Monitoring SDG localisation: an evidence-based approach to standardised monitoring frameworks

This article studies closeness between indicators that local governments use to monitor Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) implementation in their Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) and those included in the standardised set of indicators of the European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Reviews. To do so, it develops an index of ‘indicator proximity’ through a qualitative semantic comparison between 2354 indicators used in a sample of 29 VLRs and the 72 indicators included in the Handbook’s standardised set. The index includes absolute and relative scores, taking into consideration size, comprehensiveness and diversity of the indicator sets included in the sample, as well as the methodological features of the Handbook’s set. The index allows to identify the VLRs with higher or lower proximity to the indicators in the standardised set and the SDGs that elicit a higher or lower degree of closeness between standard metrics and indicators selected or defined by local governments. The output shows that VLRs and the Handbook have an overall significant degree of proximity; that variables such as local government type or size or the size of VLR indicator sets do not provide additional explanation for proximity; and that SDGs that can be monitored with locally accessible and affordable data elicit higher indicator proximity.