İzmir VLR is a model for Turkey and the world - UN Turkey RC

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) localization and İzmir Voluntary Local Review was discussed at a webinar attended by Alvaro Rodriguez, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Turkey and Izmir Metropolitan Mayor Tunç Soyer.

İzmir Voluntary Local Review constitutes a model and a case study for the local authorities both in Turkey and in other countries said Alvaro Rodriguez speaking at the opening of the webinar.  

Rodriguez congratulated İzmir Metropolitan Mayor Soyer for leading this first urban-level Voluntary Local Review process for the city of İzmir and said “I hope, this VLR will further be replicated and scaled up by other municipalities across Turkey".

“İzmir VLR constitutes a model and a case study for the local authorities both in Turkey and in other countries with its governance structure and participatory mechanisms, partnership models at local, national, and global levels; data management and benchmarking methodologies and the key lessons learned” stated Rodriguez. 

“I attach great value to the Izmir VLR, prepared by the Izmir Sustainable Urban Development Network on a participatory basis and is a first in Turkey at the metropolitan scale. İzmir VLR is a source of hope not only for the transformation of our city, but also for the transformation of our common home and the entire planet” said Mayor Soyer during the webinar . 

İzmir Metropolitan Mayor said he wishes the report would be inspiring for Turkey and all cities of the world and hoped their cooperation with the United Nations organizations will develop further.

The webinar moderated by Bülent Açıkgöz, Partnerships and Development Finance Officer at the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Turkey was organized as a collective effort of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, UN HABITAT, UNDP, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and İzmir Sustainable Urban Development Network. 

UNDP Turkey Resident Representative Louisa Vinton said they are glad to see this very clear sense of eagerness and anticipation of the municipalities across Turkey to start working on localization of SDGs or to pursue the excellent example that İzmir has set.

“I am really seeing huge importance in sharing peer to peer experience from municipality to municipality building on sustainable cities network” she said. 

The global movement of Voluntary Local Reviews is growing exponentially. Cities, local and regional authorities worldwide are using VLRs to track and report on SDG progress.

Martino Miraglia from UN-Habitat and Xavier Longan from UNDP alo spoke during the webinar on the importance of localization of SDGs and the important role of local goverments in this process.  Ruhisu Can Al from İzmir Sustainable Urban Development Network and Sami Serkan Nebioğlu VLR coordinator of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality shared the VLR process and results with the participants.  

Soon English version of the İzmir VLR will be available. Turkish version can be reached from this link: http://www.izmirskga.org/images/izmir-vlr.pdf