admin 
The Lagos State Government, through the Office of SDGs and Investment and in conjunction with BCG Consulting Group, has concluded plans to deliver the first Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) for the State with a workshop organised for SDGs Champions in Ministries, Departments and Agencies on the guiding elements for the production of VLRs report.
Speaking at the One-Day Workshop held at Alausa, Ikeja, the Special Adviser, Office of Sustainable Development Goals and Investment, Mrs. Solape Hammond stated that the workshop is essential for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the State.
According to her, it is essential for Champions which comprises Enumerators and Supervisors of development projects and interventions in MDAs to understand the core objectives of the exercise and the intentions of the state government on developmental policies.
She explained that the Voluntary Local Review will give the State a chance to reflect on the strength and challenges in the implementation of SDGs in Lagos Sunderlinestate, highlighting connections between issues and trends with high evidence.
“This exercise will promote engagement with citizens and build consensus on evidence-based policymaking, noting that it will inspire local action by connecting the citizens with the global effort to forge a better world”, she said.
The Special Adviser, who was represented at the occasion by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on SDGs, Mr. Lekan Fatodu, stated that the workshop will support building the skills and knowledge of the participants toward executing the VLRs project. She challenged them to be focused and committed to delivering the assignment on schedule.
In her words, “The VLR underlines the State’s commitment to the global agenda. Achieving the SDGs requires local action and local monitoring. Luckily, the state has a functional and effective monitoring and evaluation office that continuously measured progress on all the state’s sustainable projects. The State will be working with the renowned BCG Consulting Group, NGOs, Local Governments and academia, to gauge how we’re measuring up on a selection of SDGs targets”, she submitted.
Hammond, who explained that the survey will lead the way to just, equal and sustainable communities through tangible strategies to improve citizens’ lives, maintained that government and citizens must keep an outward look at their roles in addressing global current challenges.
While emphasising that the project will last for 12 weeks, he enjoined participants to see it as a call to duty and show extreme commitment to the collective efforts to generate a useful and usable Voluntary Local Reviews Report in line with global standards and best practices.
Highlighting some of the benefits of the VLRs, the lead consultant for the project, Mr. Yinka Majekodunmi, from BCG Consulting group, explained that VLR is a very important monitoring tool for the implementation of SDGs at the local level in a more transparent way.
He stated further that the survey will help communities and local decision-makers to focus on the area that requires the most effort and direct future choices and future funding, stressing that it will also translate the SDGs into concrete social solutions and provide a global language to local issues, through the lens of SDGs.
