African Local Governments and Cities in the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

In this chapter the author presents a synopsis of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which also commits to support the implementation of Africa’s Agenda 2063. (The heads of state and governments of the African Union (AU) adopted Agenda 2063 in January 2015 as both a vision and action plan to build a prosperous and united Africa based on shared values and a common destiny. The seven Aspirations of Africa expressed in Agenda 2063 are (i) a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development; (ii) an integrated continent, politically united and based on the ideals of Pan-Africanism and the vision of Africa’s Renaissance; (iii) an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law; (iv) a peaceful and secure Africa; (v) an Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, shared values and ethics; (vi) an Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children; and (vii) Africa as a strong, united and influential global player and partner.) He argues that local governments and cities in Africa continue to play a critical role in implementing the 2030 Agenda to achieve the SDGs not only because SDG 11 puts emphasis on cities and local governments but mainly because all SDGs have to be achieved in and by local communities in local governments and cities. The focal point of the chapter is on local government and city polycentric governance and transformational leadership. The gist of the chapter is that SDGs will be difficult to achieve if local governments and cities do not succeed in galvanizing transformational leadership and people into coherent and integrated polycentric governance to create a collective impact through resilience, creativity and innovation, effective delivery of services, future-oriented governance, partnerships, collaboration, and all the values and principles enshrined in the 2030 Agenda including equity, transparency, accountability, inclusion, integration, and leaving no one behind in sustainable development.

Therefore, it will be under the auspices of cities where we will succeed or fail in achieving our goals of poverty eradication, equality, climate change reduction, and ensuring healthy lives. It will be the cities that determine if we achieve inclusive economic growth or yield to greater inequality. It is in cities where people will seek opportunities for higher education and employment. And, it will be cities that determine if we will continue our steadily increasing usage of the world’s resources or if we can realize a more sustainable path. This is why sustainable development goal (SDG) 11, “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, is so important. Success in achieving the targets under SDG 11 sets the stage for achieving targets in many of the other SDG goals.¹

Introduction

World leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda) in September 2015 with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)² to be achieved by the end of the year 2030. With effect from 1 January 2016, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda to achieve the SDGs started building on the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)³ which had been under implementation between the year 2000 and 2015. Universal, ambitious, integrated, and indivisible, the 17 SDGs are built around, and balance, the three dimensions of sustainable development, the economic, social, and environmental, and are people focused to ensure economic, social, and ecological equity. Achieving such an ambitious global agenda and goals is a daunting challenge for public administration especially in local governments and cities where people live.

In this chapter, the focus is on the role of local governments and cities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achievement of the SDGs in Africa. “In addition to Sustainable Development Goal 11, which calls for sustainable cities and human settlements, the 2030 Agenda acknowledges the crucial role of sustainable urban development to the quality of life of people.”⁴ The problematic is focused on the role the governance, leadership, and communities of local governments and cities have to play in implementing the 2030 Agenda. The gist of the chapter is that the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs have put before the governance systems, leadership, people, and the communities in local governments and cities a big development challenge. At the same time, they have provided an opportunity for launching Africa on to a repositioned development path that is resilient and resolved to achieve people-centered sustainable development, leaving no one behind. Local governments and cities in Africa require unprecedented institutional, leadership, and human capacities as anchors and catalysts for other resources in order to succeed in meeting the SDG challenge.

The chapter addresses the following key questions: How much work has the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs put on local governments and cities in Africa? What are the transformational values and principles contained in the 2030 Agenda that the local governments and city governance and leadership must pay particular attention to in order to have a solid base for their strategies for transformation and achievement of SDGs? What is the role of the leadership in the local governments and cities in this critical work? What are the key capacities that the cities and local governments need to develop in order to successfully implement the 2030 Agenda and achieve SDGs? Are there examples from local governments and cities that illustrate how achieving SDGs is being approached?

The 2030 Agenda and SDGs vs Mandates and Responsibilities of Cities and Local Governments in Africa

How much work has the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and pursuit of achieving the SDGs put on cities and local governments? In pondering over this question, it needs to be born in mind first that the 2030 Agenda is more than the 17 SDGs. There are other intergovernmental agreements and documents that together with this one constitute the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These include Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Millennium Development Goals, and others. The Africa Agenda 2063 also is recognized as part of the 2030 Agenda. In paragraph 42 of the 2030 Agenda document, Member States of the UN “reaffirm the importance of supporting the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the programme of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, all of which are integral to the new Agenda.”⁵

An analysis of the SDGs shows that they will best be achieved when local governments and cities execute their mandates and responsibilities effectively. All development is local. The SDGs will need to be achieved at local level. The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs were designed for the prosperity of the people and the planet to live peacefully with freedom from poverty and other encumbrances. All of this can be achieved if Africa and the whole world work in partnership and collaboration. People, planet, peace in freedom, prosperity, partnerships, and poverty eradication are what, in this chapter, is termed as the six Ps of the 2030 Agenda. It is an agenda that actualizes “we the people” which is central to constitutions of many countries as well as the United Nations Charter. Whichever way one looks at it, people live at the local level, and it is at this very level that the action for the 2030 Agenda and SDGs must be solidified. Therefore, even before studying the legal mandates and responsibilities of each city or local government which spell out what functions and responsibilities and resources are devolved, delegated, or deconcentrated to a particular sub-national government in question, one can say that implementing the 2030 Agenda and achieving the 17 SDGs in a local government or a city is a big undertaking. Achieving SDGs is a heavy responsibility for local governments and cities especially since it has to be accomplished equitably leaving no one behind (Fig. 6.1).

Fig. 6.1

The Ps of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (We have included P for poverty eradication to emphasize the challenge of eradicating poverty. Otherwise there are supposed to be 5 Ps of the 2030 Agenda). (Source: composed by the author)

It is projected that by 2030, half of Africa’s population will be living in urban areas. “In 2016, an estimated 54.5 per cent of the world’s population lived in urban settlements. By 2030, urban areas are projected to house 60 per cent of people globally and one in every three people will live in cities with at least half a million inhabitants.”⁶ Therefore, eradicating poverty to ensure prosperity, peace in freedom, and a sustainable livelihood on a safe planet will need that local governments and cities in Africa pay attention to the three dimensions of sustainable development, namely, economic, social, and environmental sustainability, with particular emphasis on equity, including intergenerational equity (Fig. 6.2).

Fig. 6.2

The three dimensions of equitable sustainable development at local level. (Source: composed by the author)

All the three dimensions of sustainable development are confronting the biggest challenge of poverty eradication, and at the core of this challenge is equity. Eradicating poverty becomes real, not only when there is a boost in economic growth, or enhanced delivery of social services or even improvement of environment. Local-level poverty eradication becomes real when there is visible social equity, economic equity, and ecological equity. The generation of today must contribute to the development of the generations of the future. Eradicating poverty today should not create poverty tomorrow. This not only applies to matters of the environment; it is also in decisions of borrowing, investment, and social services. For example, investing in education today creates human capital for tomorrow. Investing in health facilities contributes to a healthy population of tomorrow. Investing in infrastructure today provides assets for development for tomorrow. Leaders and people of local governments and cities today must realize that managing a city or a local government is a combination of managing to provide for today’s population’s needs and tomorrow’s population’s needs as well. The work for local governments and cities is full of challenges.

Core Challenges in Achieving Sustainable Development at the Local Level

Cities and local governments in all countries are confronted with addressing various challenges to implement the 2030 Agenda and achieve the SDGs. The challenges may be different depending on the socio-politico-economic situation of each country and local communities. However, basic challenges are faced by all despite differences in situations. These challenges become acute the lower one goes from central government to cities and local governments and grassroots communities. They include:

• How to achieve economic equity and sustainability and eradicate poverty in all its forms

• How to achieve social equity

• How to achieve ecological equity

• How to integrate the three pillars of sustainable development and mainstream them into coherent local development policies and strategies

This brings out a critical question: What are the development policy and strategy imperatives in local governments and cities that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and pursuit of the SDGs has generated? The policy and strategy imperatives are related to the above challenges and will require transformed and strengthened collaborative governance as well as leadership competences and capacities at local government and city level.

Poverty eradication is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. In many countries where there is poverty, it most adversely affects populations at local level. In a number of countries (e.g., Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa), decentralization objectives include poverty eradication and local economic development. Poverty is also about inequality and suffering the indignity of being regarded as poor and hopeless. Poverty eradication can prove persistent especially where economic growth is accompanied by growth in inequalities. Where this happens, people who become less poor remain disgruntled because they turn their attention to the very rich. The problem turns into the issue of the gap between the rich and the poor rather than poverty itself. At local level and especially in cities, this gap is clearer when one looks at slums vs parts of cities where the wealthy live. Eradicating poverty and narrowing the gap between the poor and the rich is therefore a critical task local government and city leadership in Africa must effectively undertake to achieve SDGs. Without success in poverty eradication and reducing inequality, the challenge of achieving social sustainability becomes impossible.

Social sustainability covers all aspects of human life. To deal with ensuring social sustainability, one has to address issues related to equity and equality, social cohesion, social inclusion, shelter, education, health, youth engagement and employment, engaging and protecting the elderly, gender and advancement of women in social economic and political life, migration, population and demographic growth and dynamics, social diversity, social protection and social security, etc. This is one of the reasons why there is great need for transformational leadership in local governments and cities in Africa to address all these issues at local level where they are manifested most. The constant struggle by local populations to address these challenges using rudimental means easily jeopardizes the efforts for addressing the challenge of environmental sustainability (Fig. 6.3).

Fig. 6.3

Core challenges for local governments’ leadership and grassroots people. (Source: composed by the author)

Achieving environmental sustainability is an imperative that requires creating awareness and capabilities in local societies to exploit the environment such that current generations do not create environmental conditions that will be untenable for the future generations. This touches not only on environment but also on issues of poverty eradication as well as on those related to social and economic sustainability. What local-level leaders need to be aware of is that poverty and the struggle to address social challenges can push communities to deploy ways that greatly harm the environment. Activities such as overgrazing, burning of forests, overfishing, and charcoal burning are normally associated with the struggle of local-level peasants for survival. However, these activities harm the environment and jeopardize the well-being of future generations. Environmental sustainability requires “building a future in which people live in harmony with nature.”⁷ There must be coherent and integrated policies, strategies, and bylaws that are based on local people agreement and shared understanding of the challenges and solutions that secure their future as well as poverty eradication and social equity.

Integrating the three pillars of sustainable development in local government and city development policies and strategies is a challenge for local governance because it is a departure from common practice of departmentalized policy making.

Each pillar being treated alone is likely to be unsuccessful. Any shortfall in one pillar easily causes faults in the others. Addressing issues of the environment without addressing issues of poverty would not yield sustainable positive results. Or achieving the goal on education without addressing investment, job creation, and unemployment can easily result into large numbers of unemployed youth which in turn can cause social unrest and other problems. The challenges pointed out above, to be effectively addressed, will need effective city governance and a leadership that engages all people and all stakeholders within and without the community.

Local Governments and Cities Must Deliver on Each SDG

Looking at the 17 SDGs, each of them will require effectiveness in service delivery at local level to be achieved as illustrated bellow (Fig. 6.4).

Fig. 6.4

Showing SDGs and services linked to them at local level. (Source: composed by the author)

Local Governments and Cities as Institutions for Implementing the 2030 Agenda and Achieving the SDGs

Local governments and cities are critical players in the socio-politico-economic development including the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs in any country. There are many things local governments and cities in every country ought to do to implement or to facilitate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda to achieve the SDGs. The most critical ones are seven:

• Local socioeconomic and environmental policy and strategy planning

• Providing services to local communities

• Local-level infrastructure development

• Local community mobilization and empowerment

• Resource and investment mobilization for local economic development

• Monitoring and evaluation programs at local level

• Institutional and human resource capacity development (Fig. 6.5)

Fig. 6.5

The bulk of the work of local governments and cities in implementing the 2030 Agenda. (Source: composed by the author)

Local governments and cities are expected to provide the bedrock on which all operations of all actors are anchored which when not provided the whole effort of implementing the 2030 Agenda at local level is jeopardized. This bedrock is the respect for rule of law and justice in the governance of the local government/city, observance of human rights, law and order, security of person and property, leadership, professionalism, transparency, accountability, ethical conduct, and integrity (in short good governance). Sub-national governments are a lynchpin that connects development actors with local people. They cannot afford to be weak and ineffective or engage in bad governance. Therefore, their governance leaders are occupying a strategically vantage position in the whole process of implementing the 2030 Agenda and achieving SDGs. First, the leadership must leverage the potential of the local community and mobilize the will to implement the agenda and the resolve to achieve the SDGs by 2030. The most critical part of the job is to mobilize the will of the entire community to embrace the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs and to engage in implementing it.

With the above analysis of the role of local governments and cities in implementing the SDGs, it is clear that they have a big task to accomplish until 2030. “All SDGs are local” and “The achievement of all SDGs requires local action”⁸:

…the role of local administrations in the achievement of the Agenda goes far beyond Goal 11. All of the SDGs have targets that are directly or indirectly related to the daily work of local and regional governments. Local governments should not be seen as mere implementers of the agenda. Local governments are policy makers, catalysts of change and the level of government best-placed to link the global goals with local communities⁹ (Box 6.1).

Box 6.1: Addressing Challenges Related to Disparities in Access to Quality Education: The Success of the Extra School Support Programme (ESSP) of Gauteng Department of Education in South Africa

Faced with the problem of disparity in education, the Gauteng Department of Education in South Africa sought to improve quality of education and eliminate the disparities. Special attention had to be paid to ensuring that all learners reach their full potential in all aspects of their lives in all their schooling lives. This was necessary within the context of right to access to quality education. There had been research and reports in all sectors of the department which indicated a number of associated challenges including (i) lack/inadequate support for learners on homework and sports, arts, and culture due to multiplicity of factors such as socioeconomic conditions, parent’s levels of literacy, child-headed families, lack of involvement of parents in their children’s learning, etc; (ii) the vulnerability of learners who are orphans/child headed, emotional instability, poverty, lack of parental guidance, etc. and thus need a variety of support to help them overcome a number of challenges; (iii) access to schools not being controlled; (iv) a great need to extend the school time to allow learners to participate in a number of activities and remain safe; and (v) lack of sports, arts, and culture facilities for the learners in township areas. In order to address most of these issues, the Gauteng Department of Education came up with the Extra School Support Programme (ESSP) which provided support to learners in the targeted 1237 no-fee paying Schools which produced the following benefits: The Programme led to the initial employment of about 15,000 workers as homework assistants; sports, arts, and culture assistants; general supervisors; admin assistants; and patrollers. The employment of patrollers led to a drastic reduction of crime in schools, reduction in vandalism, and prevention of dangerous weapons entering in schools. More learners participated in sports and culture, academic results improved, and stress levels in educators reduced. (Extra School Program ESSP won the United Nations Public Service Awards in the category of improving the delivery of Public Services in 2014.) Source: United Nations Public Service Awards Database https://publicadministration.un.org/en/Research/Case-Studies/unpsacases

Part of the work local governments and cities have to accomplish is the work of transformation which is at the core of the 2030 Agenda. They will need to transform leadership mentalities, competences, mind-sets, organizational structures, institutions, and especially the communities themselves. Paying attention to transformation in this regard needs to start by identifying the underlying values and principles contained in the 2030 Agenda documents that underpin the necessity for transformation.

Underlying Transformation Drivers Contained in the 2030 Agenda

The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs contain critical underpinnings of the need for transformation in the governance of local governments and cities as well as in local economic development. These include the notion of integration; leaving no one behind; equity; resilience; innovation; partnerships and effective, inclusive, and accountable institutions; as well as transformation itself. Moreover, Goal 16 commits countries to building effective, inclusive, and accountable institutions. This includes institutions of local governance. Bellow we consider some of these underpinnings beginning with the notion of transformation itself (Fig. 6.6).

Fig. 6.6

Underlying drivers of local-level transformation contained in the 2030 Agenda

Source: composed by the author

The Notion of Transformation

The 2030 agenda is “the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world to a sustainable and resilient path.” Member States set “out a supremely ambitious and transformational vision” for the world, and so in implementing this vision, transformation needs to be one of the prime drivers. Those who are concerned with governance in local governments and cities, institutions, systems, structures, practices, as well as other capacities, need to be considering the kind of transformation that they need to undertake to enable the local governments and cities to achieve the SDGs.

However, it needs to be pointed out that African countries are not implementing transformation strategies because transformation figures prominently in the 2030 Agenda. Most of these transformation strategies in Africa (in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Botswana, Nigeria, Liberia, Libya, to mention only these) were formulated well before the 2030 Agenda was adopted. Development strategies of the 25 African countries we have consulted out of the 54 have transformation as a major objective.”¹⁰ This transformation needs to be cascaded in local governments and cities and integrated in local-level socioeconomic development strategies. That means that transformational leadership needs to be pervasive at all levels of governance including local governments and cities.

Integration

The emphasis the 2030 Agenda puts on “integration” necessitates transforming local governance in local governments and cities to enable them to pay particular attention to the need for integration. Integration must be understood in a wider, fuller, and deeper meaning to include:

• Integration of the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, social, and environment) into one coherent sustainable development policy or strategy for the local government or city in question.

• Integration in form of coordination and coherence of various institutional components, policies, strategies, and programs which the local government or city puts in place to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda.

• Integration of the various sectors and development activities to collaborate their inputs and outputs and create a mutually complementally collaborative impact.

• Integration in terms of current and future policies and strategies: Through a process of anticipatory governance, policy risk assessment, and disaster prevention, development strategies and policies of the current generation need to be integrating and collaborating in the way they will impact the needs of future generations.

• Vertical integration of the different levels of local governance and central government: Vertical integration also includes integration of national development strategies and policies with supranational levels. For a country to move in the same direction toward sustainable development, all levels of government need to be integrated and coordinated in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the 2030 Agenda.

• Integration of modern local governance institutions with informal institutions especially at community level so that the two join forces to cause sustainable development especially in grassroots communities.

• Integration of local government, private sector, and civil society in terms of all the three sectors working in the same direction of achieving sustainable development in the city.

The way integration is being taken in many countries needs to be reviewed to ensure that it takes a comprehensive meaning in all the above different terms (Box 6.2).

Box 6.2: Integrating Water, Sanitation, Agriculture Improvement: Employment and Participation

Improving water and sanitation in the municipality of Bangangté: The population living in the municipality of Bangangté in Cameroon had a problem of “shortage of potable water and inadequate sanitation”. A joint study by the National Participatory Development Program (NPDP) and technical services of the municipality of Bangangté in 2006 revealed a need for increasing access to water and sanitation facilities in 23 of the 25 units in the region. In 2010, only 15% of the rural population had access to drinking water, well below the national average which was 27.7% in 2008. This led to an increase in health spending in the region, largely due to the consumption of dirty water. Access to drinking water is a priority for 82% of the 600 heads of households interviewed in 2010 in the preparation of MODEAB project. This result confirms the priorities already identified in the local development plans. The initiative, named MODEAB, was initiated to rehabilitate and to establish new water points for the public. The water was provided on a cost recovery basis. Through this project, community-based water management structures were established. A Committee of Water Users (CUE) was set up for each group of users, composed of volunteers, who are spokespersons of the population. The operator of each group is paid from the water service revenues. This project is expected to increase the coverage of drinking water needs of 50% in the rural area by June 2014. To improve sanitation conditions, ten toilets were constructed in schools and in five markets. The initiative had a big impact. The sanitation level, the crops fertilized with urine, was probative: There was no doubt about the good quality and high yield. People saw that it is possible to have good crops, practically at no cost. This intervention has increased school attendance and has reduced illnesses caused by poor water quality. Many jobs were created for local people, mainly in the operation and maintenance of the facilities, and income-generating opportunities were created as the local communities sell water to the people who do not have access. A key highlight of this initiative is increased participation of citizens in decisions on policies and service delivery with respect to the two services, which was not done in this area previously. (The Water and Sanitation Initiative won second place of the United Nations Public Service Awards in 2014.) https://publicadministration.un.org/en/Research/Case-Studies/unpsacases

Leaving No One Behind

“Leaving no one behind” has strong local-level communities and local governments and cities value undertones. They include egalitarianism, equality, equity, involvement, inclusiveness, engagement, collaboration, social security, and socioeconomic welfare. Effectively implementing the 2030 Agenda and achieving its 17 SDGs with their 169 targets, leaving no one behind necessitates a value system that emphasizes such values and principles. This brings to the foreground the role of the welfare state, local governments, and cities. The framers of the 2030 Agenda did not mention the ideological underpinnings that would ensure that Sustainable Development is achieved leaving no one behind. However, public administration being at the forefront of supporting the implementation of the agenda will have to engage this and unwrap its full meaning and implications. The values and norms that will ensure effective welfare will need development and transformation of local governance and administration institutions, systems, structures, and practices as well as ideological outlook in local governments and cities. The lower one moves to community level, the more prominent issues of welfare become because that is the level where the common men and women including the poor and vulnerable who need support and protection reside.

Over time in many countries, many people have been left behind especially in the consumption of critical services. In many instances, the institutions in local governments and cities have not been challenged to work and deliver services leaving no one behind. Consequently, in many local governments both rural and urban, but more so in cities, poverty and inequality is still a big problem with many left behind already. To pay particular attention to these values will require a sustained capacity development for effective, collaborative, and integrated local government. Local government as an institution ought to be very keen on figuring out how to address these challenges. And supporting capacity development of local governments and cities ought to start focusing on how local government and city leadership and local government public services/servants can transform competences, mind-set, behavior, conduct, practices, skills, and knowledge to align their capacities with the requirements of integrated local development, leaving no one behind, collaboration, and partnerships.

Resilience

In the UN General Assembly Resolution that adopted the 2030 Agenda, Member States affirmed: “We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.” Thus, creating resilient societies has increasingly become a principle and value in sustainable development. Local governments and cities, through bylaws, rules, regulations, policies, strategies, and practices, can have a negative, positive, or neutral impact on whether the communities within them become resilient or not. Many face socio-politico-economic and environmental challenges and changes, some of which are or can be disastrous or even catastrophic while in the same breath they present opportunities to be harnessed for a better future. Therefore, it is important that local governments, working together with local-level communities in their societies, develop and institutionalize mechanisms that develop and sustain a resilient society. They need to aim at developing resilient societies which can absorb shocks and bounce back to build better and more durable and thriving governance and public administration institutions. Most importantly, the resilient societies should be capable to innovate, foresee, and prevent any changes that would pose a threat to them.

One of the ways of understanding resilience is to regard it as the institutionalized capability, sustained over a relatively long period of time, to foresee and manage threats of any nature with own resources and to exploit threats and turn them into opportunities for making life better. The main characteristics of a resilient society include the following:

• Absorption of shocks

• Adaptation to new and better ways of life

• Anticipation of possible and potential problems and disasters

• Averting disasters or turning them into opportunities

• Communication among a wide spectrum of actors and stakeholders to respond to such disasters in time

• Coordination among institutions

• Integration, collaboration, partnerships, engagement of all segments of communities

• Incessant creativity and innovation to find new ways of confronting threats and challenges

• Inclusion of everyone in the development process

• Sustained scientific research to identify and prevent possible mishaps that can turn into irreversible human threatening hazards

In this regard there is need for local governments and cities to create and sustain conditions that enable their communities to be resilient. “In the traditional sense, resilience is a measure of how well a system—an organization or institution, an ecosystem, a city or region, or indeed a whole country—recovers from an unexpected shock or disaster. But it also has become invested with a larger and more important meaning of cultivating the assets, culture, and capabilities that render systems less vulnerable to risk, more agile and adaptable, and therefore better prepared for successive waves of change and disruption. It means not only bouncing back, but also bouncing forward”¹¹ (Fig. 6.7).

Fig. 6.7

Some characteristics of a resilient society. (Source: composed by the author)

Resilience is about absorbing the shock such that disastrous strong changes do not destroy but alert the systems that they have to be stronger and better. Resilience is a mix of resistance, flexibility, creativity, innovation, and alertness to the needs of today as they relate to the solutions to future challenges. Local governments and city leaders need to put emphasis on resilience.

Local Governance and Administration Reforms and Transformation That Would Contribute to Achieving the SDGs

Reform programs have been a feature of many local governments and cities for some time. However, they have tended to focus on bureaucratic efficiency, effectiveness, and to some extent economy (the three Es of management). There is need in local governance and administration to pay particular attention to issues of social equity as dictated by the requirement of inclusion and leaving no one behind in the achievement of the SDGs (Fig. 6.8).

Fig. 6.8

Transformation in Local governments and cities for the 2030 Agenda and SDGs. (Source: composed by the author)

Implementing at the Equilibrium Point of Effectiveness, Efficiency, Economy, and Social Equity

Therefore, the transformation that local governments and cities must undergo in light of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achievement of SDGs must be constituted by a combination of accomplishing the reforms that have been ongoing to have effectiveness, economy, and efficiency in performance with strong dozes of social equity measures. This is in order to ensure that discriminatory practices and marginalization are eliminated and social and political inclusion are entrenched in the practice of local governments and cities. The pursuit of efficiency, effectiveness, and economy at the expense of social equity, the concern for results at the expense of outcomes and values, and the emphasis on money and individual wealth at the expense of the general well-being and community health may endanger achievement of SDGs by leaving many people behind. This is where value system orientation in local government and city local communities becomes a subject for transformation.

Optimization will not be enough. There has to be significant transformation included in the value system that drives it. The environment that has emerged to determine the transformation rather than optimization evolves not only around implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achievement of SDGs but also welfare, investment, and participatory society social security and social protection especially for the less able and vulnerable members of local communities.

Value System and Mind-Set Orientation

The very first transformation that local governance and administration in general and public service in particular needs to undergo concerns the ideological or value system orientation that channels the thinking and operations of the public service in local governments toward commitment to the welfare of the people leaving no one out or behind. The debate on ideology and delivery of public services has been dominated by considerations of who delivers the service: private or public sector. This is not the correct debate because whether it is the private sector or public sector, the service can be effectively and even efficiently delivered. However, by putting a particular emphasis on “leaving no one behind,” the 2030 Agenda calls for a commitment to serving all which calls for social equity. That requires a pro-people/society ideology irrespective of the differences in their abilities to pay for the services.

Responding to, and Harnessing, the Emergency of a Participatory Society/Culture

One of the determinants of the differences in the way local governments and cities are structured and behave in different countries is the fact that societies are different and consequently they design local governments according to their needs. There is an emerging trend whereby societies are demanding enhanced participation and engagement of the citizens in decision-making and influence of the things that matter in their lives including public administration/government and the delivery of critical services. This is moreover reflected in the emphasis put on inclusion in the 2030 Agenda. The emergence of participatory societies means that local governments and cities should not be inward looking only but outward as well, if anything to respond to this demand for participation by the people. A local government or city administration that responds to the demands for efficiency alone is not suitable to serve a society that is demanding participation, engagement, and values such as equality, equity, responsiveness, inclusiveness, and others which when pursued to their extreme may go contrary to efficiency or at best redefine it.

Resource Mobilization and Local Governments’ Investment for Production and Delivery of Public Goods and Services

There has developed an observable swingback of the public enterprise after a strong and lengthy wave of privatization since the 1980s which had been built on the advocacy that the private sector enterprise is more efficient. However, the requirement to implement the 2030 Agenda and to achieve the SDGs leaving no one behind has rekindled the defense and satisfaction of the “public interest” and however defined and encouraged many cities and local governments to engage in more ownership or operation of public enterprises. The main point here is that local governments and cities, alone or in partnership with other public and private actors, will have to invest in what will ensure sustainable development especially when it comes to ensuring equitable delivery of essential public services including education, health, water, electricity, information, transportation, judicial services, etc. Social equity itself will necessitate resource mobilization and investment from local governments and cities.

Integrating the Current with the Future Generation: Future-Oriented Local Governments and Cities

In many African countries, reforms in local governments and in cities were of the nature of optimization. This caused lack of integration with the needs of the future. The solutions optimization offered to local governments and cities applied to the problems of the day and sometimes created problems for the future. Optimization needs to be balanced with transformation to address the challenges of the current and future generations beginning with effective support to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achieving the SDGs. Most local government and cities governance and administration systems are predisposed to identify and solve temporal problems. However, achieving sustainable development requires looking far ahead to foresee the future challenges and problems and find solutions to them today. Local governments and cities must have data and information systems as well as qualified data and information analysts that will enable them to look at trends, predict future trajectories, and find solutions to challenges and problems before they become crises. Such public servants are what one would call scientific prophets. They foretell the future but based on data and information. Foresight among local leaders and public servants is critical in this. Transforming local governments and cities to make them achieve SDGs leaving no one behind should include making it future oriented, pro-active rather than reactive, more dynamic, and innovative. A future-oriented local government and city will promote the spirit of innovation and change-readiness, transform mind-sets, and create a different organizational culture, norms, and values that are aligned with the values of the 2030 Agenda. The major difference between optimization and transformation is that optimization is about making the most of existing resources of all sorts. Transformation is about innovation, creative thinking, and trying out new ideas and new ways of doing things. This in the short term may look inefficient in the use of resources, but in the long term, it could be the most useful in terms of cherished values such as inclusiveness, equity, responsiveness, and leaving no one behind in development.

Mobilizing Total Will in Local Governments and Cities to Implement the 2030 Agenda

Since the 2030 Agenda with its 17 goals and 169 targets was adopted, one of the things that has been emphasized is that it will require strong political will to implement the agenda. In a general sense, the political will in any local government or city to implement the 2030 Agenda is required. However, political will alone will not achieve much. “We the people” should not be reduced to “we the political leaders.” The rhetoric around the need for political will has been ongoing since a long time, and it surrounds the arguments about why reforms and programs do not succeed much. Overemphasizing the “political will” underestimates the influence other actors in local governments and cities, besides political leaders, have on the success or otherwise of achieving SDGs in a given local government or city (Fig. 6.9).

Fig. 6.9

Total will in local governments for implementing the 2030 Agenda. (Source: composed by the author)

Success is always driven by a composite of the will from various actors. In the case of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in any local government or city there is need for:

• The political will from political leaders at central government, local government, and community levels

• Social/civic/community will (the people must be willing and committed to implement the Agenda)

• The administrative will (the bureaucracy, i.e., the public servants in the local government or city as well as those in central government, must be willing and committed to implementing the agenda)

• The will of development partners including donors especially in terms of financial and technical assistance if local governments heavily depend on funding from development partners

In many countries some reforms or development programs in local governments and cities have failed to achieve the desired results because public servants do not support them irrespective of strong political will. The power of the bureaucrats to resist, sabotage, and deliberately move slowly in implementation is well-known in classical public administration. Similarly, some reform or development programs have failed because communities refuse or resist them mainly because they were not consulted during the design of such programs. It is the same with the implementation of the 2030 Agenda to achieve SDGs. These need to be domesticated and adopted at local level to align them with the needs and expectation of the people. Finally, in poor countries, heavily dependent on development aid, the ambitious 2030 Agenda will be difficult to implement without official development assistance and other forms of support. The will of development partners both national and international is critical here.

All this goes to say that the concept of total will must replace the rhetoric of political will. It is in line with the 2030 Agenda’s call for engagement, inclusiveness, partnerships, and collaboration as well as leaving no one behind. The most desired, and probably most effective, political will in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is the will to engage all actors in all sectors and at all levels. The work of implementing the 2030 Agenda and achieving the SDGs is too big, too complex, and too important to be left to the will of political leaders in local government alone. All actors must be willing to chip in whatever contribution they have to lead to success. That also is part of leaving no one behind.

Mobilizing for Collective Impact in Implementing the 2030 Agenda

One of the approaches that could lead to this total will to implement the 2030 Agenda and achievement of SDGs in local governments and cities is what is known as the collective impact.¹² “The Collective Impact approach is premised on the belief that no single policy, government department, organisation or program can tackle or solve the increasingly complex social problems we face as a society. The approach calls for multiple organisations or entities from different sectors to integrate their own agenda in favour of a common agenda, shared measurement and alignment of effort. Unlike collaboration or partnership, Collective Impact initiatives have centralised infrastructure known as a backbone organisation with dedicated staff whose role is to help participating organisations shift from acting alone to acting in concert.” Collective impact rhymes with integration that is emphasized in the 2030 Agenda.

Capacity Development

Another aspect of the role of the local governments and cities that is highlighted here is capacity development. All the challenges and all the tasks, functions, and responsibilities that have been dictated by the need to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda and achieve the SDGs will need adequate comprehensive capacities, institutional, human, structural, material, policy, legal frameworks, governance environment, financial, information, modern technology (especially information and communication technologies), partnerships, and others, in order to be successful. Therefore, one of the most critical roles local governance plays is capacity development. Working with research institutions, management development institutions, university faculties, and other local government and city governance and leadership need to intensify the search for better ways of work to implement the agenda and achieve the SDGs at local level. This will further encourage creativity and innovation. However, most importantly, little will be achieved via any capacity development until there is a mind-set change in leadership, people, and public servants both in central government and local-level authorities. Therefore, local-level public administration and leadership competences for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to achieve SDGs in Africa is not only topical but also critical. As part of the efforts of developing local governments’ capacities for effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to achieve the SDGs, there needs to be clarity on what competences, what knowledge, what skills, what institutional arrangements, what structures, what systems, what information technologies, etc. are needed for public administration and leaders in local governments and cities.

Harnessing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

The importance of information and communication technologies in modern governance, public administration and management, service delivery, and sustainable development must be emphasized. If local governments and all their development partners, stakeholders, and actors can leverage technology, especially ICTs, the chances of enhancing transparency, accountability, service delivery, risk assessment, evidence-based policy making, targeting beneficiaries of government work, informing markets, assisting consumer choices, as well as management of natural resources will be greater (Box 6.3).

Box 6.3: Evidence-Based Planning: Map Kibera – Bringing Visibility to Marginalized Communities Through Community Engagement and Open Data

The slum of Kibera, located outside Nairobi, was once considered Africa’s biggest informal urban settlement and was estimated by some to have a population of close to 1 million inhabitants. However, a complete lack of data (official census and household surveys are rarely carried out in such settlements) meant the true figure, as well as conditions within the settlement (what infrastructure and services existed), remained completely invisible. In 2009 a group of independent researchers set up the “Map Kibera project,” which began by conducting door-to-door surveys of the settlement with the aim of mapping the physical and socio-demographic features of the slum. Mapping included not just the information on the people who lived in the slum, but on the infrastructure, such as schools, markets, pathways, clinics, water and electricity points, etc. The mapping estimated that the slum was home to some 235, 000 to 270, 000 inhabitants – far fewer than originally estimated. The disparity between the informal estimates and the figure produced through the project highlighted the fundamental role of frequent and reliable data to set and meet development objectives. Since then, Map Kibera has grown into an interactive community information project aimed at increasing the influence and representation of marginalized communities through the creative use of digital tools for action. Mappers, all young community members, collect data with GPS devices and edit and upload the map information. Not only are they providing a necessary service for the communities that make up the settlement and for local government, but also in the process they are learning valuable skills and training in cutting-edge technology usage. Using open data and software, such as OpenStreetMap, and open source GIS (geospatial information system), they aim to analyze and produce maps that document the location and hours of facilities and services, such as roads, shops, clinics, and schools. Using open technology has also ensured that the project is transferable to similar areas, and in Kenya alone, the project has expanded to map two further informal settlements. (https://mapkibera.org) Source: United Nations Public Service Forum Report 2019 Public (Administration.un.org).

Therefore, among the capacities to be developed in local governments is the comprehensive capacity for digital government because a range of frontier digital technologies can be combined to make the work of local governments in developing their communities not only effective but also a lot easier and quicker. However, the following are some of the aspects of the digital ecosystem that public and private sector institutions are already utilizing to benefit from technology: satellites and drones, cloud and edge computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet, platforms and social media, blockchain technology, open source software and commercial software, mobile phone applications, and others. As the United Nations E-Government Survey of 2018 found out, “E-government improves public services, citizen engagement, and transparency and accountability of authorities at the local level. E-government also strengthens resilience and sustainability and better aligns local government operations with national digital strategies” (2018 UN Government Report).

Conclusion

The chapter has emphasized the view that SDGs need to be achieved at local level since they are targeting the people. The implementation of the 2030 Agenda needs to focus on local communities. Local governments and cities which are closest to local communities need to focus development efforts on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achievement of SDGs because mandates of local governments and cities concern the SDGs. The transformation of the 2030 Agenda needs to take place at local level in local governments and cities. At this level, transformational leadership capacities are required to engineer and sustain transformation in local governments and cities.

Transformational capacities need to be comprehensive including institutions, structures, human resources, changing mind-sets to align them with the principles and values of the 2030 Agenda, facilities, infrastructure, data and information, ICTs, policies, legal frameworks, logistics, financial resources, etc. The now classical mismatch of mandates and resources should be avoided in the context of implementing the 2030 Agenda and achievement of the SDGs. Matching mandates and resources should be part of transformation of governing local governments and cities.

It is important for local governments and cities to focus on achieving the 17 SDGs. There is need to always bear in mind that without inculcating the principles and values enshrined in the 2030 Agenda (integration, equity, leaving no one behind, inclusion, accountability, people focus, innovation, resilience, partnership, collaboration, rule of law, respect for human rights, and others), it is inconceivable that communities in local governments and cities or their leadership can work effectively to achieve SDGs. These principles and values are what make the 2030 Agenda a global strategy for creating good societies.

Many of the principles and values enshrined in the 2030 Agenda have not been priorities in the context of public sector reform programs. To the extent that they are a departure from what has been the norm for quite some time, they need to be entrenched in local government and city governance through intensified and sustained comprehensive capacity development programs targeted at all sectors and at all levels of governance.

Given the enormous benefits of the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in government, local governments and cities provide fertile ground for using ICT to render governance and service delivery effective and tap the potential of ICT for innovation and search for the most successful ways of serving the populations at that level. Therefore, capacity development should give priority to application of digital governments in local governments and cities.