Every year in September, VVSG (the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities) organizes the Week of the Sustainable Municipality. Participating local governments celebrate local heroes for sustainable development; these are organizations, schools, businesses and individual citizens who in their daily lives or work contribute to a more sustainable community and world. During the campaign week, local governments also raise the SDG-flag and organize activities together with their local heroes to raise awareness on the 2030 Agenda amongst their population. VVSG supports participating municipalities by providing an extensive campaign manual: How to participate in the campaign? How to select local sustainable heroes? How to communicate in a creative way about the campaign and the heroes? How to involve the network of heroes in local policy making? Etcetera. The manual of the 2020 edition of the campaign (in which VVSG focused on heroes contributing to the local management of the COVID 19 pandemic) is now translated into English, French and Spanish. Although foreign municipalities can not participate in the Flemish campaign, a lot of tips and tricks in the campaign manual can inspire local governments worldwide to organize a public SDG campaign or to work with local forerunners on the subject of the 2030 Agenda.
More information can be found on the Flemish campaign website www.duurzamegemeente.be.
