Carmela Silva: “The development of the 2030 Agenda is essential; it is the roadmap for changing a complex world, and to deliver it, it must be driven by the local sphere, as it already is.”

José Hila, President of the Network: “Pontevedra Provincial Council is an example to follow in implementing the SDGs, and one from which town and city councils and provincial councils must learn.”

The Provincial Administration will launch DEPO2030, a travelling exhibition to raise awareness and engage the public on the Sustainable Development Goals, featuring a series of complementary actions and awards recognising commitment to the SDGs.

Vigo, 20 September. Leaders from town and city councils and provincial councils across Spain gathered at Castelo de Soutomaior to hold the Governing Council meeting of the Network of Local Entities for the 2030 Agenda of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP). Choosing the province of Pontevedra to host this meeting recognises the work being carried out by the Provincial Council in delivering the UN action plan and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In fact, the Provincial Administration is a national benchmark in this field thanks to the strategy developed to achieve these goals, both through the Administration’s own action and through collaboration with all the municipalities, particularly rural ones and those with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants—a strategy that mainstreams the SDGs across all its actions.

The Network for the 2030 Agenda currently has nearly 450 member Local Entities seeking to strengthen coordination among Local Governments to achieve better results in implementing the 2030 Agenda and advancing the SDGs at local level. During the presentation, Carmela Silva stressed the importance of “developing the 2030 Agenda”, as it is essential, and highlighted that it is a “roadmap for changing a very complex world, which cannot be fulfilled unless it is driven by the local sphere, as it already is”. For his part, José Francisco Hila Vargas, President of the Network’s Governing Council and Mayor of Palma, signed the Provincial Council’s Book of Honour and stated that Pontevedra Provincial Council is “an example to follow in implementing the SDGs. Town and city councils and provincial councils can learn a great deal from what it is doing”.

DEPO2030

As part of the meeting, it was announced that the call for grants for actions to promote the 2030 Agenda in Local Entities received more than 800 projects from across the country. One of them is DEPO2030, submitted by Pontevedra Provincial Council as part of its awareness-raising work. It is a proposal for a travelling exhibition explaining the SDGs, alongside a series of complementary actions, such as reforestation, a creative action using waste, or litter collection in river or coastal environments; as well as the launch of awards recognising commitment to the SDGs. Another aim of these workshops is to raise public awareness that everyone is also individually responsible, through their daily actions, for delivering the 2030 Agenda. The project has an approximate budget of €400,000.

At its meeting in Castelo de Soutomaior, the Network for the 2030 Agenda’s governing team approved the creation of new SDG–2030 Agenda Working Groups following an open process launched last June, in which Pontevedra Provincial Council is participating alongside 64 other political and technical representatives from Local Entities. Notable among them are the groups “Knowledge tools toolkit”, “Personalised technical advice”, “Good practice programme” and “Train-the-trainers programme”, in which the Provincial Council collaborates actively, as well as “Budget alignment guide” and “Establishing SDG indicators for Local Entities”. It was also announced that the 3rd Assembly and the Conference on Local Leadership to promote the 2030 Agenda will take place in November in Barcelona.

The Governing Council meeting of the FEMP Network of Local Entities for the 2030 Agenda is being held as a prelude to the “SDGs and Sport” event, organised by the Network and Pontevedra Provincial Council, which will take place tomorrow at the Mar de Vigo Auditorium, with the participation of the Secretary of State for Sport and President of the Higher Sports Council, José Manuel Franco. Over these two days, FEMP members will also have the opportunity to discover some of the wonders of the province of Pontevedra, with visits to the Cíes Islands or the Roman Villa of Toralla, among others.

Press release published in Galician by the Press Office of Pontevedra Provincial Council. 20 September