Mainstreaming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into Local Development Planning: A Comparative Study of Adentan and Lankwantanang- Madina Municipal Assemblies.

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted in September 2015 represent a challenging worldwide action plan that aims to end poverty, achieve gender equality, in diverse dimensions, promote decent work among others. The International community agreed on 17 SDG which is very impressive in its content. Global realization of the SDGs by 2030 is highly dependent on the localization and effective implementation of the goals, yet little is known about diverse perspective of SDG localization and challenges involved. It is in response to this that the study examines the magnitude to which SDGs have been integrated into local development plan using Adentan and La-Nkwantanang Madina as a case study. A qualitative method with an interview of 20 key informants was adopted. The study developed a conceptual framework which was used to examine Adentan and La-Nkwantanang municipal on SDG mainstreaming. The study also did a critical analysis of the medium term development plans of the two municipals to comparatively identify which among the two municipals have effectively mainstreamed the SDGs. The findings from the study disclosed that the authorities are aware of the SDGs. The majority of the SDGs (1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,13,14,16 and 17) have been integrated into the local development plan of the two Assemblies. However SDG 7 and 15 were of no interest to the two municipal and SDG 12 in the case of La-Nkwantanang Madina municipal. The findings further indicated that financing, low awareness of the relevance of the SDGs among the communities in two municipalities and bureaucracy are the major challenges of SDG mainstreaming at the local level. The study proposed a framework which extends the theory of change on effective SDG mainstreaming and can be added to other existing framework on SDG mainstreaming at the local level addressing the challenges and needs of SDG mainstreaming for development initiative and may inform future research in mainstreaming and planning.