Although the sustainable development agenda took a back seat during the pandemic, a region in Spain is still struggling to create an “ecosystem” to achieve global goals locally. To learn more, EURACTIV had a conversation with Marta Marín, representative of the Basque Country Delegation to the European Union.
It will be less than 10 years to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Studies have shown that local and regional authorities are still often marginalized in the monitoring of the implementation of global benchmarks and national coordination.
However, one place that seems to have successfully incorporated the global agenda into its own is the Basque Country in Spain, a densely populated and highly industrialized region with a per capita annual GDP of 36,300 euros, exceeding the EU average of 31,000 euros.
After formulating the political goal of localizing the Sustainable Development Goals in 2016, local governments first looked inward and held seminars to familiarize civil servants at the municipal, provincial, and regional levels with the global framework and benchmarks.
However, this path is full of trial and error.
“We have done a lot of attempts at how to deal with the municipal level, which is very difficult,” said Marín, who pointed out that many different agendas from within have confused local governments, such as the EU’s promotion of Smart City.
“We started to create a consistency, saying’well, nothing new’, but let’s build on what we have been doing [SDG agenda],” said the representative.
The government pays for consultants who help municipalities develop local strategies to implement global goals.
The internal training of civil servants has paid off because it allows towns and provinces to properly monitor benchmark progress and know where to raise taxes and design subsidies in the decentralized fiscal space.
The Basque Country has its own autonomous taxation system, and the provincial government is responsible for tax collection and co-management with the regional government.
According to Marin, the internalization of these goals within the government has also led to “healthy competition” among the three provinces in the region.
“Everyone is taking action on things related to the Sustainable Development Goals, but the difference is that everyone wants to do something about something,” she added.
The government then turned to the private sector.
“In the Basque Country, we are very lucky because our private sector is working hand in hand with governments at all levels,” Marin said. “Because of our exports and the internationalization of all economies, we are very aware of the opportunity to do so [in line with SDGs] Same thing too. “
“They are curious and willing to cooperate,” she added.
According to Marín, it is cooperativism that helps smooth the process, which is part of the “Basque Country Identity”.
The region is home to Mondragon, one of the largest worker cooperative groups in the world. The company generated 12.2 billion euros in revenue in 2019 and is one of Spain’s largest employers with more than 81,000 employees.
It was founded by a pastor in 1956 and is owned by workers. The average wage gap is about 5:1, which means that the general manager’s income is no more than five times that of the lowest-paid person.
Marín explained the “very Basque concept of collaborative work” and her government’s commitment to development through the recent experience of violence in the region.
In the decades before the organization was finally dissolved, the terrorism of the separatist ETA caused hundreds of deaths.
“this is ours Main melody And… in order to overcome our problems and build a very cohesive society,” Marin said.
The government has also developed initiatives with universities, vocational education and training centers, and civil society.
In Marín’s view, cooperation with NGOs is “more complicated”, and industry associations are the easiest to cooperate.
“There are some [NGOs] She said that this is very related to development cooperation, and at the beginning it was like’this is an area where NGOs are very active’.
Nevertheless, according to the European Commission’s research institute, the Basque government’s efforts have paid off.
In its recent learnThe Joint Research Center stated that the Basque method is “a global reference on how to implement and monitor the Sustainable Development Goals at the subnational level.”
The researchers pointed out that the dual purpose of local SDG monitoring is “as a tool for informed decision-making and international diplomacy.” The researchers found that the Basque country’s approach to achieving the SDGs helped the region “reposition itself on the international stage”.
The study concluded that the Basque government “has created a true’SDG ecosystem’ and implemented various actions and initiatives in cooperation with some local institutions and stakeholders.”
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
