interactive sessions helped the participants to identify key development challenges in their respective cities, such as water logging, migration, employment, and drainage in Satkhira, and flood, education and overpopulation due to climate-displaced migrants from riverine areas in Sirajganj. They also identified ongoing programmes relevant to these issues and suggested potential future mitigation measures.  The participants were given training manuals and handouts developed by ICLEI South Asia for future reference.