Hauptnavigation

'We've become friends'

Results Conference for the Pilot Phase of the 'Municipal Partnerships for Sustainability'

In the group photo we see the roughly 80 participants at the results conference of the pilot phase of the 'Municipal Partnerships for Sustainability' project in Belgrade.
More than 70 participants from twelve municipal partnerships for sustainability met at the results conference in Belgrade. Photo: Srdjan Plavsic

Belgrade, 28 to 30 November 2018. Following two years of constructive cooperation, the pilot phase of the 'Municipal Partnerships for Sustainability' project drew to a close in wintry Belgrade. Twelve partnerships between South-East European and German municipalities had spent two years aligning their cooperation with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. 'You are pioneers. Together with your partners, you have blazed a trail. And we've been effective as a result', said Jessica Baier, the Service Agency's Department Head for Thematic Partnerships and Localising the 2030 Agenda, as she acknowledged the municipalities' dedication. Since early 2017 the municipal teams have been developing a whole range of ideas for implementation, and have conducted first pilot measures designed to help operationalise the transformation for more sustainability agreed in the 2030 Agenda. Examples include school projects for establishing solar-powered mobile charging stations in Ingolstadt (Germany) and Kragujevac (Serbia), unsealing land and planting trees for an 'environmentally sound motorway for insects and birds’ in Kirchhain (Germany) and Viti (Kosovo), or the joint work on master plans for sustainable urban development in Leipzig (Germany) and Travnik (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

All these pilot activities were linked to the goal of raising awareness of the SDGs and getting citizens on board for local sustainability. They produced a wide array of event formats and educational materials for various target groups – including the ‘Multicoloured market for sustainability' (an event for raising public awareness), a poetry slam, a graffiti project, and various kinds of games for children and teenagers. The municipalities were very keen to swap their proven project ideas for publicising and implementing the 2030 Agenda, and pass them on for others to use, in a spirit of 'grab whatever you like’. As one participant put it when talking about the work of the project to date, 'All this is seismic. There's a whole lot going on under the surface. Passing it on is certainly a good thing.'

This picture shows two people – representing the partner municipalities of Zemun and Offenbach – at Zemun town hall. They are presenting a brochure containing information and helpful hints on starting up a business.
The visit to Zemun town hall included the presentation of a brochure on business start-ups. Photo: Srdjan Plavsic

The conference in Belgrade also took a look at relationships within the partnerships themselves. Over the course of the project, reciprocal missions and network meetings have helped build partnerships between the municipalities, and make sustainability an integral part of existing relationships. 'We've become friends, because we share the aspiration to protect nature's beauty and people's happiness and wellbeing', said Tanja Kukobat, Head of the Office for Sustainable Development in Zemun (Belgrade), as she summed up the entire process of the partnership with the German municipality of Offenbach am Main. Given the importance of the peer-to-peer and personal level in the work of the partnerships, the conference agenda also included a joint excursion. A tour of Belgrade's Great War Island nature reserve at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, and a visit to the town hall in the Municipality of Zemun, provided participants with further opportunities to chat and compare notes.

Finally, the municipalities took a look ahead. The municipal partnerships for sustainability agreed the next steps for their joint work on the 2030 Agenda. For this purpose they took home with them information on opportunities to obtain financial and advisory support over the two-year project period.

Back