Once a council or local SDG partnership has decided to engage with the SDGs, it will want to advocate for them and report on how it is helping to achieve them. This can serve to reinforce existing partnerships and create new ones. Councils can go further in their advocacy, engaging local citizens in supporting the SDGs and reaching out to national and international audiences.
In this briefing, we have set out an SDG roadmap which starts with a council considering whether to make use of the SDGs, then moving on to creating a local SDG partnership, selecting its own local SDG targets, then tracking its progress towards them. Right at the outset, advocacy for the goals is likely to play an important part in creating any effective local SDG action.
The SDGs represent a global consensus on what sort of progress humanity should be aiming for; moving forward with decency, dignity and fairness. At the same time, they identify the gravest threats and largest injustices facing humanity: public health emergencies, environmental destruction, conflict, crime, corruption, exploitation and lack of opportunity. If a council decides it wants to support the SDGs, it will surely want to advocate for them.