2025 VLR-VSR Days

Welcome to the VLR-VSR Days webpage!

Be part of the change!

Join us for the fourth edition of the VLR–VSR Days, happening on 10–11 July 2025 in the framework of the High-Level Political Forum. Coorganized by UCLG, UN-Habitat, and UNDESA, this global gathering is all about unlocking the power of Voluntary Local and Subnational Reviews (VLRs and VSRs) to drive SDG localization forward.

This year’s event will bring together local and regional governments, their networks, national authorities, international bodies, and key development partners to tackle a crucial question: How can VLRs and VSRs evolve from bold commitments into long-term strategies that accelerate systemic, inclusive and locally-led SDG action?

Let’s work together to transform reviews into results—and ambition into action.

Background:

With just 5 years remaining until the 2030 Agenda deadline, the world is on track to meet or is making “moderate” progress on 35% of the 137 SDG targets with available data. The current global landscape, marked by multiple overlapping crises, is jeopardizing the advancement towards sustainable development.

 In this challenging context, local action, always central to the achievement of sustainable development, is more important than ever. As service providers, planners, conveners, and peacebuilders, local and regional governments (LRGs) are essential to safeguarding people and the planet. LRGs and their associations lead territories and local communities’ development paths through the delivery of essential public services such as health, housing, water and sanitation, care, and transport. They do not just implement, they innovate, catalyze, and transform.

Through city diplomacy and active participation in global multilateral spaces, LRGs bring the voices of local communities to international platforms. In doing so, they help align global agendas with local realities and foster more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable societies.

A clear example of this leadership is the pioneering role of LRGs in SDG monitoring and reporting. Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) and Voluntary Subnational Reviews (VSRs) have emerged as a global movement with at least 373 VLRs produced by 283 cities from 66 countries and 45 VSRs produced by LGAs from 38 different countries.

VLRs and VSRs are not just reporting exercises; they are political, transformative, and strategic processes. They support the integration of the SDGs into local planning, budgeting, procurement, data systems, monitoring, evaluation, coordination, and stakeholder engagement. By highlighting progress, identifying gaps, and establishing bold ways forward, these reviews drive local action, deepen democratic governance, foster peer learning, and strengthen advocacy efforts for a more enabling environment at the national and global levels.

The VLR-VSR Days: objective and discussions:

As the VLR and VSR movement matures, it is important to raise the bar: going beyond reporting and considering the long-term impacts, moving from process to real transformation. This means addressing the question of what is needed to scale up successful examples, ensuring VLRs and VSRs do not remain static reports, but spark real, institutional change. Held just ahead of the 2025 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), this fourth edition of the VLR-VSR Days will spotlight three key dimensions of this evolution. The themes will reflect not only where we are, but where we must go:

➜ Multilevel governance and finance: How VLRs and VSRs are reframing decentralization and collective SDG implementation: Strengthening enabling environments for local action.

➜ VLRs and VSRs: Empowering inclusive, participatory, and intersectional sustainable development from the ground up: Deepening democracy and equity in SDG localization.

➜ From policy to impact: Harnessing the potential of the VLRs/VSRs for transformative change: Turning reviews into long-term strategies for sustainable urban development.

This edition seeks to elevate our collective ambition, both in how we learn from one another and in how we strengthen SDG implementation across all levels of governance. Designed to be interactive, cross-cutting, and solution-oriented, the event will bring together a diverse mix of stakeholders. Sessions will encourage active participation, open dialogue, and the co-creation of knowledge. It will also explore what kind of enabling environment is needed to make VLR and VSR results actionable, whether through capacity development, financing, institutionalization, or policy support, so that the transformation they outline is fully realized.

Agenda:

The 4th edition of the VLR-VSR Days will be held online before the official start of the 2025 HLPF (14-23 July), allowing key messages to feed directly into the global conversation. The sessions will take place on 10 and 11 July 2025.

📅 Session 1 (Thursday, 10 July, 14:00 to 15:30 CEST): Official Opening + Multilevel governance and finance: How VLRs and VSRs are reframing decentralization and collective SDG implementation

📅 Session 2 (Thursday, 10 July, 15:45 to 17:00 CEST): VLRs and VSRs: Empowering inclusive, participatory and intersectional sustainable development from the ground up 

📅 Session 3 (Friday, 11 July, 14:00 to 15:30 CEST): From policy to impact: Harnessing the potential of the VLRs/VSRs for transformative change + Official Closing 

Let’s spark ideas, share solutions and shape the future — see you there!

Still got questions? Contact gold@uclg.org from the UCLG World Secretariat and marta.rodomasriera@un.org from UN-Habitat for more information.

Twitter links:

▶️ twitter.com/uclg_org

▶️ twitter.com/unhabitat

▶️ twitter.com/UNDESA

Web links:

▶️ https://powerofwe.uclg.org/

▶️ https://unhabitat.org/

▶️ https://www.un.org/en/desa