Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is the ODSlocal Platform?

The ODSlocal Platform is an initiative that aims to mobilize municipalities and other relevant entities to achieve, at local level, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations Agenda 2030. It was born from a partnership between the National Council for Environment and Sustainable Development (CNADS), OBSERVA (ICS-University of Lisbon), MARE (New University of Lisbon) and 2adapt, and is supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation.

Its objectives are:

  • Mobilize and empower local communities (Municipalities, stakeholders, citizens) for the goals of Agenda 2030;
  • Stimulate the participatory and collaborative construction of "2030 municipal agendas" with defined objectives and concrete and measurable targets;
  • Monitor the performance of municipalities in relation to the SDGs targets through indicators that respect the general perspective proposed by the UN but that also take into account the specificities of each municipality;
  • Map and disseminate reference projects, as well as good municipal practices, and identify their respective impacts on the SDGs;
  • Stimulate partnerships for sustainable development at municipal and inter-municipal level;
  • Facilitate the articulation between information related to the SDGs and the municipalities' management and planning instruments;
  • Facilitate the preparation of Voluntary Municipal Reports on the progress of the SDGs;
  • Reflect and communicate the work done by Municipalities;
  • Publicly distinguish the Municipalities with the best performance or with the most positive evolution trajectories through three initiatives: i) holding an annual national conference, with media projection, ii) awarding the ODSlocal Prize, and iii) awarding the ODSlocal Seal.
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What are the benefits for Municipalities subscribing the advanced version?
Municipalities subscribing to advanced version of the ODSlocal Platform, in addition to the advantages associated with the base version, also have access to the functionalities and support mentioned below.

PORTAL

The ODSlocal portal is a technology-based tool with a private area that allows access to several functionalities:

Municipality Team-possibility for an unlimited number of users to access the private area of the municipality, being able to insert and manage contents related to the respective municipality (the base version limits access to only 1 user);

Specific indicators - possibility of creating an unlimited number of specific indicators related to the municipality, with information from, for example, its administrative databases (the base version does not give access to this possibility)

Good Practices - possibility to create, analyse and disseminate an unlimited number of municipal good practices (the base version only allows the insertion of information about 5 good practices);

Content Export - possibility to export all the content related to the municipality through editable documents such as Excel (database) or Word (synoptic report) (the base version does not give access to this possibility);

Technical support - privileged access to the helpdesk, with the possibility of adapting some functionalities to specific requirements of the municipality (the base version does not give access to this possibility).



CAPACITY BUILDING

Possibility to participate in a Capacity Building Programme for Local Sustainability, evolving over time, which integrates two dimensions:

"ODSlocal - Empowering agents for the 2030 Agenda" - Access to the ODSlocal training package, made available in a mostly online synchronous and asynchronous format, organized by modules related to the 2030 Agenda, aimed at empowering for the territorialization of the SDGs and familiarization with methodologies of broad involvement of local agents. Each module includes three components: video presentations, exercises and case studies.

Municipalities subscribing to the advanced version of the ODSlocal Platform have access to the full contents of the training package (total of 6 modules) and to follow up meetings to answer questions (the basic version only gives access to the first two modules). Access to the training package is open to an unlimited number of municipal technicians.

Local Sustainability Laboratories* - Promotion of Laboratories in the respective municipalities, with local agents and a strong mobilization of young people, ensuring a multigenerational approach, in order to privilege the dialogue on SDGs - Agenda 2030 and the territory, enhancing existing solutions and building networks and partnerships for projects and actions that contribute to local sustainability.



DISCLOSURE

Only municipalities subscribing to the advanced version of the ODSlocal Platform have the possibility to:

ODSlocal Stamps - be awarded the ODSlocal Seals, which distinguish the municipalities with the best performance or with the best evolution dynamics;

Municipal Good Practice Set Award - receiving the award that distinguishes the municipalities with the best set of municipal good practices;

ODSlocal Conference - hosting the annual Conference, whose objective is to promote the 2030 Agenda, giving the stage to municipalities and inspiring local sustainability projects in Portugal;

Dedicated Communication - benefiting from a multi-channel dissemination strategy (newsletter, social networks, events and media);

Voluntary Local Reports* - benefit from support for the preparation of these reports, namely regarding: i) municipal roadmap 2030; ii) mapping of stakeholders; iii) insertion of specific indicators; iv) mapping of good municipal practices.


* Limited to 5 municipalities per year, selected based on the degree of commitment to the 2030 Agenda evidenced, namely through the implementation of the training package "ODSlocal - Empowering agents for the 2030 Agenda" and the loading of contents into the ODSlocal Portal.
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What distinguishes the ODSlocal Platform from other similar initiatives?

The SDGs are a goal that several municipalities have already integrated, in a generic way or in specific areas, in their policies. There are also various entities that collaborate with municipalities and other local actors in order to stimulate the inclusion of the SDGs and their targets in their decisions and priorities. Given the need to bring the SDGs into the daily lives of citizens, municipalities, businesses and organisations, all actions that contribute to this end are necessary and useful.

The Local SDG Platform is distinguished from the various ongoing initiatives by four main characteristics, which complement and reinforce each other: i) comprehensiveness (it includes all SDGs and not just some); ii) local rooting (mobilisation, participation and collaborative construction of indicators and solutions); iii) connectivity (direct articulation of the ODSlocal Platform with municipal platforms, facilitating the daily work of municipal technicians); and iv) access to innovative and rigorous information and knowledge (institutional support by public entities responsible for the production of information and monitoring by a Scientific Council made up of experts in European and international policies).

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What is the difference between the ODSlocal Platform and the ODSlocal Portal?

The ODSlocal Platform includes: i) a dynamic technology-based online portal, ii) a capacity-building plan for municipal agents and iii) a cycle of high media profile events.

The ODSlocal Portal is therefore one of the components of the ODSlocal Platform and is an instrument for monitoring progress indicators and mapping innovative and sustainable practices that contribute to the achievement of the SDGs in Portuguese municipalities by 2030. The ODSlocal Portal allows visualizing and monitoring the contributions and progress of each municipality in relation to the SDGs, with a strict control of the quality of information, an intense involvement of local actors and their respective empowerment, along with a strong commitment to a communication strategy.

The ODSlocal Portal, besides the visible part(front office), is a tool for municipal technicians since it includes features (in the back office) that allow simplifying their work. For example: possibility to organise interdepartmental work teams, create specific targets for the Municipality, quantify municipal practices and analyse their real contribution to the SDGs targets, as well as associate all this information to the municipal Pluriannual Investment Plans, to land use planning instruments or to the preparation of Voluntary Municipal Reports on the progress of the SDGs.

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What kind of information is made available on the ODSlocal Portal?

The information available on the local SDG portal is divided into two components: information relating to the monitoring of progress indicators and information relating to the mapping of innovative and sustainable practices and projects. Monitoring refers to the periodic and automatic recording of indicators that help follow the evolution of compliance with the targets to be achieved in the various SDGs; it includes Reference Indicators (aligned with the UN official indicators) and Specific Indicators (which complement the previous ones and give visibility to relevant aspects for the Municipality). The mapping encompasses the various innovative and sustainable practices promoted by initiatives located in the Municipality that directly contribute to the achievement of the SDGs at local level; it may include projects of non-governmental organizations and companies and also good municipal practices.

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How to search for information on the ODSlocal Portal?

The search for information on the ODSlocal Portal can be directed to Municipalities or to the projects of non-governmental organisations and companies and municipal good practices. Filters by SDG, promoter or municipality are also available, and it is also possible to search by free text.

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Why is there no LocalSDG Municipal Index?
Global indices are useful because they make it possible:

i) synthesize complex situations into a single value (index);

ii) compare and rank different realities based on the same metric;

iii) carry out analyzes of temporal evolutions and monitor progress in relation to pre-established goals;

iv) communicate in a synthetic and simple way the results obtained to non-specialist audiences;

v) more effectively influence both public and private decision-makers, as well as citizens in general. For example, SDG Index by Jeffrey Sachs and his team allows you to analyze and compare progress in more than 150 countries.

Why doesn't the LocalSDG Platform build an ODS index for Portuguese municipalities? Due to the combined effect of three types of reasons:

i) On the one hand, the 2030 Agenda is quite comprehensive, including 17 diverse SDGs that, in practice, often prove to be contradictory to each other. For example, positive results in terms of economic growth can be obtained at the expense of negative social and environmental impacts. The potential hiding effect of a global index in relation to the tensions that exist between the way of achieving different objectives and goals is greater the more diverse and contradictory these are. To avoid the cloaking effect inherent in any global index, Sustainable Society Index published regularly by the Sustainable Society Foundation, is made up of three autonomous dimensions (human well-being, environmental well-being and economic well-being) that are not subsequently aggregated into a single index. This option allows you to identify the existence of possible tensions between the three dimensions considered.

ii) On the other hand, the 2030 Agenda has universal application, meaning that the objectives, targets and respective progress indicators must be the same. The application of the same global index to very different realities leads to comparisons between structurally very diverse situations, which may encourage, especially among less specialized audiences, incorrect and unfair interpretations regarding the relative positioning occupied by each of the realities under analysis. To avoid this interpretive bias effect, several comparative studies focus on a small number of key indicators, with the 2030 Agenda itself assuming that countries, regions and cities define different priorities (SDGs and targets). depending on your characteristics, needs and ambitions.

iii) Additionally, the construction of global indices at a local scale faces specific problems of a technical nature. The scarcity of adequate information at the municipal scale means that the various SDGs have very uneven coverage in terms of the number and robustness of indicators. On the other hand, at a local scale, the existing structural differences are more evident, which makes them incomparable (coastal municipalities vs. interior, rural territories in regression vs. metropolitan areas, etc.). Global sustainability indices at the municipal level from a comprehensive and universal perspective such as that of the 2030 Agenda are, therefore, too fragile, as they are very dependent on available information, and possibly not very relevant, given the existing local diversity. They do not, therefore, guarantee the conditions of robustness, adequacy and reliability that, without compromising the necessary rigor, allow taking advantage of the advantages of simplification, comparison and communication that are possible to obtain in particular domains and on broader scales.

Taking into account the limitations and risks indicated and the erroneous interpretations it may generate, the LocalSDG Platform chooses not to provide a global sustainability index at the municipal scale. Therefore, there is no synthetic index that hierarchizes the 308 Portuguese municipalities, identifying the relative position occupied by each of them. Alternatively, tiers are defined based on the proportion of indicators that have already reached the target values in all SDGs (see report "SDGs and Territorial Disparities").

Avoiding hierarchical rankings, which focus attention on the worst and best classified municipalities regardless of their starting situation and real context, is a strategy adopted by the LocalSDG Platform to promote Intramunicipal comparison (comparing the current situation of each municipality with its past ) instead of the usual intermunicipal comparison (between municipalities). The focus must be on the actions that lead to the progress of each municipality from the point of view of its evolution.
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Mobilising and Empowering

Who can join the ODSlocal Platform?

Only Municipalities can join the ODSlocal Platform, doing so by signing a Letter of Commitment. However, all civil society actors (e.g. non-governmental organisations, companies, citizen groups) are invited to submit sustainable and innovative projects to the ODSlocal Portal by filling in a form, as long as they meet the admission criteria defined in "What kind of projects can be mapped?".

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I am a Municipality, how can I join the ODSlocal Platform?

To adhere to the ODSlocal Platform the Municipalities must: i) sign the Letter of Commitment adhering to the ODSlocal Platform and ii) appoint a senior technician responsible for the articulation of the Municipality with the ODSlocal Platform (focal point).

Regarding the ODSlocal Portal, there are two subscription options:

Base Version - By subscribing to the Letter of Commitment integrating the ODSlocal Platform, the Municipality is entitled to:

  • Basic access to the ODSlocal Portal: user account and project moderation;
  • Access to contents and automatic update of indicators;
  • Addition of up to 5 municipal Good Practices;
  • Integration and access to the online platform's general exhibition.

Advanced version - By subscribing to the Letter of Commitment integrating the ODSlocal Platform, the Municipality is entitled, in addition to the functionalities of the simplified version mentioned above, to the following additional functionalities:

  • Premium access to the monitoring tool, with the possibility of creating new specific indicators;
  • Possibility to disseminate and manage good municipal practices;
  • Possibility to create and manage an interdepartmental and integrated team that interacts with differentiated responsibilities;
  • Access to a simplified tool for exporting data and graphics;
  • Access to the synoptic report generation tool;
  • Access to helpdesk and technical support;
  • Integration and access to the platform's premium media projection;

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Does the ODSlocal Platform have legal personality?

No. The Platform is made up of several entities with legal personality and contracting for the purchase of services must be made to one or more of the entities that constitute it, namely:

  • Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon/ICS-ULisboa (NIPC 506101347);
  • NOVA.ID.FCT - Association for Innovation and Development of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the New University of Lisbon (NIPC 513010661);
  • 2adapt - Serviços de Adaptação Climática, Lda. (NIPC 514323256);

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I am a citizen, can I join the ODSlocal Platform?

Only Municipalities may join the ODSlocal Platform. However, all civil society actors, who have independently contributed a lot to the achievement of the SDGs, are invited to add their projects to the ODSlocal Portal and map, by filling in a form , the innovative and sustainable actions underway in the field, which will give them greater visibility and notoriety.

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How will the local SDG Platform engage with stakeholders?

In order to boost the mobilisation of municipalities and citizens for the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, taking advantage of the systematisation of data and knowledge that the Portal will allow, a plan to mobilise the various agents for local sustainability is planned, with different formats:

  • Preparatory actions - Contact with technicians dedicated to the project to be appointed by the municipalities; identification and mobilization of key actors in the various municipalities.
  • Capacity-building actions - Holding sessions by regions addressed to the technicians appointed by each municipality (methodological and thematic capacity-building).
  • Collaborative sessions - Holding sessions in each of the Intermunicipal Communities (CIM) for municipal technicians and local key actors previously identified. The collaborative workshops aim to mobilize and build capacity for the SDGs and for the Local SDG Portal, and to give visibility to local sustainability projects underway. These collaborative sessions will seek to leverage local experience and create synergies between the different local actors, ensuring comprehensiveness, transversality and continuity.
  • Intermunicipal Monitoring Council - Creation of a Council per CIM, aiming at: i) the exchange of experiences and good practices regarding the implementation of the SDGs at local level; ii) the stimulation of local, sub-regional, regional and national sustainability networks; and iii) the continuity of the project's objectives after its first three years of operation.
  • Workshops - Holding sessions in each of the NUTS 2 regions to present the results and evaluate the usefulness and replicability of the local SDG Platform, stimulating the expansion of the network of municipalities.

It is also foreseen the possibility of the promotion of:

  • Sustainability Laboratories - Training geared towards the acquisition of skills and knowledge about the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, as well as methodologies and collaborative group dynamics. The aim is for trainees to foster an effective expansion of the Platform, as facilitators and multipliers in the field.
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Monitoring progress indicators

What progress indicators are considered for monitoring purposes?

Monitoring includes objective, reliable, representative and comparable information on the resources used and the ends achieved, allowing the municipality's progress to be tracked in each of the targets defined for each progress indicator. Two major groups of indicators were considered:

  • Common Reference Indicators - Indicators common to all Municipalities in Portugal, whose selection is the responsibility of the ODSlocal Platform, that are at the basis of the Municipality's polar chart and that respect the following criteria:
    Alignment - Indicators directly aligned with those of the United Nations or, when their absence or national and/or municipal specificities so require, alternative indirect indicators(proxy);
    Diachrony - Indicators that register the changes occurred throughout time (time series), ensuring compatible collection methods and information relative to several distinct moments;
    Disaggregation - indicators disaggregated at the municipal scale, in order to ensure a reliable and comparable characterisation of each municipal territory.
    Representativeness - Indicators that have data for most municipalities (with the exception of SDG14 - "Protect marine life")
    Credibility - Indicators whose source of information is national public entities (e.g. INE - National Statistics Institute) and other institutions that produce and/or supply national statistical information (e.g. directorates-general and public institutes) with data obtained rigorously and with comparable methodologies
  • Specific Indicators - Indicators with two types of information sources - national databases (ODSlocal Specific Indicators) and databases of the municipality itself or of other local entities, which should take responsibility for the continuity and reliability of the information (Municipal Specific Indicators). These sources complement the reference indicators defined for each SDG and respective goals.

    The specific indicators, whose selection is the responsibility of the municipalities, translate the particularities and strengths of each municipality and therefore vary from municipality to municipality. However, it is expected that, within the scope of the interactions that this initiative will generate, the Municipalities will inspire each other, which may lead to the more or less generalized adoption of some of the specific indicators.

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How are baseline and target values for indicators determined?

Given the multiplicity of progress indicators in relation to the different goals of the 17 SDGs, it was necessary to consider several criteria to define both the baseline values (starting reference - 2015 - against which the evolution of each indicator is calculated) and the target values (desirably achieved by 2030).

The definition of the baseline value for each indicator is based on one of the following criteria:

A. The 5% or 95% percentile (depending on whether the indicator target-value is ascending or descending) of the range of municipalities' values in the reference year (2015 or nearest year) is considered, since it is a not very ambitious value (only 5% of municipalities in 2015 had already reached this target value), but possible.

B. In specific cases, when the specificity of the indicator requires it, the ODSlocal Platform team will define the baseline value.

The definition of the target value for each indicator is based on one of the following 4 criteria:

A. Use of the value indicated in the respective UN target, whenever relevant for Portugal and whenever information is available.

B. If it is impossible to apply the previous criterion, use the value stipulated in national and/or supranational (EU) programmes, plans or strategies.

C. In the impossibility of applying the previous criteria, the 5% or 95% percentiles (depending on whether it is an ascending or descending indicator) of the range of values of the municipalities in the reference year (2015 or nearest year) are considered, since it is an ambitious value (95% of municipalities in 2015 were below this target value) but possible (5% of municipalities in 2015 had already reached this target value).

D. When the specificity of the indicator requires it, the ODSlocal Platform team will define the target value.

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Which indicators are considered in the municipal radar chart?

The only indicators considered for the construction of the municipal radar graph are the reference indicators. The length of the radius related to each SDG is composed of the number of reference indicators in cumulative form and arithmetic proportion, and its magnitude is given by the last value observed in relation to the respective base value and target value.

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How to interpret the indicators?

The signage for each benchmark indicator aims to reflect its performance taking into account: (i) the definition of the limit values (baseline and target value), (ii) the normalisation of values and (iii) the analysis of the performance of municipalities at two levels: a) distance to the target value and b) evolution of the observed trend, as represented in the figure below:



Distance to target value:

It refers to the positioning of the observed value of the most recent year in relation to the base value and the target value. The result is evaluated according to four classes:

a. Class "Achieved " - green sign: means that "the most recent observed value of the "municipality" has already reached the 2030 target value."

b. "Excellent performance " class - yellow sign: means that "the most recent observed value of the "municipality" has not yet reached the target value, but is more than halfway between the base value and the 2030 target value."

c. "Positive performance " class - orange sign: means that "the most recent observed value of the "municipality" is better than the baseline value, but is less than halfway between the baseline value and the 2030 target value."

d. Class "Negative performance " - red sign: means that "the most recent observed value of the "municipality" falls short of the base value."


Trend evolution:

Analyses the "evolution of the trend" and refers to the value of the indicator in 2030 if the trend observed in the recent past is maintained, that is, the positioning of the intersection value in the year 2030 taking into account the projection of the linear regression from all the values observed since 2015. The result is evaluated according to four classes:

a. Class "Will reach " - up arrow: means that "If the observed trend continues, the "municipality" will reach the target value by 2030."

b. Class "Excellent dynamic " - upward arrow: means that "If the observed trend continues, the "municipality" will not reach the target value, but will be more than halfway between the base value and the 2030 target value."

c. Class "Positive dynamics " - horizontal arrow: means that "If the observed trend continues, the "municipality" will not reach the target value, and will be less than halfway between the baseline and the 2030 target value."

d. Class "Negative dynamics " - down arrow: means that "If the observed trend continues, the "municipality" will not reach the target value and will fall short of the baseline value in 2030."

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Mapping of projects and good practices

What distinguishes the local Projects from municipal Good Practices?

The Local SDG Platform will seek to map all the actions that contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, whether they are Good Practices developed by municipalities or local Projects promoted by any collective entity, except the municipalities (schools, non-governmental organizations, companies, etc.).

The distinction between these two types of actions is based on the following criteria:

- Promoting entity: good practices are promoted by municipalities and projects by collective entities;

- Scope: good practices correspond to initiatives that may cover the entire municipality, while project must be geo-localized.

For both types of actions (municipal good practices and local projects) an attempt will be made to quantify their impact on the achievement of targets, measured through their contribution to the assessment of progress indicators.

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What kind of projects can be mapped?

Sustainable and original projects that meet the following criteria are eligible for the ODSlocal Portal:

  • Current - those in progress and with activity in the last year;
  • Regular - which have a duration of at least 1 year; events of a one-off nature are not eligible;
  • Consequential - that have a concrete (measurable) impact and are aligned with the SDGs targets;
  • Systemic - that contribute positively to targets of at least three different SDGs;
  • Collective - corresponding to practices implemented by entities, alone or in partnership with other civil society entities or with citizens; individual citizens' initiatives are not eligible;
  • Bottom-up - that are promoted by local actors based on the endogenous potential of the region where they are located;
  • Geo-referencable - that are visible and accessible to the public so that they can inspire other projects; virtual projects (e.g. websites) are not eligible.

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Can projects located in Municipalities that have not yet joined the ODSlocal Platform be registered?

Regardless of a Municipality's adhesion to the ODSlocal Platform, civil society actors can submit sustainable and innovative projects to the ODSlocal Portal by filling in a form as long as they meet the defined admission criteria (see What kind of projects can be mapped?).

The ODSlocal team will ensure the compliance of the submissions with the established criteria, in case the Municipality concerned is not a signatory of the ODSlocal Platform.

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What are good municipal practices?

Local authorities have been promoting various initiatives that promote the SDGs (e.g. measures to support disadvantaged families; gender equality in the governing bodies; encouragement of education for reforestation, etc.).

This tool aims to map all these actions in a structured way and quantify their impact. Only Municipalities can add their good practices in the ODSlocal Portal.

Municipal good practices that are:

  • Current - those that are active;
  • Regular - with an expected duration of at least 3 years. In the case of events, those that do not have a regular periodicity are not eligible;
  • Consequential - with practical (measurable) impact and aligned with the SDGs targets;
  • Systemic - that is, contributing positively to the goals of at least three different SDGs.

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Quality control

How is the quality control of the information presented ensured?

The ODSlocal Platform has a Scientific Council which aims to ensure and validate, from a technical and scientific point of view, the options adopted in the monitoring, such as:

  • Selection of relevant indicators taking into account the latest international and national publications on policies, SDGs and indicators;
  • Credibility of information sources used;
  • Technical and scientific robustness of the proposed indicators;
  • Adequacy with the specific goals of the SDGs.

For the creation of Progress Indicators, Reference Indicators are used whose information comes from official sources (public entities). As for the Specific Indicators, information from official sources and information from the responsibility of Municipalities or other local entities is used, provided that they guarantee the necessary regularity and reliability.

The information on projects from non-governmental organisations and companies is the responsibility of those entities and its admissibility is dependent on prior verification of its compliance with the seven pre-defined criteria. Information on the mapping of good municipal practices is the responsibility of municipalities and will have to comply with the four admissibility criteria mentioned above.

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Enhancing and disseminating

How is information valued and disseminated?

The ODSlocal Platform values and disseminates information through the processing of data and the creation of infographics, the use of different dissemination channels, such as the Newsletter, and the organization of an Annual Conference. In this event, the ODSlocal Awards (categories Municipal Practices and Local Projects) and the ODSlocal Seals (categories Municipal Performances and Municipal Dynamics) of each year will be announced and delivered.

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What are the Local SDG Awards?

The ODSlocal Awards are a distinction that includes two categories:


Municipal Practices for SDGs: this category aims to give visibility to municipalities that implement the best set of good practices in municipal services (actions, programmes, etc. promoted by the Municipality itself) or highlight a good practice that proves to have a relevant impact on achieving the goals of one or more SDGs at local level;


Local Projects for the SDGs: this category awards civil society projects mapped on the ODSlocal Portal that have a relevant impact on the achievement of the SDGs on a local scale, that are inspiring and have a high replicability potential.

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How is the ODSlocal Award given - Municipal Practices category

The ODSlocal Award - Municipal Practices includes two subcategories: i) Municipalities with the best set of Good Practices and ii) Municipalities with the best individual Good Practice. The Good Practices of municipalities subscribing to the ODSlocal Platform are considered eligible if, by the established deadline, they are presented in the ODSlocal portal and if they comply with the criteria criteria defined for this purpose. The information entered by the applicants in the ODSlocal Portal is considered reliable.


Subcategory Municipalities with the best set of Good Practices in local authority services.

The municipalities are selected from an order based on the value of an index composed of two components:

(i) Quantity of good practices - total number of good practices of the municipality in relation to the maximum number of good practices visible in a municipality in the ODSlocal Portal and has a relative weight of 40%; and

ii) Diversity of good practices - Simpson index, which considers the proportion of total evaluations with a relevant and positive impact on each SDG; the greater the diversity of good practices, taking into account the relative distribution among the different SDGs, the higher the index will be and has a relative weight of 60%.


Subcategory Municipalities with best individual good practice

The municipalities are selected from an ordering of good practices based on the Relevance Index they present.

The Relevance Index is a composite index, which varies between "0" and "1", based on three criteria:

i) Information Quality: evaluates the completion of the optional fields (images; keywords; website) and has a relative weight of 20%;

ii) Impacts: evaluates the impacts described and has a relative weight of 35%;

iii) Systemic Nature: assesses the number of major SDG domains impacted (Planet, People, Prosperity, Peace, Partnerships) and has a relative weight of 45%.

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How is the ODSlocal Award given - Local Projects category

Projects from any municipality in the country that by the indicated deadline are visible on the ODSlocal Portal and in compliance with the contest requirements are considered eligible (see Call Notice 2022).


Admitted applications are ordered according to the Relevance Index they present.

The Relevance Index is a composite index, ranging from "0" to "1", constructed from four criteria:


i) Quality of Information: evaluates the completion of the optional fields (images; keywords; website) and has a relative weight of 20%;

ii) Impacts: evaluates the impacts described and has a relative weight of 40%;

iii) Reach: evaluates the range of people to be involved or impacted according to categories predefined in the form and has a relative weight of 20%;

iv) Systemic nature: assesses the number of broad SDG domains impacted (Planet, People, Prosperity, Peace, Partnerships) and has a relative weight of 20%.


The information entered by the applicants in the ODSlocal Portal in relation to each of the projects applied for is considered reliable.


The seven applications with the highest score in each of the following SDG domains are selected as finalists: Planet (SDG 6, 12, 13, 14 and 15), People (SDG 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) and Prosperity (SDG 7; 8; 9; 10 and 11). Only one application per municipality in the same category will be considered.

The ODSlocal Award is given to the application best ranked by the Jury (see composition of Jury 2021) in each of these three SDG domains.

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What is the Local ODS Label?

The ODSlocal Seal is a certification that aims to distinguish the ODSlocal Municipalities that have subscribed to the advanced version of commitment to the ODSlocal Platform and includes two categories:


  • Municipal Performances: category that distinguishes the ODSlocal Municipalities with top performances, valuing the best overall scores.


  • Municipal Dynamics: category that values ODSlocal Municipalities that show the most positive evolution dynamics since 2015 in the progress indicators of the ODSlocal Portal.

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How are the Municipalities selected for the ODSlocal Seal? - Municipal Performances category

The municipalities are selected on the basis of the following set of procedures:

(i) Assessment, for the various benchmark indicators of each municipality, of the position (class) relative to the respective "distance to target value";

ii) Attribution of a value to each of the classes: "Achieved" class = 3; "Excellent performance" class = 2; "Positive performance" class = 1; "Negative performance" class = 0;

iii) Summing, for each of the municipalities, of the scores per classes attributed to the various reference indicators;

iv) Weighting of the score obtained by the number of indicators considered;

v) Descending order of the municipalities according to their final weighted score;

vi) Selection of the municipalities with a value greater than 1.7.

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How are the Municipalities selected for the ODSlocal Seal - Municipal Dynamics category?

The municipalities are selected on the basis of the following set of procedures:

(i) Assessment, for the various benchmark indicators of each municipality, of the position (class) relative to the respective "trend evolution";

ii) Attribution of a value to each of the classes: "Will achieve" class = 3; "Excellent dynamics" class = 2; "Positive dynamics" class = 1; "Negative dynamics" class = 0;

iii) Summing, for each one of the municipalities, of the scores per classes attributed to the various reference indicators;

iv) Weighting of the score obtained by the number of indicators considered;

v) Descending order of the municipalities according to their final weighted score;

vi) Selection of the municipalities with a value greater than 1.7.

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Link between portals

Is it possible to link databases to the ODSlocal Portal?

Yes, it is possible, but it should be considered on a case-by-case basis. To do so, please send an email to info@odslocal.pt

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Is it possible to export graphics or maps?

Yes, it is possible. To do this simply send an email with your request to info@odslocal.pt

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Partnerships

How can NGOs contribute to the local SDG Platform?

NGOs can contribute in different ways to the dynamisation of the Local SDG Platform, namely by mobilising civil society to achieve the 2030 Agenda, by submitting to the Local SDG Portal sustainable and innovative projects that contribute to the achievement of the SDGs at local level (form) and by establishing thematic or local partnerships with the Local SDG Platform.

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Can organisations which are not based in the national territory join the ODSlocal Platform?

The current commitment of the ODSlocal Platform is with Portuguese Municipalities. However, it is not excluded that, in a second phase and in ways to be defined, partnerships may be established with entities from other countries or of international and supranational scope.

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Can entities that are part of the central or decentralized administration join the ODSlocal Platform?

Only Municipalities can adhere to the ODSlocal Platform and sign the Letter of Commitment. However, the objective of the Local SDG Platform is to stimulate and establish partnerships in the territory of each Municipality that involve not only local entities but also sub-regional, regional or national entities that, due to their competences, are important for the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda in each Municipality.

Central or decentralised administration entities wishing to establish a partnership with the ODSlocal Platform should express their interest by contacting this initiative's team directly or by sending a message to info@odslocal.pt

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How can Higher Education Institutions contribute to the Local SDG Platform?
Universities and Polytechnics may contribute to the dynamisation of the Local SDG Platform, namely by mapping and submitting the actions they are implementing (form) to the Local SDG Portal, supporting Municipalities in the mobilisation of citizens, capitalising on their knowledge and integrating them in the process of implementing the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda at local level or by establishing partnerships within the scope of methodological and thematic capacity building actions directed at the technicians appointed by each Municipality.
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Analysing and reporting

Is the development of Voluntary Local Reports (VLR=Voluntary Local Review) planned?

The development of the automatic reporting functionality on the portal is foreseen, which will allow the systematisation of existing data and a preliminary analysis in a simple and flexible way. The result may constitute a good basis for the elaboration of documents such as Voluntary Local Reports ( VLR=Voluntary Local Review) whose elaboration obeys specific rules that imply a non-automated analysis.

It is predictable that the dynamics that will be established in the scope of the Sustainability Laboratories, which will value the sustainability actions of civil society and citizens, may give rise to some type of report that this portal functionality may support.

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Is it planned to report this project to the UN?

While there is no mandatory reporting, the 2030 Agenda encourages Member States to "undertake regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and subnational levels" and stresses that "monitoring and review at the regional and sub-regional levels can provide useful opportunities for peer learning, including through voluntary reviews, sharing of good practices and discussion on shared goals". One of the objectives of the Local SDG Platform is to facilitate the preparation of Voluntary Municipal Reports on SDG progress, which can be built on the information generated by the Local SDG Platform and complemented with the analysis required for submission to the UN.

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Is any articulation of progress indicators with national targets foreseen?

For some progress indicators, local level targets are directly linked to national targets (see "How are baseline and target values for indicators determined? ").

For example, in the case of the target for the reduction of greenhouse gases, the value is that adopted in the National Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030, i.e. a 50% reduction by 2030 compared to the 2005 value.

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