Monitoring Implementation of SDGs at County level through SDG Champions

The Sustainable Development Goals are based on the principle of universality, where every country contributes towards achieving the larger vision of economic growth, social inclusion, environmental protection and fostering peaceful societies. It encourages everyone to take bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. And it implies that all relevant actors must go beyond a business-as-usual approach to achieve this change. To achieve this, UNDP in partnership with the Council of Governors trained County Government officials in charge of planning to become the SDG champions of the county and ensure that they localize the SDGs to fit within the national and local development context

“In order to achieve in the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, Kenya, like many developing countries has established that local dimension of development has to be linked with global and national concerns” said UNDP Economic Advisor, Rodgers Dhliwayo

“All the SDGs have targets that are directly or indirectly related to the functions of the County Governments and therefore realization of the SDGs in Kenya will only happen with the localization of the SDGs at county levels” added Ken Olouch, the Council of Governors SDG coordinator.

The SDG Champions will steer the implementation at the county and support periodic tracking and reporting and galvanize the gains made to ensure the county is on track in its achievement. The SDGs champions will also support awareness creation in the implementation of the SDGs and rally active participation of all stakeholders in working towards the attainment of the SDGs.

UNDP has committed to offer support to the counties to prepare County Voluntary Reviews, where counties will share progress made, challenges faced and actions taken to ensure no one is left behind