Mainstreaming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into Local Development Planning: Lessons from Adentan Municipal Assembly in Ghana

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted in September 2015 represent a challenging worldwide action plan that aims to end poverty, achieve gender equality, in diverse dimensions, promote decent work among others. Global realization of the SDGs by 2030 is highly dependent on the localization and effective implementation of the goals, yet little is known about diverse perspective of SDG localization and challenges involved. It is in response to this that the study examines the magnitude to which SDGs have been integrated into local development planning using Adentan municipal as a case study. A qualitative method with an in-depth interview of 20 key informants was adopted. The study developed a conceptual framework which was used to examine Adentan municipal Assembly on SDG mainstreaming. The study also did a critical analysis of the medium-term development plan of the municipal assembly to identify how the Assembly has effectively mainstreamed the SDGs at the local level. The findings from the study revealed that the authorities are aware of the SDGs. Majority of the targets in SDGs (1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,13,14,16 and 17) have been integrated into the local development plan of the Assembly. However, SDG 7 and 15 were of no interest to the municipal. The findings further indicated that financing, low awareness of the relevance of the SDGs among the citizens in the municipality and bureaucracy are the major challenges of SDG mainstreaming at the local level. The study proposed a framework which extends the theory of change on effective SDG mainstreaming and can be added to other existing framework on SDG mainstreaming at the local level to address the challenges and needs of SDG mainstreaming for development initiative and may inform future research in mainstreaming and planning.