The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities held the public relations hub workshop on localizing and integrating SDGs into the daily work of public relations employees. In the presence of APLA Executive Director Eng. Abdallah Anati, the urban sustainability expert Dr. Samer Raddad, the Ministry of Local Government Public Relations officer Sayel Hanoun, the Public Relations Hub Coordinator Ahmed Qaisiya, the Communication Coordinator of APLA Nadine Nakhleh and 45 participants from the LGUs Public Relations and Media Managers.

 APLA Executive Director Eng. Anati initiate the workshop by welcoming all participants and speakers and mentioning the importance of including the local perspective in regional, national and global strategies that seek to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and stressing the importance of concerted efforts to achieve integration known as localization. Eng. Anati affirmed that integrating SDGs in the action plans for the Exchange of Experiences Hubs is one of APLA's interventions in seeking to contribute to the realization of the global agenda.

The urban sustainability expert Dr. Raddad gave an introductory presentation of the sustainable development agenda starting from its inception. He provided definition, aspects and pillars and explained their importance. He also explained how to integrate the global agenda for sustainable development into the work of the public relations and communication departments in LGUs and sustainable development as a universal language.

The Communication Coordinator for APLA Nadine Nakhleh reviewed the roadmap that explains localization, as a concept centered on the role of local government units and its contribution in the achievement of SDGs at the national level on one hand, and how the agenda provides a framework for local development policy on the other hand. She also mentioned the roles and responsibilities of LGUs and local government associations in raising awareness of the SDGs and enabling environment for localization, thus achieving these goals at the local level through implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

On the sidelines of this workshop, the coordinator of the Public Relations Hub, Ahmed Qaisiya, gave a presentation on the action plan prepared for the Hub, calling on its members to maintain communication and networking among themselves on all topics of common interest, while the Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Local Government, Sayel Hanoun, presented the Ministry’s vision concerning the localization of the sustainable development agenda, reviewing the most important challenges facing local government units in Palestine and obstacles preventing the realization of localization.

It is worth noting that the technical hubs program in the current phase includes five hubs: the Public Relations Hub, Village Councils Hub, Engineering and Planning Hub, Finance hub and the Creativity and Innovation Hub. The program is implemented in partnership between APLA and GIZ’s Local Governance Reform program.